myhotel Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom

myhotel Brighton is a boutique hotel in Brighton, England created by the myhotels group, which specialises in distinctive, exclusive and witty boutique hotels that reflect back the inspirations and character of their locale. With a design concept based on balance, myhotel Brighton contrasts the weekend-away sauce and fun of Brighton’s pier with the creative and spiritual dynamism of the Peter Pan residents. Or, as they conceive it, Freddie Mercury meets the Maharishi.

myhotel Brighton knows its own home, too – its recommendations for local restaurants, bars and cafes are right on the money, unpretentious and varied. The special offers complement Brighton’s character perfectly, and include themed weekend deals such as: myromance, mysaucy and mydecadent. They also offer preferential rates for ‘Pride in Brighton’.

The facilities

Downstairs, beyond the portal hub of reception, sits one of the special treats of the boutique hotel – the contoured, windowless cocoon of the Merkaba cocktail bar, with its tropical fishtanks, bank of screens transmitting films of the deepest seas and changing patterns and pump-to-your-height bar stools. A submariner’s futuristic paradise in wood, chrome and rounded tables, you feel at once glamorous and nurtured.

The rooms

All of the boutique hotel’s 80 rooms are distinctive, but we love the curved walls and alcoves of their ‘more superior’ rooms, where you can look out of your floor-to-ceiling windows from the double-end chaise lounge, down to Brighton’s new Jubilee Square.

A crystal glows and pulses in changing colours of soft light around the central queen-size bed and you feel you are sleeping on a cloud. Plug in your MP3 player and you will have surround sound too. All of these touches are designed, they tell us, ‘to balance your chi.’ Other design elements of the boutique hotel are just plain cool – the soft leather, ergonomic desk becomes a vanity table as a curved mirror lifts from the worktop; you can watch TV through the lozenge-shaped window of the bathroom while you’re brushing your teeth. Each room offers complimentary internet access, Aveda products, bathrobes, plasma-screen TVs and more.

Designed by New York designer Karim Rashid around the aesthetic concept of Andy Thrasyvoulou, founder and visionary of myhotels, there are many design promises in this boutique hotel: the Carousel penthouse suite promises to be very special, with its own Turkish hammam, and a 400-year-old vintage carousel centrepiece. Other art and design has been provided by a range of local artists, including Alex Macarthur, Martin Thomas and Lucien Hewetson.