If you haven't visited a college campus, secondhand store or seen "Crazy Rich Asians," in which one of the central characters possesses a Jamba Juice freebie card, you may not have heard: Thrift is cool. In hospitality, that spirit has worked its way from Airbnb mania to spinoff hotel brands and independent properties that promise the travel equivalent of fast fashion. "Cheap chic is in," said Chekitan Dev, a professor of marketing at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and the author of "Hospitality Branding." "The cheap chic hotel brand trend is in line with tiny houses and other minimalist lifestyle trends that are sweeping the country." Read more from the NYTimes:

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The struggling artist at 86 Among new hotel introductions heeding the thrifty hip movement, InterContinental Hotels Group just launched Avid, a new brand featuring well-equipped gyms, Chobani yogurt and Kind granola in the breakfast buffets, and rates from $80. The stylish London-based Hoxton hotels made their American debut this month with the Hoxton, Williamsburg in New York, with three restaurants, a rooftop lounge and bed linens from the Brooklyn label Dusen Dusen in $159 rooms. The style-focused consortium Design Hotels recently introduced a "luxe for less" collection with rooms under 200 euros, or about $233. Bargains, of course, are relative to markets and perceptions. The hotel analytics firm STR identifies the average daily rate (known as A.D.R.) at hotels in the top 25 markets in the country over the past year as $130. That averages out places like New York, where annual A.D.R. is $240, along with Detroit at $104. The democratizing-design trend dovetails with the rise of millennial travelers. "At an early stage of their travel cycle, millennials have less money to spend and are extremely value conscious," Prof. Dev said. "They will pay only for those items that give them pleasure, so boring design, bad technology and unnecessary amenities are out and thoughtful and minimal design, fast and free technology and useful amenities are in." But they're not the only ones driving the trend, according to Richard Born, a principal at BD Hotels, which anticipated downsized rooms with its first Pod Hotel in New York in 2007. The five Pod Hotels in New York and Washington, D.C., draw travelers of all ages who tend to share an interest in style. "It's about price, but it's not just about price," Mr. Born said. "It's about price, style, design and experience."

Unscripted Durham Source: Unscripted Durham

Thrifty Brands

Challenged by Airbnb, major hotel groups have been expanding their vertical portfolios downward on the price scale and introducing more updated affordable brands. In addition to Avid, newcomers include Moxy Hotels from Marriott, which embraces a party spirit. At the new Moxy Chicago Downtown, for example, the front desk is a bar, and rooms that look into other rooms across a courtyard come with message boards to communicate things like "Meet me in the lobby" to the voyeur across the way (rooms from $170). The Dream Hotel Group introduced the playful Unscripted brand with its first Unscripted Durham in Durham, N.C., in a former 1960s-vintage motel with a rooftop pool and bar (from $129). It plans future openings in Belize and Mexico. In Israel, Brown Hotels spun off the free-spirited the Dave — Son of a Brown in Tel Aviv, which recently hosted a tattoo artist pop-up shop (from $125). In Japan, Hoshino Resorts launched Omo earlier this year with minimalist design (from about $45).

Source: Hotel Eleven Austin

Tiny Rooms

Aiming to attract diverse travelers, some hotels offer a few tiny rooms at substantial savings. Among 14 rooms, Hotel Eleven in Austin, Tex., offers two 230-square-foot "crashpads" starting at $159. "When people come to Austin, they don't really want to spend time in their hotel rooms," said Mark Vornberg, the hotel's co-owner and architect. "The crashpad was developed as a place to sleep. It still has to have a great bed and a great shower, but it doesn't need a living room. The city is your living room." When the 612-room Moxy Times Square opened in New York last year, it introduced 19 crash pad rooms for $99 each (others from $149). The 120 square-foot crash pads can only be ordered from the menu of the rooftop bar, Magic Hour, after 11 p.m. "Our team anticipated that many of our rooftop patrons would like to 'take the elevator home,' keep the party going and crash downstairs," wrote Mitchell Hochbert, the president of Lightstone, which developed the hotel, in an email. A hotel with a luxe-to-less price range may also better serve groups like wedding parties, where budgets can vary. The East Austin Hotel, opening in November with a courtyard pool, restaurant and rooftop bar, will house 75 rooms, including 13 "cabins," or rooms with double beds and shared bathrooms on a single floor, starting at $99. The highest-end poolside suites start at $299. "It's all in one facility because the person that travels in a cabin this year may in fact want a poolside cabana next time," said Jeff Trigger, the founder and president of La Corsha Hospitality Group, which owns the East Austin. "The people that are going to stay in our place want that eclectic style. They're not coming to be in an environment where everybody is the same."

Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco

Bargains by Design