Rooms Hotel Kokhta

Georgia’s Rooms hotels are like nothing else in the world: fully realized, fully localized, and native to a place that previously wasn’t exactly at the forefront of boutique hospitality. Rooms Hotel Kokhta is just as impressive as its sisters in Tbilisi and Kazbegi, and adds the inducement of ski-in/ski-out access to the spectacular Lesser Caucasus mountains. The design is a heady brew of hypermodern elements, Soviet kitsch, and ancient Georgia, and the atmosphere is what you want from a boutique hotel: by turns restorative and invigorating, with a clientele that’s drawn from stylish locals and in-the-know internationals.

Architecturally, it’s roughly equal parts modern-industrial and rustic-lodge, its crisp lines rendered in raw wood, which finds echoes in its interiors’ timbered ceilings and shop-style parquet floors, and is complemented by elements of traditional stone and clay. The suites make space for freestanding metal bathtubs, and even the humblest Twin spans some 28 square meters. There’s a rooftop terrace with a view of the ski slopes, and the hotel’s restaurant and bar serve Georgian dishes and wines to a clientele made up of hotel guests and local bon vivants.