Melrose Arch Hotel by John Borthwick

Yes, there is hip without hip-hop, cool without freeze-out. The Melrose Arch Hotel in northern Johannesburg proves it. Every inch of this 117-room business hotel is design-intensive, yet its flair never distracts with some designer's "Look-at-me!" gimmickry. Instead, the design has fun. For instance, where is your room safe? Staring you in the face - behind, where else but, a hinged painting of a comic thief.

The standard guest rooms are on the small side (with a few ergonomic hurdles) but well lit and space-efficient, with the living area seguing wall-lessly into the bathroom. Draw the curtain for privacy if you need, or soak in the full-size tub and consider your domain ­ huge bed, blackout curtains (for that jet lag sleep-in) and a rosewood feature wall that conceals wardrobes, minibar and flatscreen TV.

The roomy public areas sport a combination of cool tones, and colour and texture contrasts in reds and terracotta. The foyer's under-floor lighting shifts so that your welcoming red carpet - a perspex strip, actually - might next moment be blue or magenta. There's a deep-thought library and a plush pool room, endless conference facilities, 24-hour business centre and a huge buffet breakfast spread in the restaurant.

Beside the outdoor pool, two-metre high aluminium buckets (complete with handles) function as planter boxes for shade trees: suddenly you¹re a Lilliputian. The hotel's surroundings - the instant yuppie enclave of Melrose, 10 km from the city centre - are secure and bristle with good restaurants and shops. It¹s a 26-kilometre, 150 Rand taxi ride to the airport.