You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
An anti-view is not always a bad thing, according to the Kalense Kid. Don't by fooled by his arty black-and-white rendering of this anti-view: Room 19 at the Maison du Chêne in Maastricht does not have a pretty outlook. As the Kid says,
This room comes with a view, at no extra cost. If you like looking at walls, it's a stunning view.
The surprise is that he actually totally recommends this room. Apparently it's at the back of the hotel, at the top of its own private staircase, and is the quietest room--perfect for a good night's sleep. So if you're in Maastricht for business or sightseeing, but not for luxurious views, check this room out. Average rates are under a hundred bucks so it won't break your budget either.
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.
With a name like the Controversy Tram Hotel, we were kind of expecting a great tale of social injustice and government corruption to be behind this unusual hotel in Hoogwoud, the Netherlands. Not to be. It's simply named after a Prince album the owners loved.
The accommodation here consists of two former street trams converted into four themed bedrooms: Italian and French (you can smoke in both of these) and English and American (non-smoking). The owners' house is next door, and includes a London double-decker bus installed in the living room, which they've converted to a bedroom. On site is also a video library, converted from an oil rig escape pod (but looking far more like a UFO).
If you haven't already worked out that owners Frank and Irma are just a little bit crazy, you would probably learn this soon after arrival. But their prices are very reasonable, with a night in a tram costing 60 Euros (about $80), less if you book consecutive nights. Five-star comfort it's not, but five-star weird it is.
2 Comments - Add Yours
by amandak
