Hotel description

South Beach may be the new capital of American cool, but all the celebrity-spotting comes at a steep price - rooms in this most in-demand of holiday destinations can set you back several hundred dollars a night.

Enter the Townhouse, where prices aren't as absurdly low as they were in the first months after opening, but still quite a bit more accessible than some of the hottest of the hot spots. And this one succeeds where others have failed - some shabby-chic hotels come off a bit more shabby than chic, but the Townhouse (rather like the Standard) makes the most of its budget constraints.

The design is heavy on white, in the prevailing boutique style, but with bold dashes of red to break up the monotony, avoiding the art-gallery pretension of the typical monochrome hotel room. Beach balls and funky furniture, as well as functional touches like self-service laundry machines, mean the atmosphere is more stylish beach house than boutique hotel.

The location is prime real estate, at 20th and Collins, a short walk from the beach - a spot that's anything but bargain-basement. The shops and cafés of Lincoln Road are a short stroll away, and bicycles are available for rental. But the focus as ever in South Beach is on the social life, and to that end the Townhouse features Bond Street, the Miami outpost of the hip New York eatery, and the rooftop lounge is unique, a fixture of many a photo shoot or product launch, furnished with waterbeds alongside the typical sofas and benches. Don't get too comfortable, though; South Beach is covered in bars and restaurants, and you'll want to get out a bit - especially at night.