23 Eye-Popping Hotel Designs From Around the World to Inspire Events

The Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa, located on a private island, has 120 suite-sized villa bungalows—including the over-water bungalows that are the country's signature draw. The two 3,400-square-foot Presidential Suites located at the Nui’s northernmost point have features like private plunge pools on the lower deck, expansive living rooms, two bedrooms apiece, bath tubs that appear to hang over the lagoon, and hot tubs on the top decks. All over-water bungalows have windows in the floor to the lagoon below.

The Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai offers panoramic city and sea views at its rooftop bar, Aer. The 34th-floor open-air lounge includes chic, curvilinear furnishings.

Accommodations at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay are accessible only by water. The 58 pool villas are situated on the beach front, on the hillside, and over rock formations in which private swimming pools have been crafted.

Lembah Spa at the Viceroy Bali is perched atop a valley with sweeping views from an infinity pool overlooking the Petanu River gorge.

When winter begins, a team of snow-builders, architects, designers, and artists from all over the world gather in the town of Jukkasjärvi north of the Arctic Circle to create each year's vision of IceHotel under the direction of the IceHotel Art & Design Group. It's built of ice and snow—the first and the largest such property in the world. The snow is sprayed on huge steel forms and freezes. The forms are removed, leaving free-standing corridors of snow in which dividing walls are built in order to create rooms and suites. The property's concepts originate from the river Torne, the arctic climate, the northern lights, and other local characteristics. More than a hotel, the property bills itself as "an ephemeral art project."

The Chandelier bar is located inside the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The spectacle, a centerpiece of the property, is a crystal-enshrouded venue done in the form of an elaborate chandelier. The tri-level space nestles guests among its shimmering strands of two million beaded crystals.

At the Four Seasons Hotels Thailand Chiang Mai, the Ratree Bar and Lounge has a casual Thai-style ambiance and decor in rich blues and woods, with mirrored accents.

In 2011, Vikram Chatwal opened his second Dream property in New York. The Dream Downtown has the whimsical design its name implies. Frank Fusaro of Handel Architects handled the overall design, a multimillion-dollar renovation of a modernist building designed by Albert C. Ledner in 1966.

The Pantone Hotel in Brussels, designed by Michel Penneman and Olivier Hannaert, has a distinctive hue on each colorful guest floor. A white canvas provides clean space for bright colors to pop. Guest rooms have photography by Belgian photographer Victor Levy.

The main building of Santa Monica's new silver LEED-certified Shore Hotel has an open-air, U-shaped design, which surrounds an outdoor pool and patio under a distinctive, steel-trestle roof. The main building also has a three-tier sky bridge that connects it to a second collection of rooms that afford Pacific views.

In northern Thailand, just south of Myanmar and west of Laos, the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle offers trekking with elephants through jungle and mountain trails. The property's luxury tented accommodations offer postcard views and handcrafted furnishings. The property aims to interpret the spirit of 19th-century explorers.

The Morgan Hotel Group’s first Mondrian property in New York made its debut in 2011 with a design inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film La Belle et la Bête—the romantic French fantasy also known as Beauty and the Beast. In SoHo, one block east of Broadway, the 270-room Mondrian SoHo joins the Mondrian in Los Angeles and Mondrian South Beach in the hospitality company's portfolio of design-minded boutiques and carries the same artsy sensibility as its sister properties.

Brooklyn, New York's new Wythe Hotel takes over an old textiles factory, originally built in 1901. Historic detailing like exposed brick and pine beams remains.

The Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan is nestled in the jungle above Bali’s Ayung River and has a lily pond on its rooftop.

The lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey has a cascading crystal light fixture evocative of champagne bubbles or a fisherman’s net being pulled from water (depending on your Rorschach-like interpretation).

The brand-new Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai has an indulgent 41st-floor spa with sweeping city views from floor-to-ceiling windows and curvilinear poolside lounges.

The restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort Marrakech, Bleu d'Orange, is awash in colorful traditional design including luxe, spice-colored throw pillows.

The architects of the Gresham Palace were influenced by the Art Nouveau/Secessionist movement, which emphasizes vibrant colors, fluid lines, and themes taken from nature. The three large peacock gates opening onto the courtyard were made in the workshop of the architect Gyula Jungfer.

The Saguaro Palm Springs is most distinguished by its bold, rainbow-colored façade. The palette comes from architects Peter Stamberg and Paul Aferiat, of New York-based Stamberg Aferiat Architecture, who infused the property with colors meant to reflect the indigenous flowers of the Colorado Desert.

At the Clift hotel in San Francisco, the lobby is centered on Philippe Stark’s signature “Big Chair” with Louis XIV embroidery on imported French silk. Overall, the lobby’s collection of chairs, tables, and lamps, including other pieces by Dali and Ray and Charles Eames, is valued at more than $1.5 million.

Singita Grumeti Reserves in Serengeti National Park inspire a sense of rustic luxury in a wide-open natural environment. Wooden chairs and rich leathers contribute to a luxe safari experience.

Philippe Starck is behind the whimsical and surrealistic interiors at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills.

Simeone Deary is responsible for the design of the Waldorf Astoria Chicago (formerly the Elysian), including the chic look of the lobby.