Dive Brief:
- Hotel Daphne, the latest boutique property under the Bunkhouse Hotels brand, opened in Houston, the brand announced last week.
- The 49-key hotel blends design and community and includes an Italian-style restaurant and bar, as well as a library and small private event space. In addition, the hotel features a signature retail shop inspired by the surrounding Heights neighborhood.
- With the hotel, Austin, Texas-based Bunkhouse fortifies its presence in Texas, where it operates seven of its nine hotels. The brand expansion comes after Hyatt Hotels acquired Bunkhouse in 2024 through the purchase of its parent company, lifestyle hotel operator Standard International.
Dive Insight:
Hotel Daphne’s opening builds on the success of Bunkhouse’s recently opened Hotel Saint Augustine in Houston, as well as the brand’s other Texas hotels in San Jose and Austin, according to the release. Bunkhouse also operates two hotels in Mexico.
With this latest opening, Bunkhouse advances its strategy to offer hotels that celebrate the “rich history and vibrant spirit” of their respective destinations, per the release. Hotel Daphne is the first design-driven boutique property of its kind in Houston’s Heights neighborhood, according to Bunkhouse.
The newly constructed hotel was designed by the brand’s in-house team, with architectural design in collaboration with Blanchard A+D and landscape design by McDugald Steele.
The rooms and suites were designed to add “unexpected fantasy within the serene retreat,” with custom beds framed in dark wood and headboards upholstered in “psychedelic landscape textiles,” per the release. In the lobby, the front desk is wrapped in handmade tile, while a selection of artworks from Texas artists Vernon Fisher and Kent Dorn add “a personal layer of Houston’s artistic spirit.”
Hypsi is the hotel’s all-day restaurant and lounge, led by Chef Terrence Gallivan, a two-time James Beard Award nominee and former chef of the Michelin-starred Alto in New York. The concept was “inspired by the private drinking clubs that thrived in the Heights during Prohibition,” according to the release.
Hotel Daphne joins other Bunkhouse hotels operating under World of Hyatt, after the brand joined the loyalty program earlier this year following Hyatt’s Standard International acquisition.
Some Bunkhouse-branded hotels have since converted under different Hyatt brands, including Hotel Genevieve in Louisville, Kentucky, which is now a JdV by Hyatt property.
