Lux 11

When the Wall went up, the old centre of Berlin, Mitte, went to the East. Fifteen years after reunification, Mitte has reasserted its status as the beating heart of the city, home to the hippest shops, restaurants, theatres and, increasingly, hotels. Lux 11, in a revamped, white-painted heritage building, is the newest kid on the block and already looks set to be one of the most popular. Its concept is high style, low cost (and long stay, even lower cost). Maid service is every third day and fridges can be stocked to order. Each of the 72 apartments has a kitchenette with pots and pans and even a small dishwasher (although, in the smaller rooms, dinner parties would have to be held in bed). Designed by Claudio Silvestrin and Giuliana Salmaso, London-based architects responsible for many Armani outlets, the colour scheme runs a narrow spectrum between white and a muted Chinese green. Floors are polished concrete or bleached wood, but other materials are sumptuous, such as the suede headboards and taffeta bedcovers trimmed with fake fur. Flat-screen TVs, faxes, Wi-Fi, DVD players and huge hairdryers (with diffusers) are standard. To one side of the lobby is an Aveda Spa and hairdressers; the groovy restaurant, Shiro I Shiro, serving Asian-Italian fusion food (with a sushi bar) is to the other. Staff are exceptionally friendly and helpful and all look like models.

Pure Hotel

Fans of austere contemporary design will love this 50-room newcomer near Frankfurt's main train station. As at many design hotels, the place is mostly self-service: No one fusses over you when you arrive in the lobby, which evokes A Clockwork Orange, right down to the rounded edges on the furniture and the backlit bar that also serves as the reception desk. The all-white rooms contain leather-upholstered headboards and wall-mounted media centers, and although your desk may block the wall outlet and thin walls can mean undesired intimacy with the neighbors, wireless Internet access, great Thai herbal toiletries, and feather duvets put the Pure a notch above other style contenders. There's no restaurant, but Frankfurt's best pizza place, 7 Bello, is a few doors down and does takeout.
When to go: Late fall and winter, when the weather is perfect for sampling apple wine.
Which room to book: Nos. 509, 510, and 511, on the top floor overlooking the backyard patio (doubles, $167–$417. The Pure