We have already detailed the good reasons to book into a brand new hotel, but how about up-and-coming neighborhoods? Areas that, until recently, didn't offer much in the way of quality lodging options? It's in these emerging neighborhoods that you will find some of the city's newest and hippest hotels -- and, most likely, a good deal.
(Note: All rates quoted are for late October weeknights)
Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn NY
While Brooklyn in general has captured travelers' interest for a few years now, it took last year's opening of the Barclays Center to really put the Atlantic Yards area in Prospect Heights on the hotel map.
The Intercontinental hotel group has virtually colonized Duffield Street, which lies at the convergence of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Here you will find three of the company's hotels: the hip Hotel Indigo Brooklyn (rates start at $270) and Aloft Hotel Brooklyn ($296), as well as the solid Sheraton Brooklyn ($368). This short street is also home to two historic buildings that were stops on the Underground Railroad network, and is a short walk from Gypsy Rose Lee's legendary February House, which she shared with the likes of W.H. Auden, Carson McCullers, and Jane and Paul Bowles.
Best Deal: Union Hotel is a 15-minute walk from the Barclays Center and offers rates as low as $149 a night -- including Continental breakfast.
West Loop, Chicago IL
Chicago's former meatpacking district, the once-gritty neighborhood west of the Kennedy Expressway, has transformed itself into one of the city's hottest destinations filled with art galleries, restaurants, and, soon, luxury hotels.
A brand new 40-room Soho House (an outpost of the British chain) is currently under construction and slated to open in summer 2014; while a 257-room Hyatt will open in 2015, and a 120-room Nobu Hotel is rumored to be in development. In the meantime, you can stay just across the Chicago River at the Kimpton Hotel Group's Allegro Chicago, (starting at $219) or W Chicago City Center, ($319) both within a mile of West Loop.
Best Deal: The Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro is two blocks south of the West Loop and offers a Deluxe Room starting at $190 a night. Hotel features include Chicago skyline views and onsite dining at the MetroKlub kosher restaurant,
Art Deco District, Miami FL
The historic Art Deco District, in Miami's South Beach, contains the largest concentration of 1920s and '30 Art Deco architecture in the world, including several iconic hotels such as the Colony Hotel and The Park Central Hotel. However, the western stretch of Collins Avenue, between the Convention Center and Bass Museum of Art, has recently seen a flurry of hotel openings and development.
The Art Deco-inspired Gale South Beach (rates start at $175) opened at the end of last year and features a rooftop 45-foot pool and white marble, two-tiered deck. Occupying the former Peter Miller Hotel, the Lennox Hotel, a project by the eponymous Argentine hotel company is currently under construction, as is the 74-room Metropolitan by COMO, Miami Beach, the first U.S. property for the Singapore-based hotel group, which will open this December, occupying an original 1930s building and offering direct beach access.
Best Deal: The Pestana Miami Beach (the first U.S. hotel from the Portuguese company) opened a block from Collins Avenue last April and is offering nightly rates for as low as $146. The Art Deco style boutique hotel occupies four buildings and a central coutyard with pool
West Burnside, Portland OR
The area in and around the Burnside Triangle (also known as the Gay Triangle and West End) has actually been "emerging" for quite a while now -- at least since the Ace Hotel opened there in 2007. However, it is still worth investigating the perpetually up-and-coming neighborhood, as some of Portland's funkiest hotels are located there.
At the Hotel deLuxe (rates start $159) you will find a movie theme, with film stills and studio shots on the walls, and each floor curated to a specific cinematic theme. The Hotel Lucia ($169) features an arts theme and is home to the world’s largest permanent collection of black and white photographs by Pulitzer prize-winning photographer and Portland native David Hume Kennerly, and at the Vintage Plaza ($136) you will get to enjoy Kimpton Hotels' signature hosted wine hour every evening.
Best Deal: You'll find the lowest prices at the perennially hip Ace Hotel, where rates start at $125 and you can rent bicycles and enjoy locally sourced, homemade food and Stumptown coffee.