Hotel Ismael (Santiago, Chile)

Call it Ismael 312. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little in the way of design hotels, and nothing particular to interest the restless global nomad, the insular city of Santiago quietly took to the construction of a new crop of contemporary boutique hotels. Among the first fruits of this new wave of hotel construction is Ismael 312, a nine-story contemporary boutique hotel in an easy-on-the-eye modern minimalist style, just off the Parque Forestal in Santiago’s historic city center. Semi-transparent glass-walled bathrooms, flat-screen televisions, full-length windows — it’s clear Ismael 312’s proprietors have been paying attention to the interior-design conventions of the boutique-hotel world. This clean-lined look has quickly become the global standard, instantly rendering a million flowery bedspreads obsolete. Here, if you’re fortunate, you’ve got a view of the park from a private balcony; if not, you can content yourself with the pared-down simplicity of your room’s contemporary design.