Next Stop: duoMo hotel, Rimini, Italy

June 7th, 2007, by Mary Winston Nicklin

Next Stop: duoMo hotel, Rimini, Italy

duoMo Hotel, Italy Believe the hype. Travel sybarites go gaga over this cool designer hotel, located in the seaside port of Rimini in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna coast (birthplace of Fellini, the film director). Internationally renowned designer Ron Arad, known for his metal furniture and for the cool design of the 6th floor of Madrid’s Hotel Puerta America, went all out with his flashy, futuristic vision for the duoMo hotel. Unconventional to say the least. Walk past doors designed like pinball-machine flippers into the lobby, where the enormous front desk (pictured) looms like a stainless steel spaceship. As quoted in Travel and Leisure, Arad has said of his hotel: “I do not want to make people feel at home, because they’re not at home.” The 43 guest rooms feature the latest in technology and design. Pod-shaped bathrooms have glass walls, custom-made designer toiletries, and LCD screens. A young, hip clientele flock to the lobby bar, NoMi, to taste tapas-style small plates and groove to cool tunes spun by live DJs from Miami, Ibiza, and NY.