By Ann Abel

Call it the ACE effect. The hotel brand became famous for setting up shop in offbeat neighborhoods—where the rent was presumably cheaper—and then transforming those areas into new capitals of cool. They were pioneers in neighborhoods like New York’s NoMad, district, London’s Shoreditch, and DTLA. And they inspired others, both in cities and in rural areas.

DAVE Red, Athens

The first property in the new affordable hotel line DAVE–Son of a Brown (from Israel’s hip Brown Hotels group) to launch outside of Tel Aviv, the Athens hotel occupies the former KKE (Communist party of Greece) headquarters in Omonia Square. The square had been in a state of run-down neglect after the demolition of its original water feature; in recent years it’s undergone a redevelopment scheme to make it a UN–certified “sustainable destination” … continue reading 

Ann Abel is a travel writer and editor and was a senior editor at ForbesLife. She writes for Forbes, Departures, Conde Nast Traveller, Robb Report, Afar, National Geographic Traveler, Islands, Hemispheres, Brides, Modern Bride, Well + Good NYC, and other print and online publications.”In the name of lifestyle journalism, ” she says, ” I’ve gotten a tattoo in Bora Bora, been bitten by a massage therapist, and flown small aircraft above three continents.” She lives in Lisbon.