Book excerpt: A special 25th year anniversary edition of The Design Hotels™ Book presents an in-depth look at 25 boutique properties around the world that are changing the way we think about hospitality. For a quarter century, Design Hotels™ has been at the forefront of a movement in hospitality, curating a global collection of independent, design-driven hotels that function as social hubs and platforms for extraordinary experiences. In celebration of this benchmark, Design Hotels™ sent some of the world’s leading editorial and lifestyle photographers around the world to capture the unique character of 25 hotels at the vanguard of their hand-selected collection. Each hotel tells a story, rich with emotion and steeped in the history, culture, and nature of its local environment. The new, special edition of the brand’s wildly popular annual brings these stories to life through evocative photo essays and reportage. This edition of The Design Hotels™ Book is a distillation of a quarter century of pioneering design and original experiences, as well as a must-have for a worldwide community of travelers, likeminded in their pursuit of singular aesthetic environments, genuine local culture, and transformative, boundary-pushing travel experiences that defy conventional notions of luxury.