Along with the high room rate, there are certain characteristics to be found in luxury (increasingly called "boutique") hotels these days: The mattresses are Tempur-Pedic; the thread counts of the sheets are 180 or higher; the shower has a deluxe nozzle, and the bathroom has a telephone; the televisions are 54-inch LCD flat panels; rooms are wired for high-speed Internet access; the contemporary artwork on the walls is original. Whoa, original art, and by contemporary artists?

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