A 39-room conversion of a 1960s Travelodge in Boise's Linen District, the city's only proper design hotel, with the city's best cocktail bar in the lobby and a year-round courtyard fire pit at the centre of the property.
"A 1960s motor lodge taken seriously. The rooms are tight, the courtyard is the point, and the bar pours the best cocktail in Idaho. The Modern is Boise's only hotel a New Yorker will recognise on sight."
The Modern Hotel and Bar opened in 2009 as the second life of a 1960s Travelodge in Boise's Linen District, a small block of warehouse-conversion bars, galleries, and restaurants four blocks west of the State Capitol. The renovation was done by a local team rather than a national operator and the result is the most disciplined small-hotel design in the Pacific Northwest west of the Ace Portland: a long, low U-shape of 39 rooms wrapped around a central courtyard with a fire pit, cedar planters, and the bar at the open end. The vocabulary is mid-century American (oiled walnut, brass, blackened steel, cream wool) crossed with a Scandinavian restraint, with vintage photography of Idaho and an unusually careful curation of furniture by the local Hispanic-Idahoan designer who oversaw the original opening.
The 39 rooms are arranged along the courtyard at single-level access (this is a converted motor lodge, after all), with kings at 240 to 280 square feet and the small but ambitious set of studio suites running to 380 square feet. The room product is the property's most contested element: standards are tight by the standard of the Inn or the Grove, with a single closet pole, a small writing desk, and a glass-enclosed shower bathroom that runs unusually well-lit for a budget-spec rebuild. A handful of studios on the south side carry a Japanese soaking tub, a separate sitting area, and the property's softest morning light. Flat-screens with cable and HBO, free WiFi, and a small Crosley turntable with a vinyl loan from the front desk make the room reads as a quiet curated space rather than a budget motel.
The bar is the property's defining gesture and the reason a serious portion of guests walk in for a drink rather than a night. The room runs cocktails-only Monday through Wednesday (no bar food), then a small kitchen menu Thursday through Sunday, and a Sunday brunch in the courtyard that is the city's quietly best people-watching session. The cocktail program is run by a local team that places annually on the Tales of the Cocktail's Best Hotel Bar shortlist and is the city's only bar consistently mentioned in national press. A continental breakfast spread is served free for guests in the small dining room each morning; bicycles are loaned at no charge for the eight-minute ride to the Greenbelt or downtown.
The Modern does not run a pool, a fitness centre, or meeting rooms. The pitch is design and the bar; the rest of the property's amenities live within a five-block walk in the Linen District itself, which includes Bittercreek Alehouse, the Powerhouse Event Center, a half-dozen galleries, and the Boise Contemporary Theater. The courtyard is the operating heart of the building, with the fire pit running through three of the four seasons and the cedar planters delivering shade for summer brunches. Service across the property is the friendliest small-team operation in Boise: long-tenured front-desk staff, first-name terms by the second morning, and an unmistakable sense the property is run by people who care about it. The Modern Hotel sits comfortably on Conde Nast's annual American boutique-hotel best lists.
For a solo few nights in Boise tied to a writing stretch, a Treefort Music Fest weekend, or a Greenbelt running schedule, the Modern is the friendliest small-hotel booking in the state. The courtyard fire pit absorbs a solo evening, the bar absorbs a solo dinner, and the cedar-shaded rooms are quiet enough for actual focus. Borrow a bike from the front desk, ride the Greenbelt, return for an espresso in the courtyard. The shortest distance between intention and a calm three days.
An anniversary at the Modern reads as the design-literate choice in Boise, deliberately small and warm rather than formal. Book a studio with the Japanese soaking tub for the milestone year, plan dinner at Kin or Bittercreek inside the Linen District, and finish the evening at the bar with the cocktail program that is the property's signature. The brunch in the courtyard the next morning closes the weekend cleanly.
For a small bachelor or bachelorette weekend that wants design over volume, the Modern is the booking. Take three or four connecting rooms along one side of the courtyard, anchor the evenings at the bar (the front desk handles a private welcome cocktail for groups of six or more), and walk to the Linen District restaurants and the 8th Street nightlife block. Quiet enough to be the kind of weekend everyone actually remembers.
1314 West Grove Street
Boise, ID 83702
Linen District; four blocks west of the State Capitol; four miles to BOI airport; 15 minutes by free bicycle to the Greenbelt
39 rooms and studios
Standard Kings from $146/night
Studio Kings from $185/night
Soaking Tub Studios from $230/night
Two-room Connecting Pair from $320/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened 2009; renovated 2018; independently owned
The Modern Bar (cocktails Mon-Wed; kitchen Thu-Sun)
Courtyard fire pit and brunch service
Free continental breakfast
Free bicycle loans
Linen District design hotel
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From $146/night. Studios and soaking-tub rooms book four to six months ahead for the Treefort Music Fest in late March; standard rates are usually available within a fortnight.
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Last updated June 11, 2026
Off peak pricing, suite upgrades, and subscriber only offers, flagged only when the value is real.