Nor is there a uniformed doorman to greet you. The lobby is a compact, chandelier-free space dominated by an illuminated reception desk. On the wall are posters advertising gigs by Tori Amos and the Umbilical Brothers, left over from the building's previous incarnation as a dingy pub.

The 62-room Old Clare is Sydney's first taste of a new breed of hotel. From Shoreditch to Mexico City, Brooklyn to Berlin, cutting-edge hoteliers are changing what we expect from a hotel – and, in the process, changing the way we travel.

The first wave of hip hotels was an antidote to identikit accommodation that offered the same experience in every country. The ground-breaking Morgans Hotel on Madison Avenue was launched in 1984 by Ian Schrager, who followed up with other much-imitated properties, including the Royalton in New York, the Delano in Miami and the Sanderson in London. Oversized effects designed to shock and awe – from the cascades of gauzy curtains favoured by Philippe Starck to the dancing fountains of Dubai and Las Vegas – transformed hotels into theatre sets.

That flamboyance now feels decidedly old-hat. Today's travellers are no longer content to watch a performance: instead, they want to live an experience, to stay in a hotel that involves them in the life of the city. Many of today's guests want a hotel to translate a place and a perspective. That means eye-catching interiors are no longer enough

"The customer is wanting more," says Tim Davis, global director of marketing for Small Luxury Hotels. "It is about what the guest does when they are there, about how the hotel brings a region to life in the room and elsewhere."

Boutique properties are setting the pace with edgy properties in equally edgy neighbourhoods.

The Wythe Hotel in the hipster hub of Brooklyn, for instance, embodies the area's offbeat ethos with its poured concrete floors, bathrooms tiled with subway tiles and a restaurant dedicated to sustainability.

The Wythe's success, however, is about more than channelling a look. Walk into the Wythe and you feel certain that the bartender knows the pick of the local craft beers, that the reception staff can recommend a great little wholefoods cafe. That sense of connection to the area is precisely what today's travellers crave.

Loh Lik Peng is the Singapore-based driving visionary behind the Old Clare, as well as half a dozen other hotels in Southeast Asia, Europe and now Australia, all part of the Unlisted Collection, which he founded. He's considered one of a handful of boutique hoteliers setting new standards for cool globally.

"Guests want to feel part of the neighbourhood," says Peng. "If you are surrounded just by other travellers, you feel isolated."

Carsten Lima, area director Asia Pacific of the Design Hotels group, says Peng "nails it every time" with an an eye for interesting locations and an ability to turn rundown locations into cool hotels. But Peng modestly plays down his knack for picking the right location at the right time.

"Our type of hotel relies on the milieu, so we need to get the neighbourhood right," he says, before adding cheerfully, "That said, we're also not in a position to afford a property in the centre of town."

Peng's choice of gritty Chippendale on the inner-city of fringe of Sydney's CBD as the site for his first Australian property location surprised many in the industry. Although the area is currently buzzing thanks to a clutch of new restaurants, bars and galleries, the picture looked very different four years ago when the project was born.

Peng says it was the buildings, located on the old Carlton United Brewery site on Broadway opposite the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), home of Australia's only Frank Gehry building, that caught his attention.

One, a rundown old pub, now houses the reception, the bar and one of the hotel restaurants; the other, an old administrative building, contains the hotel rooms. They are linked by a glass atrium and a foot bridge on the second floor.

"I had a gut feeling about the [administrative] building," Peng says. "It had lots of windows, it had raw bricks which felt very industrial, unlike anything I've ever done before."

Peng is not a man who likes to repeat himself. While most boutique brands have their own style – Ace Hotels has a rock'n'roll swagger, while Grupo Habita properties such as NYC's Hotel Americano and Condesa DF in Mexico City have a more glamorous sheen – Peng is remarkable for his lack of a signature style.

Each of his properties in London, Shanghai and Singapore has its own aesthetic. In Singapore's New Majestic, where each room was decorated by a different artist, guests sleep amid lacquered furniture and burgundy silk walls, or on a floating bed watched over by a giant goldfish.

Guests at Wanderlust can choose between rooms in eyeball-scalding Pantone colours or monochrome decor, while Shanghai's The Waterhouse is housed in a 1930s warehouse with untreated concrete walls, bare light bulbs and art by Tracey Emin.

At the Old Clare, the high-ceilinged Victorian architecture has been jazzed up with Danish modern furniture (much of it from Peng's personal collection), marble bathrooms and super-king size beds. For a cool hotel, however, stylish interiors are just the start.

"Today's travellers have seen and done it all, or feel they have. It is hard work to get their pulse racing again, to regain that sense of wonder," says Lima. "[Successful hoteliers] pull together people who have interesting ideas, and together they create something outstanding."

Indeed, canny hoteliers must constantly search for different ways to surprise their guests. Once-uncommon offerings such as free bikes for exploring the city have been so widely copied, they are now almost de rigueur.

Today, the focus is on reinventing the standards. The fluffy white bathrobe, for instance, is no longer the default: the robes in Grupo Habita's Hotel Americano are made of denim, while at the Ace Hotel Shoreditch, the grey hooded style has been inspired by a boxer's robe.

One of the areas where the Old Clare has made its mark is in the lighting. Not all of it is functional: old ship's search lights (also drawn from Peng's private collection) are used throughout the hotel as design features.

Inside the rooms, the ceiling lights designed by Beirut-based studio PS Labs have an industrial chic vibe. The real gems, however, are the table lamps. Made of old car jacks, each one was created to order by London designer, The Rag and Bone Man.

"When you have a long runway for a project, you have the time to commission custom-made items," says Peng.

Other collaborators include Sydney-based creatives such as textile designer Eloise Rapp, who created the print for the hotel cushions as well as the in-room tote and laundry bags, and Maison de Balzac, which created the hotel's candles and signature scent.

France-based installation artist Corinne Felgate created a site-specific work for the old telephone booth in the Old Clare's bar; press any button to hear one of a number of poems recited. Peng believes working with partners who share his vision is vital.

"I turn up once a month, so I don't get involved that deeply," he says.

"These projects evolve. The hotel turned out quite differently to what I had in my mind when we started, but what we have now really works."

This openness to collaboration may reflect Peng's lack of industry training. Like other industry trailblazers such as Ace Hotels' Alex Calderwood and the team behind Mexico's Grupo Habita, Peng has no hospitality background, which Lima believes can provide a distinct advantage.

"Most of the time when a hotelier catches my attention, they don't have a hospitality background," he says. "Because they don't have that background, they have no boundaries, they dare to dream."

Peng was working as a lawyer when he bought his first property, which became Singapore's Hotel 1929, one of the city-state's first true design hotels, with the lobby decorated with the owner's collection of antique barber chairs. Peng admits he had no idea what was involved in creating a hotel.

"I thought it would be like designing my bedroom," he laughs.

Peng chooses new partners for each project, driven in part by a desire to anchor each property in its own city.

"We always work with local designers, to try to become part of the place where we are," Peng says.

The key project partner for the Old Clare Hotel was Sydney architectural firm Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, known for other post-industrial projects, such as Carriageworks and the Paddington Reservoir.

Although each of Peng's projects is different, they share a few key principles: most importantly, the desire to cater for locals as well as visitors.

Restaurants are a key element. The Old Clare's first two restaurants, Automata and Silvereye, are already doing brisk business, while Kensington Street Social will open later this year. The hotel bar has quickly established itself as a popular hangout for locals.

The success of these hip hotels has not escaped the attention of the industry's corporate players. In an attempt to capture a share of the market, big names such as Hyatt, Starwood and Marriott have launched sub-brands targeting the cool-hunting traveller, with varying degrees of success.

Lima considers Starwood to have done "an incredibly good job overall" with its designer W brand.

However, he notes that the larger players use established industry names to create their hip hotels, instead of the up-and-coming talents championed by boutique brands.

"They are still playing it safe," says Lima. By contrast, Peng says that each new project requires a "leap of faith". His risk-taking approach looks set to continue to reap rewards for some time to come.

The Old Clare Hotel, 1 Kensington Street, Chippendale, Sydney. Doubles from $251.10 per night. Phone (02) 8277 8277. See theoldclarehotel.com.au; unlistedcollection.com.

THEIR WAY OR NO WAY: THE HOTEL STYLE-SETTERS

THE BRAND Grupo Habita

FLAGSHIP PROPERTY Hotel Americano, Chelsea (and 12 other locations, including Mexico City, Playa del Carmen and opening soon in Chicago).

THE VIBE Mad Men meets Japanese Zen den. Located hard by the High Line in one of NYC's hippest 'hoods, the Americano encourages its guests to get out and about, with free bikes and plenty of insider neighbourhood tips. Given the cool factor of the in-house restaurants and bars – Beyonce has been known to drop in – it is no surprise that many guests prefer to stay put.

THE LOOK Clean lines softened by tactile fabrics. The platform beds in wood-lined sleeping pods are one of the hotel's most talked-about features.

QUIRKY PERK Room service is delivered in Bento boxes.

See grupohabita.mx

THE BRAND Firmdale Hotels

FLAGSHIP PROPERTY Ham Yard Hotel, London (and eight other London locations, plus a New York property).

THE VIBE Not so much a hotel as an urban village in the heart of Soho, the Ham Yard is centred around a tree-filled pedestrian space. There are 13 carefully-selected stores, a restaurant and bar, a library, a spa, an orangery – even a theatre.

THE LOOK Design director Kit Kemp has won a following for her eye-catching but restrained style, which teams bold colours and contrasting patterns with muted backdrops and one-off pieces. Keep an eye out for smart technology, such as the touch screen television remotes: sketch a number four with your finger, and the television will switch to Channel Four.

QUIRKY PERK An authentic 1950s bowling alley imported from Texas.

See firmdalehotels.com

THE BRAND 25 Hours

FLAGSHIP PROPERTY 25 Hours Bikini Hotel, Berlin (also properties in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich).

THE VIBE A bastion of hip in West Berlin, 25 Hours offers a party vibe and attitude: its do-not-disturb sign reads, "please place Aspirin in front of the door and leave". This is a hotel designed for hanging out, with a funky rooftop bar and restaurant, as well as an Airstream food truck.

THE LOOK Glossy black interiors, lights that fade from red to yellow to green, double-sided mirrors suspended from the ceiling.

QUIRKY PERK Guests get free use of a Mini.

See 25hours-hotels.com

THE BRAND Ace Hotels

FLAGSHIP PROPERTY Downtown Los Angeles (plus six other locations, with a Pittsburgh outpost set to open)

THE VIBE The first Ace Hotel in Seattle was the original hipster hotel. Other properties rushed to follow its blend of street art and vintage furniture set to an indie pop soundtrack. Ace devotees tend to be a creative crowd who love its rule-bending quirks, such as offering bunk beds and shared bathrooms alongside more upmarket lodgings.

THE LOOK Housed in one of Downtown LA's grandest landmarks, the ornate United Artists building, the hotel's minimalist interiors contrast strikingly with the building's soaring spires.

QUIRKY PERK Unleash your inner musician in the loft suites, where in-room amenities include a Martin guitar.

See acehotel.com

THE BRAND The House Collective

FLAGSHIP PROPERTY The Temple House, Chengdu (plus The Opposite House, Beijing, and the Upper House, Hong Kong)

THE VIBE Sleek and chic, the House Collective garnered attention for its first property in Beijing, housed in an attention-getting glass box. Since then, it has built a strong following for its East-meets-West aesthetic and its creative use of technology. In-room sensors ensure housekeeping staff will never accidentally disturb you; checking out is as simple as sending an email.

THE LOOK The modern hotel towers stand in contrast to the surrounding heritage precinct – the neighbouring Dachin temple is said to be 1000 years old – but the interiors draw on traditional Chinese aesthetics, from the ubiquitous dark wood to the latticed wooden screens. The bamboo furniture is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Chengdu's status as global panda HQ.

QUIRKY PERK Where else do you enter a modern hotel through a 400-year-old courtyard surrounded by high carved wooden walls?

See swirehotels.com

SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Little points of difference can make a big impact in the hotel world, as these hotels from around the world have discovered.

COCKTAIL HOUR Why meet for drinks at the bar when you can enjoy a tete a tete beverage in the privacy of your room? At the Surrey Hotel on New York's Upper East Side, a professional bartender will mix up drinks for you in your room. See thesurrey.com.

BATH TIME Forget brand-name toiletries: true luxury is choosing the soap that matches your mood. At Mexico's Viceroy Riviera Maya, the soap concierge will present a range of seasonal soaps for your edification, from cinnamon to chocolate to melon. Can't decide? Take a couple to try out. See viceroyhotelsandresorts.com.

SELECT YOUR SOUNDTRACK Plenty of hotels now employ a musicologist to compile their in-house beats; at Prague's Aria hotel, the musicologist will help you find some new sounds amid the hotel's 1000-disc music library. See ariahotel.net.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE An out-of-whack body clock can be a real nuisance, and The Ace Hotel NYC feels your pain. They'll deliver a hit of freshly-brewed Stumptown – a favourite of coffee connoisseurs – to your room 24 hours a day. See acehotel.com/newyork.

BREATHE DEEP The Little Nell is Aspen's coolest ski resort, so you would expect to find some little extras in their room. Canned oxygen in the mini-bar gives an unexpected boost to those feeling the effects of altitude. See thelittlenell.com.