http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2009-11-25T03:17:15Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Odd%20Hotels http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/11/17/92251/157 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/HAMSTER_1524575c.jpg" class="top"><p> And we though <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fursuit">Furries</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plushophile">Plushies</a> were bad but it turns out there might be a whole other subculture of people who want to live like <b>hamsters</b>. Yes, hamsters. Your fourth grade class pet. At least that's what two architects in France, Frederic Tabary (pictured as a hamster) and Yann Falquerho, are hoping. <p>The duo who run a company that rents out "unusual venues to adventure-seekers" have created a "hotel room" inside an 18th century building that resembles the inside of a hamster's cage, complete with a giant hamster wheel. You sleep in hay stacks and feast on hamster grain and when you get bored you can go for a run.<p>The cost is 99 Euros juliana 2009-11-17T09:26:33-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/10/20/11826/985 <![CDATA[<p><!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> </div> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience45515634001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="486" /> <param name="height" value="412" /> <param name="playerID" value="4862856001" /> <param name="publisherID" value="1321358962"/> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="45515634001" /> </object> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --><p>We learned several things from our visit to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/egypt%20hotels"><b>Egypt</b></a> last week. <b>First</b>, five star there does not necessarily mean the five star that you would be accustomed to. We stayed in three five star properties in the Sinai peninsula &#150; the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Four+Seasons+Sharm+El+Sheik/ian/184387"><b>Four Seasons</b></a> and the <a href=http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Concorde+El+Salam+Sharm+El+Shei/ian/197999"><b>Concorde</b></a> in <b>Sharm El Sheikh</b>, and the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Intercontinental+Taba+Heights/ian/262984"><b>Intercontinental</b></a> in <b>Taba Heights</b>, and, unless you count all inclusive buffets and slightly tired decor juliab 2009-10-20T11:58:40-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/9/17/17163/6140 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/titanicmodel.jpg" class="top"><p> Hmm...you definitely can't say it's "too soon" for a <b>Titanic-themed hotel</b> to open in Belfast but we're not so sure if we're loving the idea of a hotel that's built around a tragedy. But thanatourists will love this place.<p> According to the <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/belfast-plans-titanic-hotel-14482199.html">Belfast Telegraph</a>, a five-star 90-room hotel with a swimming pool, a gymnasium and a Titanic theme has been announced for the old Harland and Wolff Headquarters building at Queen's Island in Belfast, near where the doomed ship was constructed. <p>The hotel, if plans are approved, will be part of a larger revitalization project called the Titanic Signature Project, which seeks to restore the Thompson Dock and the slipways where the Titanic and her sister juliana 2009-09-17T17:49:20-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/20/154552/009 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/zerostardormnoppl1.jpg" class="top"> <p>We're all about odd and unusual hotel offerings today, but seriously now: who would want to stay at a "zero-star hotel"? No-frills is one thing, but <i>anti</i>-luxury is an experiment in inconvenience and unwelcome irony that we are not so into. But maybe <i>you're</i> into that sort of thing. It's "art." So they say. <p>We mentioned the <b><A href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/1/20/10033/5972/hotels/Zero_Desire_to_Stay_at_Switzerland_s_Zero_Star_Hotel">Null Stern Hotel</a></b> in Switzerland back in January: two brothers came up with (and run) this hotel concept as an art installation slash business venture; inside a subterranean Swiss air raid shelter, "hotel rooms" are arranged sleeper-dormitory-style, with no walls between beds, a shared bath, and limited hot water. Instead of heaters, there are rubber hot water bottles hanging Jenna 2009-04-20T15:46:36-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/20/8502/18260 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/blowup5050.jpg" class="top"><p><i>A candidate for our <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/13/233311/852/hotels/Best_Geek_Hotels_in_2009">Geek Hotels 2010</a> list.</i><p> It makes sense that a luxury hotel decked out in electronic art would be located somewhere between Berlin and Krakow. (Or, for that matter, floating round a tin can far above the moon). <a href="http://www.blowuphall5050.com"><b>Blow Up Hall 50 50</b></a> opened up last month in Poznan, Poland and it has taken interactive art to inhabitable levels. <p>Guests figuratively should take their protein pills and put their helmets on before entering the black-walled foyer flanked with a video installation created by Tate museum display artist <b>Rafael Lozano-Hemmer</b>. Think meta-meta: 2,400 CCTV scrambled images of the hotel's guests doing whatever they do in the hotel lobby recorded for art's sake. Thankfully, this shiralevine 2009-04-20T15:13:51-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/