Kosenda Hotel

A few more hotels like this one and Jakarta just might shed its “only on business” reputation. Kosenda Hotel is the kind of fresh, inventive, authentic boutique hotel that just about any city in the world would love to call its own. Like most of the best boutique hotels, this one is the product of a very involved founder — Ruben Kosenda is a local entrepreneur, an experienced traveler, and a man who knows originality when he sees it.

Here he’s assembled a local and international dream team that seemingly couldn’t help but result in an extraordinary hotel, incorporating influences that range from traditional Indonesian Betawi houses to the classics of modernist Danish furniture. The common denominator, seemingly, is natural wood — rarely does a hotel so contemporary present itself with such organic warmth.

Rooms come in three categories, Petita, Comforta, and Spatia — no extra points for guessing which one’s the largest. Even the Petita, however, are quite comfortable, with thick pillow-topped mattresses, goose down duvets and pillows, 32-inch televisions, iPod docking stereos, and stylish, efficient bathrooms. Comforta rooms spread a bit, adding walk-in rain showers, and Spatias come with kitchenettes, living rooms, and the whole junior-suite treatment.

And like all the best boutique hotels, it’s an authentically inviting meeting place, its social spaces packed with locals and travelers alike, from the buzzing lobby café (complete with La Marzocco espresso machine) to the Waha Kitchen restaurant to the romantic rooftop garden lounge. Jakarta’s still a long way to go just to see a boutique hotel, but this one might just be the push you need — and if you’re regularly called to the Indonesian capital on business, the Kosenda just might become your new routine favorite.