The Innovative Hotels That Are Making Travel Better in 2018

Not all that long ago, it seemed a distant dream to enter your hotel room without a key or find more than one outlet in the room. A hotel gym with more than one or two out-of-date treadmills and a window? Prized, and rare. In 2018, however, hotels are getting more creative than ever as they compete to attract discerning travelers from around the world. Sleek, ultramodern hotel gyms and collaborative boutique fitness programs, farm-to-table dining, healthy minibars stocked with hyper local products, digitized guest user experiences—amenities like these are the new normal. Here, we highlight a few cutting-edge hotels that are leading the change (and charge!) today.

From Parties to Political Action: The Standard
Many hotel brands have worked to innovate their programming and experiences, but few can rival what Standard International has done to turn hospitality on its head since opening its first location in Hollywood in 1999. Now with 12 properties in its portfolio (seven of them are Liz Lambert’s Bunkhouse properties), plus a London outpost slated to open later this year and plans on the horizon to plant roots in Mexico City, San Francisco, and parts of Asia (thanks to a recent big investment by Sansiri), The Standard is scaling up its global reach. Not to mention its same-day (starting at 3 p.m.) mobile booking app, called One Night, features 125 highly curated hotels and counting—along with hour-by-hour city guides that suggest activities near the hotel.

This past year, The Standard hosted a slew of unique events, like the Sleep-in Cinema at The Standard High Line (where guests could camp out on Casper mattresses all Halloween weekend and watch iconic horror films while eating movie snacks and sipping wine), and, in the wake of the election, programs promoting activism, such as the Art Basel Speak Up pop-up and dinner supporting the ACLU and the Ring Your Rep program encouraging guests to contact their representatives. Later this year, The Standard Hollywood is slated to open the first-ever hotel cannabis dispensary.

Digital Doors, and More: Hilton Hotels
With the launch of its Innovation Gallery last year, Hilton is ramping up its technological enhancements. Guests with smartphones can now unlock their rooms at more than 2,500 Hilton hotels using the digital key. Plus, Hilton Honors members can select the exact rooms they want, order room service, message the front desk, and more—all from their iPhones. The Innovation Gallery, located right next to the brand’s global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, is a space where Hilton tests and showcases new products and guest experiences (some of which are partnership products with companies like IBM, LG, Amazon, and Tesla) that could ultimately end up in their hotels around the globe. For example, the space has featured a noise-masking product, a customizable digital art display, and a real-time translation device.

Bringing Museum-Worthy Works to the Lobby: 21c Museum Hotels
21c Museum Hotels, which first originated in Kentucky in 2006 and has since expanded to six other U.S. cities (with a Kansas City and Miami location coming soon) was a pioneer in the art hotel space and continues to innovate in it today. Founded by two contemporary art collectors and preservationists, each 21c location features various site-specific works of art, as well as pieces by world-renowned artists, such as The Future is Female exhibition currently on display at 21c Cincinnati, featuring works by Carrie Mae Weems, Jenny Holzer, and Zoe Buckman. The art is integrated throughout the common areas (the lobby doubles as an art gallery), food and beverage spaces, and guest rooms. The Nashville location (opened just last year) recently commissioned actor Adrian Grenier, visual artist Sebastiaan Bremer, and rapper Yung Jake to transform its guest suites through experiential installations (using sound, video, photography, and painting) that invite guest participation.

Wellness Beyond Four Walls: Aman
Aman, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has been committed to wellness from a holistic approach since its early days. The luxurious 31 resorts, hotels and private residences in its portfolio around the globe each offer spa, dining, and fitness programs that are unique to the property and its surroundings (such as the Kokoro Retreat at Amangiri in Utah, taking place this January and February). This year, they have also announced a wellness journey to the Caribbean resorts (Amanyara and Amanera), as part of the Aman Private Jet Expeditions program, where guests can enjoy plant-based meals and cooking demonstrations by leading raw food chef Adam Kenworthy, plus such offerings as energy yoga, meditation sessions, nature walks, and core training.

Sustainable Staying Power: 1 Hotels
The South Beach, Central Park, and Brooklyn Bridge locations of Barry Sternlicht’s 1 Hotels brand utilize recycled and repurposed natural materials throughout the communal spaces and the hotel rooms, but the brand’s sustainable ethos doesn’t stop with the decor and architecture—they have Teslas available to hotel guests, artist collaborations to raise awareness for Earth-friendly causes (such as a 1 Less Thing donation box, where guests can leave behind a gently used item of clothing; the hotel will donate it to Housing Works). More 1 Hotels are on the horizon, including one in Haitang Bay, China, another in Silicon Valley, and one in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Haitang Bay hotel will feature an on-site farm with fresh, organic fruits, and veggies to supply the its restaurants.

Cheap and Super Chic: Mama Shelter
Staying at a budget hotel no longer has to mean the same thing as the grimy hostel days of your postgrad youth. From the Freehand to the Generator Hostels chain, the wallet-friendly hotel category has plenty to offer right now in the way of hip design, strong culinary offerings, and programming. Few are doing it better, however, than Mama Shelter by the French hotel group Accor Hotels. The first U.S. outpost opened in a prime location, on Selma Avenue in Hollywood, in 2015, and remains one of the best budget hotels options in Los Angeles (starting at a hard-to-beat rate of $159 per night). Think minimal design by Philippe Starck protégé Thierry Gaugain, a lively rooftop bar and restaurant with sweeping views of the city (this space also functions as a yoga space), and free Wi-Fi. Mama Shelter is also in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, and now Rio de Janeiro, with locations slated to open in Belgrade and Prague this year.