CITY SLICKER

The scheme: Going local (urban edition)

The scene: Haymarket Hotel, London

Globalization, schmobilization. Being a guest at the Haymarket Hotel in London is a bit like staying at your friend's London townhouse—if your friend is, say, quirky British designer Kit Kemp. Kemp and her husband, Tim, have opened their seventh hotel in London, and while peers like Philippe Starck and David Rockwell have left their imprint all over the globe, Team Kemp has remained fiercely loyal to the U.K. (OK, besides the hotel they're working on in New York City.) The Haymarket is proof that Kemp has made an art out of mixing and matching period antiques. The 50 rooms and suites are all individually designed—a hot pink wall and gilded baroque mirror in one, a preppy green overstuffed couch with matching bed in another. Elsewhere, you'll find everything from ironic chintz drapes to vintage armoires and modern armchairs that look like they were painted by Rothko. Then there's the pool. Far too few pools come with the trimmings of this 55-foot tub: gilded columns and couches, a pewter bar with cocktail tables, and a ceiling covered in hundreds of fiber-optic lights. All in all, what could be the makings of a very confusing and potentially hazardous round of laps.

Haymarket Hotel
Tel: 44 20 7581 4045
Doubles from $570

NEXT: Who needs ceilings, anyway? >