10 Stylish Black-Owned Boutique Hotels Across the U.S. to Book on Your Next Trip
As any owner of an inn, boutique hotel, or bed-and-breakfast already knows, it’s much easier to stamp your design style onto a smaller footprint than a sprawling resort. You don’t have to run design decisions up the corporate flagpole. You just hang that art on the wall or primp the throw pillows just so.
In recent years, more and more Black entrepreneurs in love with history and culture have opened cool, stylish places to bunk for the night. From Martha’s Vineyard to New Orleans—and urban spots like Houston, Miami, and Brooklyn—here are 10 of the best Black-owned, stylish boutique properties across the country. The largest one has 25 rooms, contributing towards an even more intimate stay.
The Copper Door B&B
Where: Miami, Florida
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Jamila Ross and Akino West opened this 25-room revamp of the former Demtree Hotel in 2018, preserving the building’s original mosaic-tile entry, terrazzo floors, and crown molding—and weaving in Raleigh Hotel’s original vanities. It’s tucked into Overtown, Miami’s historic Black neighborhood. Beyonce’s Beygood Foundation awarded them a $10,000 grant a year later. Some furnishings were refurbished, such as the original front desk, and Black artists show their works near the entry. Merging vintage Hawaii with South Beach glam, rooms are awash in rattan, wicker peacock chairs, and vibrant floral patterns. Named for Ross’ mother, Rosie’s is the B&B’s breakfast and lunch spot.
La Maison in Midtown
Where: Houston, Texas
With just seven rooms, owners Genora Boykins and Sharon Owens can really get to know their B&B guests. And if you think this is an inn decked out with lace, clawfoot tubs, and Victorian-era furnishings, think again. The three-story home was only built in 2010 and features pops of orange, red, sage, chocolate brown, and gold against a creamy palette, paired with modern jetted tubs, rain showers, and walk-in showers. Most rooms boast verandas for taking in the city view, in privacy.
The Oak Bluffs Inn
Where: Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Rhonda and Eric Albert’s 10-room inn is within a former private residence—a gorgeous Victorian—dating back to 1870. They snapped up the building in 1998 and debuted their inn shortly after, hosting guests like Wynton Marsalis, Woody Harrelson, Bell Hooks, and Spike Lee over the years. Rooms are light, bright, and airy with nods to the nearby seashore (coral, birds, bluffs, and the beach) through photographs, tapestries, and more. Because the inn’s in a popular summertime destination, it’s open April through December only.
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Akwaaba Mansion
Where: Brooklyn, New York
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Monique Greenwood and Glenn Pogue have been so successful with this four-room Brooklyn pad they expanded the Akwaaba brand into a full-on collection, with similarly intimate properties in Washington, D.C.; Cape May, New Jersey; Philadelphia; and Pennsylvania’s the Poconos. In Brooklyn’s Stuyvesant Heights, travelers’ home base is an 1860s Italianate-style villa—high ceilings, glam fireplaces, sun porch, antiques-stuffed rooms, courtyard and all.
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The Ivy Hotel
Where: Baltimore, Maryland
When they opened in 2014, Eddie and Sylvia Brown carved out a memorable stay in this downtown 1889 brownstone that, despite having only 17 rooms, packs in all the amenities you’d find at a resort. This includes a spa, a restaurant (Magdalena, A Maryland Bistro), and a garden. And yet you’ll also find B&B-type spaces, like the library filled with books and a piano just itching to be played. No two of the contemporary-styled rooms are the same—other than the luxe materials used to design them, such as heated limestone flooring and four-poster beds.
The Dive Motel & Swim Club
Where: Nashville, Tennessee
Blending the laid-back vibe of a retro motor lodge with a hip pool and bar scene, this 23-room motel reopened under its new name and brand in 2019. Jersey Banks and Lyon Porter are the design masterminds behind the Urban Cowboy brand in Nashville and New York (Brooklyn and the Catskills), marked by upholstered leather, warm-stained wood, and earth tones throughout. For The Dive Motel & Swim Club, their sensibilities skewed lighter and brighter, such as—unique to each room—yellow and pink shag bedspreads, nature-inspired cabin décor, vivid patterned wallpaper, and hand-painted wall murals. Flip the “party switch” in each room and a disco ball spins in tune with the music. Checkerboard flooring, an A-frame ceiling, a Malm-style fireplace, and vinyl booths are in the bar.
Hubbard Mansion Bed & Breakfast
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana civil-rights leader Don Hubbard opened this five-room Greek Revival inn (plus two apartments) in 2000 with his late wife, Rose, adopting a design inspired by a mansion in Natchez, Mississippi. He now runs the Garden District inn with his companion, Sheila. Each of the rooms (no two are the same) is designed with antiques, with amenities like a four-poster bed, clawfoot tub, crown-canopy bed, marble-topped dresser, French armoire, and a slipper couch.
Magnolia House Inn
Where: Hampton, Virginia
So impeccably restored is Lankford and Joyce Blair’s historic three-room B&B it’s earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The full breakfast won’t leave you hungry as it folds in seafood, turkey sausage, pastries, and fresh fruit. Dubbed The Haven (with Queen Anne chairs and an 1885 fireplace), The Writer’s Suite, and The Ellington Suite (an ode to the 1940s plus a tub featuring light therapy), each room is uniquely designed.
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Yellow Block Bed & Breakfast
Where: Brooklyn, New York
If this eight-bedroom, five-bath B&B’s vivid interiors look familiar, there’s a reason: it appeared on the Netflix show Stay Here. Gordy Jackson’s brownstone—designed to be a total buy-out for groups of up to 20—is in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood. A rental allows access to four levels featuring a communal-style chef-grade kitchen, laundry facilities, outdoor patio and garden (there’s room to BBQ) and, of course, the guest rooms and baths. A bright and cheery living and dining area is joined by cool architectural details in the rooms, such as whitewashed walls, leaf-motif wallpaper, glam light fixtures, and potted succulents.
The Captain Farris House Bed & Breakfast
Where: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Staying at the former home of an affluent sea captain might mean lingering on the porch’s Adirondack chairs or over afternoon tea, which is just how the 10-room Greek Revival B&B’s owners, Jeff and Carol Watson, wants you to take in the property. The home may have been built in 1845 but it’s been thoughtfully preserved. Guest rooms are accented by neutrals and pastel hues while featuring gas fireplaces, four-poster and sleigh beds, armoires and wardrobes, and whirlpool tubs that blend modern luxury with historic charm.
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