Rooms with verve

Chain hotels with cookie-cutter rooms are great if you don’t want surprises. But what if you like the unexpected, a place with some panache and style? Such places take more digging to find, so . . . check into www.travel intelligence.com and

www.i-escape .com.

What’s hot, what’s not: Travel Intelligence, a Britain-based site, draws on the knowledge of published travel writers (including William Dalrymple, who has several books to his credit). The site has a booking engine and sponsors that are marked. One thing I liked: Not all the hotels have stratospheric rates. But beware: Some of the reviews looked as if they were written by the owners.

I-Escape.com, another Brit site, also has a team of reviewers combing the world for one-of-a-kind hotels. Not all the hotels on this site are stylish. Some are rustic. Some are inexpensive. And some have crawly creatures traipsing through. Open-air bathrooms and water channels allow free passage to ants, cockroaches, frogs and toads; not for those averse to wildlife, said one review. I like that it lists the “highs” and “lows” of the properties.

-- Vani Rangachar

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