Paris is filled with lavish hotels - former palaces that have been converted into dens of discreet luxury. These are places that recall an earlier empire, or, depending on your cultural preferences, the last episode of Sex and the City. These are not places we can afford....

It was movie director Isabel Coixet who first introduced me to Hotel Omm. During an interview I asked for her top 10 of things to do in Barcelona. Eating a beef tatar with mustard ice cream at the then new hotel’s Restaurant Moo came in second on the list. A later visit proved the restaurant – one star in the Michelin guide – to be only part of the attractions....

Where to sleep? If I had a dime for every time some one have asked me for at tip on a great (cheap of course) hotel on Manhattan, I would be able to check my self into Mercer Hotel every time I go to New York. There are loads of hotels in Midtown. But...