There's one thing that instantly annoys us about the ABode Hotel Glasgow: that arty capitalization of the second letter. Any self-respecting word processing software immediately whips that "B" into a lowercase letter, and so it should, we think.
But let's get beyond such pedantic issues for a second. The ABode in Glasgow has promise: we like that its 59 rooms are classified into four levels, comfortable, desirable, enviable and fabulous. (Much like W Hotels categories of rooms--wonderful, spectacular, fabulous, mega, wow, etc.")
Plus, it's centrally located near train stations and they give you free WiFi in the café. So far so good.
The NY Times dropped by Sydney's new art hotel, The Storrier, over the weekend, and gave it a pretty reasonable write-up. The Storrier's the first in a new chain of art hotels being done by the A Hotels Group--they're planning to have seven art-themed hotels up and running by 2010.
For a Sydney hotel, The Storrier is a little out of the way in Potts Point (and verging on Kings Cross), but it's in a great art deco building that kind of makes up for the distance to town. The NYT review doesn't really sell us on the décor, which it describes as "minimalist, vaguel 1980s-style", but cheap and fancy breakfasts definitely appeal to us. Back to the downside, though, WiFi is available but only for the ridiculous fee of A$10 (US$9.50) an hour or A$29.95 ($28.50) for the day.
So why should we stay at The Storrier? Well, the hotel itself has this to say:
The Storrier is the ultimate cocoon in which to chill and the ideal retreat to return to after burning the rope at both ends.
Poetic, and almost convincing. More persuasive is the fact that The Storrier comes at a reasonable price, from A$185 (US$175) a night.
If you're the type of traveler who only visits cities steeped in art history and who requires that the place you lay your head be it's own work of art, we've found your dream hotel package.
Madrid's art scene is so embedded in the city that even hotels are in on the action, particularly the Urban, a Design Hotel that not only is avant-garde in its design, but also houses it's own art collection, featuring original Oriental and Egyptian art work.
Through the end of the year, the hotel is running a promotion that includes two nights in a double room, a welcome bottle of Spanish red wine, daily buffet breakfast and newspaper, parking, late checkout and a Madrid Card for a day, which earns you free entry to all Madrid's museums, including the famed Prado and Thyssen. Per person prices start at $355. Be sure to mention package code GCMD121 when booking.
It's not just celebrity chefs that are getting in on the hotel scene. Fashion designers, too and they've been doing it a lot longer than the chefs.
Like in the fashion capital of Italy, Florence. The Gallery Hotel Art, one of Florence's first real design boutique hotels, is owned by the son of the Italian fashion designer Salvatore Ferragamo. If you like the hotel and have a lot of money, you can buy the clothes to match, in the Salvatore Ferragamo shop on via Tornabuoni (aka shopping street).
Luvvy friend's just raved to us about this super-trendy art hotel in the centre of the butt-spankingly cool city of Berlin in Germany. It's called the Propeller Island City Lodge", but it's nothing to do with propellers, islands, or lodges. It's to do with bizarre, contemporary art and freaky design fantasy.
You see, we have this huge great ego, and the place seems made for us: "a magnet for creative individuals, those weary of consumption, those who see things differently, philosophers and seekers of perspective and vision." Describes us down to a 'T'.
Not only that, the website alleges: "frequented by personalities from around the globe, this vision machine is a much-desired shooting site for photo sessions and video clips." There's our springboard for a modelling career.
If staying in hotels where artists have gone wild in the design process is your thing, then Budget Travel has just published the ideal art hotel round-up for you. Their list features hotels across three continents that have just one thing in common: every room is a grand work of art where you should expect the unexpected.
In the Netherlands, for example, the St Christopher's at the Winston, has now retreated from its previously far, far out art that included animal corpses to room designs with highly energetic walls and paintings (pictured above)--interesting to look at, but we're not sure if we could get any sleep.
It all sounds very convenient, and it does seem to be happening more and more: hotels are making a big deal about displaying impressive collections of art work, to the point where they're starting to sound like art galleries.
While we've never actually chosen a hotel based on the artwork, there must be someone who does, or there wouldn't be so many hotels going to the effort of hanging expensive stuff on their walls.
The NYT's The Moment blog just did a bit of cubicle dreaming about some appropriate hotel and artist match-ups that they'd like to see ... for example, they figure that the ultra-expensive Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi would make a great home to a few pieces from Damien Hirst, the English guy who covered a platinum skull with diamonds and called it "For the Love of God"--it sold again at auction in August for $100 million.
Whether or not his dead animals series (he went through a phase of cutting up creatures like sharks and cows and preserving them artistically in formaldehyde) would fit into the Emirates Palace is a whole other question.
The whole discussion of art in hotels arose from the news that the Eden Rock Hotel in St Barths is starting a series of art exhibitions, beginning with Richard Prince from Thursday. Will that entice extra guests to book in? They obviously think so.
You might need sunglasses to watch this video: the Reflections Hotel Bangkok is really bright and colorful, as these visitors recorded. It's an art hotel with 30 distinctive rooms, designed by both Thai and international designers. The gals who recorded this video had this to say:
The coolest hotel in the world. Every room is individually designed in the funkiest way possible. This is a tour of Room 208 that we decided to splash out on on our last night in Thailand.
Cool and funky it surely is, and with superior rooms costing 3600 Baht per night including breakfast, that's not really the big splash out that it sounds like--it's just US$115. There is also a swimming poool and seafood and Japanese restaurants. Remember, each room is different: try picking your room from this amazing menu.
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by amandak
