Right now, at 10 o'clock on a wet Tuesday morning, attentive chefs are working in the kitchen-cum-laboratory, not just with foodstuffs but also Nasa-style machinery, test tubes and, no doubt, magic potions. The rooms are like wooden boxes, with no windows but with glass ceilings, and each has one huge mattress. Absolutely amazing, but not a place to stay if you're claustrophobic." Puro, Mallorca, Spain "The Puro is very cutting-edge. It's one of the only hotels where guests can enjoy lots of services not directly connected to the hotel.
And the oversized lobby is fantastically designed." The Outpost, Kruger National Park, South Africa "These stand-alone lofts literally hang off a cliff and overlook the Kruger National Park. The Puro hotel is in Mallorca's old town, next to the cathedral. But guests can also make use of the Puro Beach Club at Palma beach. It's a day spa with nightclub attached, a completely new concept in holistic pampering." To request a hard copy of Fuelled please email ismailbox independent.co.uk with all your postal details. When I saw this hotel, I realised we couldn't rate hotels in a traditional way. Especially, as in this case, where the rooms only have one wall It is an unbelievable experience waking up there. You can see for miles." Costa Lanta, Krabi, Thailand "This hotel, on Lanta Island is very futuristic.
"But then I wouldn't do anything I didn't want to." It's at this point you understand the crux of his vision. If all our future lives are as flexible and full of choice as Sendlinger's, then the future is very bright indeed. For more information on the company, visit CLAUS SENDLINGER PICKS HIS FAVOURITE FUTURISTIC HOTELS Semiramis Hotel, Athens, Greece "The hotel's architect, Karim Rashid's approach to design is so innovative and colourful and the hotel uses some great new materials It also has some fantastically funny elements. A bikini which dissolves in water provided in every bathroom? Hilarious." Hillside Su Hotel, Antalya, Turkey "With everything in this hotel all white, Hillside Su is, visually, incredibly futuristic None of the rooms have any furniture in them Instead the rooms are all cement and mattresses. "But we're strict about who we accept." Last year, he was approached by 100 hotels - 23 got in "I love what I do," Sendlinger says. He is about to marry his 29-year-old girlfriend, a Russian photographer he met in New York, and Design Hotels, a lively 35-strong team with outposts in Barcelona, Tokyo, London, New York and Bali, is thriving "People beg us to get on our books They offer to pay double fees, anything," he grins. "Sure, you need one place in the world that you can call home, but why can't you bulk buy 60 nights a year in a New York boutique hotel, if that's what you need? Residences and apartments in hotels - a place you can call home, but where someone else does your laundry - will become the norm." If it sounds a bit rootless, there are far worse things than living the Sendlinger way.