KIMPTON WAS DOING BOUTIQUE BEFORE EVERY HOTEL GOT A ROOFTOP BAR

Kimpton has been doing lifestyle hotels since before “lifestyle hotel” became code for put some weird furniture in the lobby, add a neon sign and charge $400. The brand built its reputation on hotels with personality, strong restaurants and bars, neighborhood locations and enough individuality that you don't feel like you're staying in the same building every damn trip.

Now part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton gets even more useful. We can get the boutique experience while earning or using IHG One Rewards, and the brand has expanded well beyond its American roots into destinations across Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and Asia.

We especially like Kimpton for city trips. The restaurants and bars are often legitimate parts of the local scene instead of sad hotel versions of one, and properties tend to embrace the neighborhood around them. But consistency is also the catch. Kimpton is a brand where one property can be sexy as hell and another can feel like an old hotel somebody renovated with wallpaper and optimism. Room sizes, amenities and value can swing wildly.

And Kimpton prices have gotten bold. Sometimes deservedly. Sometimes we're looking at the rate like, “Baby, you're still a Kimpton.”