The Ludlow, New York, USA, New York, USA

Bringing the essence of a neighbourhood into a hotel is a skill Sean MacPherson has mastered. The hotelier behind some of New York's modern-day greats - the Bowery, Jane and Marlton among them - has now teamed up with BD Hotels to open the Ludlow in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Situated within wafting distance of Katz's Delicatessen, the hotel pays elegant tribute to the idiosyncratic history of its storied neighbourhood, a landing point for Jewish immigrants before becoming the home of rock music and art in the 1980s. A red-brick entryway leads visitors into a stylishly dishevelled lobby lounge, lined with oak panelling and floored in marble mosaic. This opens onto another MacPherson signature: the intimate back garden. Upstairs, 184 rooms are filled with flea-market touches that hark back to the area's past. Hardwood floors are covered with handmade silk rugs while Brooklyn-made petrified-wooden nightstands flank Indo-Portuguese style beds lined with Italian-cotton sheets. The Skybox suite, notable for its spacious sitting area, is one of 20 suites that offer rooftop views of Lower Manhattan and the Williamsburg Bridge.