Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel

Class: Deluxe

Style: Avantgarde

Rooms: 28

Argentina’s economy, after famously melting down at the turn of this century, seems to have rebounded handsomely, at least if the spate of recent hotel openings is any indication — forget about inflation or GDP, the Boutique Hotel Index is the only measure that matters to us. Suddenly it seems that around every corner in Buenos Aires there’s a stylish new hotel going up, and good ones too — and near the top of the class of 2006 is the ultra-modern Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel. The building, by the porteño architect Ernesto Goransky, stands in sharp contrast to its location on the Parisian-looking Rodriguez Peña Square, in Buenos Aires’s Barrio Norte. Rooms go from compact and efficient to large and lofty, but all look out through full-length windows and feature flat-screen televisions that pivot for universal viewing. What they may lack in coziness they make up for in visual impact, and the views from the balcony suites are particularly extraordinary. There’s a small bar and café, and not much more, but no matter — in today’s Buenos Aires, no hotel is an island. Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel’s location is a highly desirable one, whether for nightlife, culture, or shopping — the latter, along the Avenida Santa Fe, is some of the best in the city. Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel is approximately a 45 minute drive from Ezeiza International Airport, 15 minutes from the Domestic Airport, and 15 minutes from La Boca and Palermo Hollywood.