"Smart hotels in this city often hew to a certain mod-minimal, design-agency template. The Cotton House in Eixample, though, is very different—a riot of neoclassical joy in a 19th-century cotton guild, which makes me smile every time. Interior designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán is well known for his designs across Barcelona, including the Edition—but it’s hard to think he’s ever had more fun than with the Belle Epoque features here, from its old parquet floors to the wood-paneled ceilings and grand spiraling staircases. The cotton theme runs through the orb-shaped chandeliers, like cotton flowers; the 300-thread Egyptian-cotton sheets in the more minimal rooms; and the fact that guests can order candy-colored, hand-stitched shirts from the very sharp concierge desk, which is known as the Gossypium (the Latin name for the genus of plants that produce cotton). The style is grown-up, but a chintzy wink is never far away." - Gemma Askham, Isabelle Kliger
