The Park Pod

Class: Deluxe

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 20

This 20-bedroom property is a spirited celebration of design, both international and Indian. The owners are Chennai style gurus Vikram Phadke and Atul Malhotra, the power duo behind the city's leading Indian designer fashion and furniture stores, Evoluzione, as well as a gourmet deli. POD is on the city's most fashionable street, with a discrete roadside entrance leading to a free-standing glass-cube reception. An open walkway takes you into the hotel courtyard, which has a dramatic lap pool lined with blood-red tiles, black B&B Italia sunloungers, oversized red planters by Italian design firm VG Newtrend and spectacular lights hanging from the ancient rain tree that provides a leafy canopy. The individually decorated bedrooms combine European style and Indian accessories: beds are either B&B Italia or Ligne Roset and the linen is made locally from 500-threadcount cotton. Throws and cushion covers are by Indian fashion designers Abraham & Thakore. Each room has distinctive graphic art by Delhi design firm Illum, which also transformed the lift into a whimsical delight using Indian graphics and illustrations. The Sky Lounge & Bar and the Absolute restaurant, which serves a fusion menu of 'Californian Thai', are already making their mark with Chennai's style set.