Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This spectacular large-format 528-page book, with over 1,000 of Herbert Ypma's own remarkable photographs, is the ultimate guide to the world's most special places to stay. Bringing together a host of mouthwatering new destinations plus the best hotels from previous editions, Hip Hotels Atlas is the one essential reference to a galaxy of destination hotels - every one in every sense a Highly Individual Place.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Readers won't find any Hiltons or Holiday Inns among the hotels covered in this large-format book. While there are a few hotels with price tags that qualify as affordable, most of globetrotting author and photographer Ypma's selections are for the affluent. Dividing the text into six parts by region, he begins with 25 hotels in Europe, including several villas and castles; the most unusual is the Ice Hotel in Sweden, which melts each year sometime in April to be rebuilt the following December. Asia follows Europe with 21 hotels that range from the thrifty Apsara in Laos ($55 a night) to a spendthrift Indonesian retreat priced at $650 a night. Many of the hotels listed for North America are actually in the Caribbean. Australia claims only two, while Africa and South America boast nine each. For each hotel, Ypma offers a brief history along with regional notes of interest and contact information (rates included). His 1100-plus color photographs and illustrations set the mood and make each establishment look magnificent. But this beautiful book, alas, is really better suited to coffee tables. It is too big (about 9" x 12") and too heavy (weighing more than 7 pounds) to hold (or shelve) comfortably. Not an essential purchase; those in search of a less sumptuous guide may want to consider the individual books in Ypma's "Hip Hotels" series (not seen).-Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.