The Zetter Hotel, London, United Kingdom

The Zetter Hotel is the collaborative project of Michael Benyan and Mark Sainsbury and the result of their efforts to create a thoroughly contemporary boutique hotel in London. The Zetter has an air of youthfulness hard to come by in older and larger chain hotels. Privately owned, it strays away from traditional designs and philosophies, opting instead for a hipper and fashionable design and service that’s professional yet casual.

This boutique hotel’s location in the heart of Clerkenwell means less tourists and more business and local clientele. Yet that doesn’t mean there is nothing to offer the tourist market. For sightseeing and local attractions, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The British Museum, and the Barbican Arts Center are all within walking distance. There is not much to choose from in terms of shopping around the area, but the Farringdon Tube station is about a five-minute walk away. The weekend rates are some of the best in London for this quality of establishment.

The facilities

The Zetter’s architecture is a deftly-executed balance between traditional Victorian — the building was originally a 19th-century Victorian warehouse — and a pastiche of modern design (note the symbols used to distinguish the men’s and women’s washrooms and the restaurant cards that echo MTV’s ads).

As for the building itself, the floor plan of The Zetter makes excellent use of natural light. There is scarcely a dark area in the luxury hotel’s 5 stories and 59 bedrooms during the daytime. The use of daylight gives the luxury hotel an added warmth and vibrancy. Similarly, the boutique hotel’s chicly designed reception rooms are frequently teeming with people — many of them creatives — and you can buy reasonably priced drinks from the reception area. Professionalism without the formality and “no fuss or frills” are the Zetter’s mantras and the casual atmosphere in the luxury hotel’s meeting rooms and the young staff make for a relaxing experience. Adjacent to the reception room is The Zetter’s modern Italian restaurant. Food is available throughout the day, unlike other hotels.

The rooms

The 59 rooms in this luxury hotel are moderately sized and sparsely decorated with understated wallpaper art (the room I saw had painting of a group of flamingos about 2ft. x 5ft. and that’s it). However, guests can engross themselves in the latest in entertainment technology. Guests can sample from an extensive musical library of 4000 tracks and make use of the room’s DVD/CD player. The rooms feature flat screen televisions equipped with satellite channels and movies on demand that also allow guests to check their e-mails and surf the net via broadband.

The top floor is designated for the Zetter’s seven rooftop studios, which are more spacious and provide views across downtown London. The rooms also come with a generously stacked mini-bar, 24-hour room service, and walk-in showers. For guests who want a luxury hotel that is affordable, comes with all the latest in design and service and possesses and an air of youthfulness, the Zetter Hotel is a good choice.