East Sussex, UK - There is a strong temptation to book the literally lived-in look through Airbnb, the global home sharing website, with more listings than the top three hotel chains combined. Millennials and Generation Z are the quickest to embrace the home sharing community, so it makes sense that the couple behind Artist Residence, a friendly bunch of fun and friendly hotels are millennials. When I travel I am looking for rejuvenation and inspiration. More and more I click back to Airbnb for accommodation with character, having scrolled through hotel rooms with cookie-cutter furniture. Take creative, characterful interiors and chaps that greet you with a delightfully informal check-in (without the key exchange problems) and hotel groups like Artist Residence have uncovered that sweet spot of cosy, lived-in luxury that makes Airbnb apartments less enticing.

Profiled in the latest issue of Reclaim magazine, Charlie and Justin Salisbury were thrown into the industry after Justin quit university to takeover his mother's Brighton B&B, after she suffered a bad accident. Originally called The Malvern Hotel, a bad, but beneficial appearance on Channel 5's Hotel Inspector, and Justin's creativity to call for artists to decorate rooms in return for board led to Artist Residence. I stayed in Artist Residence Brighton last year, which now occupies two houses on Regency Square with two restaurants and two bars. One of which is speakeasy style, hidden in the basement - just look for the ping pong room and you are close to the cocktails.

In the interview with Reclaim, Justin described their hotels as places they themselves would love to stay. He said "We over-compensated our lack of experience by putting literally our whole life into it." You feel that with the salvage, antiques and art they pick personally. They have built quite the Little Black Book of reclamation yards, artists, fairs and resources like SalvoWEB. Their guestbook also lists real-deal reclaimers, such as Brad Guy, former president of the Building Materials Reuse Association. With Artist Residence hotels in Cornwall, Oxford and London, and a Grade 1 listed building in Bristol underway, Justin and Charlie's launch into interior design seems a natural step.

Read the full interview in Issue 17 of Reclaim magazine