As this book indicates by means of a careful selection of the country's best examples, the new generation of high-tech hotels being built in Italy - usually in the form of multifunctional accommodation centers that also provide the full range of media facilities - have been rightly dubbed "design hotels" as a means of identifying an entirely new genre of hospitality in which the architectural characteristics not only entail new functions, but also cater to the aesthetics of today's end-user, who expects a valid cultural input as well as premium-quality comfort.