• Cheap and Chic Hotelshotel image by Yuriy Rozanov from Fotolia.com
  
  More than ever, travelers are seeking out stylish, hip accommodations at an affordable price. In cities across the globe, hoteliers are meeting this demand by offering sleek style and luxury amenities in rooms the size of the average walk-in closet. The cheap and chic hotel trend is growing rapidly in the United States and Europe. According to The Globe and Mail, the editor of Hotels Magazine, Jeff Weinstein predicted that "Cheap chic is going to be huge." When searching for these accommodations, know what to look for. Low prices, small size, hip design and luxury amenities are what makes these hotels cheap and chic.
  
  

Low Price

• The point of a cheap and chic hotel is that it offers hip accommodations at a great price point. Depending upon the city you are traveling to, cheap and chic hotels range from about $75 to around $150 a night, according to The Globe and Mail. A cheap hotel room in New York, a notoriously expensive city, is going to be closer to the higher end of around $150. In Europe the average price range is roughly the same when converted into US Dollars. In most other American cities, cheap and chic hotels will run you closer to $100 or less. For example, the Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach, Florida, offers avant-garde style and cheap rates in a former motor lodge setting for just $76 a night as of September 2010. However in New York, the Union Square Inn in the East Village with its artsy European style, will cost you around $149 a night. These cheap and chic hotels are so popular that you must book them far in advance to take advantage of the "cheap". If you need to book last minute, especially in big cities, expect to pay as much or more than you would at an average hotel.
  
  Hotel Biba
  
  320 Belvedere Road
  
  West Palm Beach, FL 33405
  
  561-832-0094
  
  hotelbiba.com
  
  Union Square Inn
  
  209 E 14th St
  
  New York, NY 10003
  
  212-614-1482
  
  unionsquareinn.com
  
  

Small Size

• Cheap and chic hotels are generally small boutique hotels with small rooms. In big cities like New York and London, space is a precious commodity. In order to offer up stylish accommodations at an affordable price point, the rooms in these type of hotels are tiny, ranging from 50 square feet to about 250 square feet. Size of the hotel rooms is often dictated by type of building, especially if it is an older or historical building. However, some hotels are housed in larger buildings and still have super small rooms to maximize the amount of rooms they can squeeze in. For example, The Pod Hotel manages to squeeze in 345 rooms by making the average room size about 100 square feet, with communal bathrooms at the ends of the hallway. Many of the cheap and chic hotel's smallest rooms do not have their own bathroom.
  
  The Pod Hotel
  
  230 E 51st St
  
  New York, NY 10022
  
  212-355-0300
  
  thepodhotel.com
  
  Rates start at $159 as of September 2010
  
  

Unique Design and Style

• Style and design is what puts the "chic" in cheap and chic hotels. More than ever travelers are seeking independent hotels with style but cannot afford the four star hotels that normally offer such a luxury. Cheap and chic hotels fill that space by offering hip and sleek designs, or cool themes without breaking the budget. An example of this is the Jane Hotel in New York, which has a classic Old World theme, with their bellhops and front desk staff who wear old style hotel uniforms, complete with the hat. Its tiny rooms resemble classic first class train cabins. 25hours Hotel in Hamburg, Germany has a retro theme with bright accent colors, floral wallpaper and retro inspired furniture that is a mix of 50's style and more modern sleek designs.
  
  The Jane Hotel
  
  113 Jane St,
  
  New York, NY 10014
  
  212-924-6700
  
  thejanenyc.com
  
  Rates start at $125 a night as of September 2010
  
  25hours Hotel Hamburg
  
  Paul-Dessau-Strasse 2
  
  22761 Hamburg
  
  011 +49 (0) 40 85507
  
  25hours-hotels.com
  
  Rate start at about $124 as of September 2010
  
  

Service and Amenities

• Even though your room may only have enough space for a twin bed and a shelf, you'll more than likely be sleeping on high thread count luxury sheets and have a flat screen TV above your bed to enjoy. Small luxury touches like these are the cornerstone of cheap and chic hotels. The Nitenite hotel in Birmingham, United Kingdom offers complimentary blockbuster movies to watch on your flat screen TV in your room, and heated mirrors in your tiny, but high-tech bathroom. Cheap and chic hotels also pride themselves on hip and innovative amenities. For many the lobby doubles as the hangout spot to meet new people. The Hoxton Hotel in London offers a 24-hour kiosk with items to choose from to stock your in-room mini-fridge, which already comes with complimentary milk and bottled water. The Jane Hotel offers complimentary bicycles to rent. Hotel Bijou in San Francisco has a mini-movie theater showing Hollywood classics as part of its Old Hollywood theme. Most cheap and chic hotels also offer free Wi-Fi, cable television, computer rooms, 24 hour check-in, and plenty of lounging spaces.
  
  Nitenite Birmingham
  
  18 Holliday St
  
  Birmingham B1 1TB
  
  011 08458 90 90 99
  
  nitenite.com
  
  Rate start as low as $45 as of September 2010
  
  The Hoxton
  
  81 Great Eastern St
  
  London EC2A 3HU
  
  011 02 7550 1000
  
  hoxtonhotels.com
  
  Rates start at $139 as of September 2010
  
  Hotel Bijou
  
  11 Mason St
  
  San Francisco, CA 94102
  
  415-771-1200
  
  hotelbijou.com
  
  Ratest start at $139 as of September 2010.