Waterhouse at South Bund

Shanghai hotels tend toward the vertical and voluptuous, but one look at this austere lobby—exposed brick walls; steel beams; stone floors—and it’s clear the Waterhouse has broken the mold. The 19-room hotel is housed in a low-slung 1930’s warehouse on the southern part of the city’s iconic Bund promenade. Guest rooms blend rough concrete ceilings with blond-wood floors, while Huangpu River–facing windows flood them with natural light.