It’s that time of year when we look back and reminisce about our top travel experiences in 2023: the highlights and special moments that just might inspire your next adventure in 2024. This article was one of the stories that our readers enjoyed the most in 2023.
Quality linen on seriously comfortable beds. Rooftop bars with properly made cocktails. A new generation of budget hotels is upping its game with some seriously high-end touches. These proudly three-star hotel groups have done away with the expensive, leaden luxury trappings of yesteryear – minibars, ballrooms and room service – and are instead aiming to do the basics really well, for less.
They focus on design and offering more of the tropes associated with boutique hotels. They choose cheap areas that are on the up, create cost-effective new-builds or snap up unloved 20th-century buildings. And groups like these can make savings that individual hotels can’t.
Today’s new budget chains are anything but bland. Most aim to monetise as much floor space as possible with, at the very least, a good bar (cheaper than having a restaurant), while also opening up lobbies as co-working spaces. They save money with small bedrooms and online check-ins.
Most seek to catch the eye: you may not get much of a swim in the Moxy’s pool in Lisbon, but it is great for Instagramming. These hotels understand that people travel in different ways; that bunk beds can be fun for both families and people in their 20s.
Even luxury hotel names are getting in on the act, developing their own budget brands (typically described as “midscale”). Other contemporary classics of the new wave, such as Moxy, Motto and Mama Shelter, award loyalty points that tap into a group programme. The best use more than just street art to plug themselves into their neighbourhood.
Of course, if you are booking at the last minute, especially at popular times, the concept of “budget” will be elastic. Like nearly all hotels these days, prices are dynamic and can rise around popular periods and events, so book early for the best rates. Here are 10 pioneers of the genre.
25hours Hotels
This German brand loves a complex renovation challenge and tends to rise to one rather brilliantly, infusing each of its properties with a refreshing sense of individuality and fun. Starting in 2003 with a hotel in Hamburg, and steadily spreading out across Germany and Austria, the 25hours chain now has 15 hotels, including in Dubai and Copenhagen, the latter in a former porcelain factory.
In 2025, a branch will open in Italy’s Trieste, in a redundant palazzo with 160 rooms and a beach club at the harbour. All have a restaurant that aims, and usually succeeds, in appealing to locals.
Pick of the bunch: 25hours Hotel Cologne The Circle is housed in a circular 1950s building designed by Siemens. It is home to a vinyl library and Neni, a restaurant with Middle Eastern-inspired food and views across the city. Doubles from $226. 25hours-hotels.com
Moxy Hotels
Marriott’s bid for midscale muscle started with a single hotel in Milan in 2014. Today, it has 115 hotels around the globe (and 117 in the pipeline) and they have much to recommend them. You will find pet parties and bottomless brunches in Manchester and a posey pool in Lisbon.
There are six Moxies in New York alone: the newest, on the Lower East Side, opened in November 2022 with rooms in a variety of configurations, including quads. They try hard for individuality but there are a few constants, such as checking in at the bar, accompanied by a free cocktail.
Pick of the bunch: The Moxy in York, England, has all the glass and neon signage that you would expect from the chain, plus a co-working space on the ground floor. Don’t expect wardrobes or much space, but the hotel is just a short walk from the Shambles. Doubles from $130. marriott.com
Ruby Hotels
One of the fastest-growing European budget hotel groups, Ruby currently has 13 hotels, all in the UK and Europe, and 22 in the planning stages. Its entry-level Nest rooms live up to their name: they are exceedingly cosy but have been thought through, with blackout curtains and soundproofing (handy, since all rooms have Marshall amps in them).
All hotels have a bar and coffee shop open around the clock (but no restaurant) and each hotel has a theme: Ruby Lotti, located in Hamburg’s press district, for instance, references newspapers.
Pick of the bunch: Ruby Lucy in London has a brilliant location in Lower Marsh: a quirky street in the shadow of Waterloo filled with boutiques and restaurants. Its richly coloured bar has windows on to the street, well-made cocktails and a sense of occasion. Doubles from $315. ruby-hotels.com
YOTEL
Inspired by Japanese capsule hotels, the first YOTEL opened at Gatwick Airport in 2007, with a Heathrow outpost following later that year. The brand - set up by Simon Woodroffe, founder of the conveyor-belt restaurant chain Yo Sushi - now has 22 different hotels, all resolutely urban, and it is expanding: by 2024 there will be one in Tokyo.
Entry-level rooms are compact: the average floor space is often 100sq ft and the smallest rooms have beds that electronically adjust to become sofas. But communal areas tend to be expansive: the newest hotels have roof terraces with bars and most have a welcome quirk, such as a bowling alley in Glasgow and a 360-degree screening room in Edinburgh. There are also YOTELPADS for long stays, while the original airport hotels are now YOTELAIRS.
Pick of the bunch: YOTEL New York Times Square has 669 rooms and stretches over 23 floors. It is a great option in a city that is more expensive than ever, with a superb roof terrace and some fun touches including a robot that stores your luggage. Doubles from NZ$414. yotel.com
Ying’nFlo
Guests at Ying’nFlo, which opened in November, are greeted by a large mural by Berlin-based artist Josephine Rais at the entrance. At the moment there is just a single branch of this new Hong Kong-based brand, and while you wouldn’t know it from the foosball machine in the communal area, nor the vending machines that stock everything from snacks to souvenirs, the power showers and soothing decor offer clues that this is in fact an offshoot of the luxury Langham group.
Even entry-level rooms are big, at 237sq ft, and the hotel is in Wan Chai, a former red-light district that has morphed into a gourmet and gallery hotspot. Next up will be a branch in the city of Xiamen on China’s southeast coast, then on to the rest of Asia.
Doubles from $303. yingnflo.com
citizenM
This Dutch – and still independent – brand believes in uniformity. Whether in Seattle or London, rooms come in just one size (150sq ft) and one price category. All have king-sized beds and big windows to appreciate the cityscape outside. The communal areas are pleasingly fun, with laid-back bars, sprinkled with designer furniture and proper art.
Like Yotels, they originated in airports, with the first citizenM opening at Amsterdam’s Schiphol in 2008. In recent years, however, the group has opened in some great locations, while 2024 will see outlets open near the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris and in downtown Austin, Texas. There is a simple loyalty programme, too: everyone, regardless of how often they stay, gets 10 per cent off published rates and free late check-outs if available.
Pick of the bunch: citizenM is happy to have multiple branches in cities. There are four in London but the Tower of London location is particularly good – some rooms have views of the tower itself and the artwork in the bar includes works by Julian Opie. Doubles from $362. citizenm.com
Motto by Hilton
Mottos aren’t hostels but their Hilton parent has borrowed a few hostel features for this budget brand. Above all, the uncluttered rooms have been designed to have flexible configurations – not just interconnecting rooms but also bunks and pull-out beds.
There are just five of them at the moment, including one in Washington, and when Motto Tulum in Mexico opened last November, it showed the concept could incorporate a beach and pool scene. Later this year a giant Motto will open in Times Square – among the most competitive hotel areas in New York.
Pick of the bunch: Motto by Hilton Rotterdam Blaak, the original, is housed in a former bank in Rotterdam’s hip Meent district. Its Pesca restaurant uses the same sort of dynamic pricing as the hotel, being cheaper at certain times of the day to reduce food waste. Doubles from $161. hilton.com/en/brands/motto-by-hilton
JO&JOE
Hostels also provided the inspiration for JO&JOE, owned by French group Accor – but examples of the genre that are fresh and stylish, have good food and offer a variety of room configurations. There are dormitories sleeping up to 12, rooms sleeping up to six, and some sleeping just two.
Currently there are five hotels, with four in the pipeline, including one in Rome. The Vienna hotel is typical, with lots of plyboard and a rooftop space that incorporates a restaurant and bar. It is near Westbahnhof – convenient, though not particularly central – while the Paris branch is in the Gentilly suburb.
Pick of the bunch: JO&JOE Rio de Janeiro is located near the city’s main bus terminal in a nice square; it is also near Corcovado mountain and features three swimming pools and some street art. Doubles from $65. joandjoe.com
Locke
You can walk past a Locke hotel and barely notice it – these lodgings tend not to shout about themselves, nor do they have a set look, but each room in every Locke has a kitchenette. Locations tend to be central and the company is good at hiring talented young designers at the start of their careers: London-based Holloway Li was responsible for Bermonds Locke in London.
Lockes like a bit of experimentation – Kingsland Locke in east London has a microbrewery, for instance. The communal areas feature plenty of locals communing with MacBooks and flat whites, while restaurants tend to be partnerships. Decide on a food delivery and you will find plates and cutlery as well as a dishwasher back in your room.
Pick of the bunch: Eden Locke is on Edinburgh’s George St and lets the neo-classical beauty of the building sing, with quiet colours and Scandi-influenced furniture. Doubles from $174. lockeliving.com
Mama Shelter
The newest Mama hotel – Rennes, due to open this year – is typical of the way this chain likes to pinpoint cities that are on the up in its native France. It currently has 16 hotels across nine countries, from London and Lisbon to Los Angeles, and nine more in the pipeline. Don’t expect minimalism: these hotels employ a full-colour palette mixed with old arcade games and karaoke. Room sizes go from S to XXL.
Mamas take their food very seriously, but in a refreshingly un-French way. Across the group, brunch is big at weekends and there are local foods at each of the restaurants – but don’t expect room service. The brand is diversifying, too; Rennes will have the first Mama Shelter spa.
Pick of the bunch: Mama Lille is a short walk from both Lille’s Eurostar station and the city’s historic centre. It has 1980s arcade games, a vast ground-floor restaurant in a riot of colour and rattan, and a nice outdoor terrace for summer. Doubles from $173. mamashelter.com
- Telegraph Group Ltd
This story was originally published on April 12, 2023