Home Hotel, Buenos Aires

The young and beautiful pack Palermo Viejo's many bars and lounges. This is one of the best, with a landscaped garden, DJ's, and strong cocktails. Try the Coco Rosso: vodka-infused coca leaves, ginger, and grapefruit.

Since its December 2005 opening in Palermo Hollywood, the rock star–funded (U2 producer Flood and Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour) hotel quickly became the go-to lodgings for Diesel jeans–clad cool kids. Scandinavian-influenced, the rooms come with iPod-ready stereos and vintage wallpaper, and the hotel received a brief spike of notoriety for housing the Bush twins during a 2006 stop. Early arrivals waiting to check in have the option of several jet-lag treatments in the basement spa (like the “Stepping on Clouds” hand and foot massage), and on summer Fridays, English hotel co-owner (and ex–record producer) Tom Rixton and his DJ pals spin to a pool garden filled with hipsters sprawled on pod chairs sipping boutique vodka drinks. Rixton and his Porteña wife, Patricia O’Shea, added a loft apartment in 2006 and a new suite in early 2008.

Room to Book: O’Shea pegs the No. 17 suite, overlooking the pool, as her favorite. For sensualists, No. 8 offers new bordello red wallpaper above the bed and red lighting along the floor.