Tag: Unusual Hotels
View All TagsIce Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Romania Hotels / Winter Hotels / Snow Hotels / → All Tags
Get Down with Dracula at Romania's Rebuilt Ice Hotel This Season
Eerily sculpted headboards adorn rooms at the Balea Lac Ice Hotel
It's been over a year since we last reported on an ice hotel, which we took as a sign that the kitschy travel trend had seen its final day pass. But rounding out this unusually mild winter season is news about the latest contender in (relatively) cheap and chilly accommodations: Romania.
The Balea Lac is one in a series of European icy lodgings that are rebuilt to compensate for melting and other seasonal changes. Temperatures inside top off at a spine-tingling 35 degrees Fahrenheit, though rest assured, every stay includes a "specialist sleeping bag" and some furs.
Odd Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Paris Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Don't Step Outside Your Bubble at The BubbleTree Hotel
Where: France
While we wait for the W Paris to open, there's another funky hotel we can check into just outside the city--The BubbleTree Hotel at Chateau Mal-maison, the former home of Napoleon’s wife, Josephine de Beauharnais .
The WSJ reports on this unusual kind of outdoor hotel where the rooms are actually self-enclosed "bubbles." The French designer, Pierre-Stephane Dumas, said:
“It’s a structure without a frame, and so we send air into it to continually hold the structure up. This allows us at once to continually renew the air and avoid condensation and humidity. That avoids a problem frequently encountered in tents, so that we have a truly healthy habitat.”
Odd Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Mexico Hotels / → All Tags
Head To Mexico For Some Quality Tube Time
In terms of oddly-shaped hotel rooms, we'd say the cardboard hotel and Sweden's Icehotel stand out prominently in our minds. But eco-news site Treehugger tipped us off to the Tubohotel, whose rooms are made out of recycled concrete tubes. Perhaps not the kind of hotel room you'd want to stay whilst recovering from plastic surgery, but a winner if you're traveling through Mexico on a shoestring budget—rooms go for a very reasonable $43 per night (or 500 pesos, for those who are already on the plane) and rates stay fixed all year round.
The hotel (we use the term liberally) is located in Tepoztlan, a 45 minute drive south of Mexico City. We laughed out loud while browsing their website—directions to the property include phrases like: "Ask Uncle Pepe, he will show you," and "just like in life, Young Jedi, there are many ways to arrive at your chosen destination." We couldn't agree more, Tubohotel. Now, any wisdom on how to make other hotels as cool as you?
Yurts / HotelChatter Reviews / Big Sur Hotels / Glamping / Unusual Hotels / → All Tags
Do Go Back To Big Sur, As Long As It's At Treebones
It says a lot about the place you’re staying when a yurt is the pedestrian option, but that’s how we felt when we booked two nights at Treebones Resort the week before last.
See, the reason we were really heading up to Big Sur was because we wanted to stay in The Nest – the treehouse perched on a bluff overlooking Highway 1 and the Pacific. But, thanks to its being booked up months in advance, The Nest was only free on our second night. So the first, we luxed up in a yurt.
Our yurt, 12, qualified as a partial ocean view – although we didn’t get much enjoyment from said view because our first day was freezing cold. But there were two chairs on the deck that we could have enjoyed it from, had we brought our longjohns.
The yurt itself was basic but spotless and comfy, too: a queen bed with, for once, a pretty quilt, a futon, a sink (with an eminently stealable bar of handmade lemongrass soap, spring water from their own underground aquifer and compostable cups) and towels. There was a small heater and, for those (um, us) who were still too cold with that, reception had more to loan out. The end result? Toasty.
As for the bathrooms, there were male and female blocks of toilets and showers up by the reception and lounge area – three showers and three toilets for the women, and two showers for the men – as well as one male and female toilet over the far side of the site. They were pretty clean, considering there are the inhabitants of 16 yurts using them. And we never saw a line for the showers over the two days.
Treehouse Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / Unusual Hotels / Big Sur Hotels / Yurts / Glamping / → All Tags
Flying The Nest Isn't Easy When It's In Big Sur
There are hotels that look like Chinese gods, motels in the shape of a dog and now we present our lodging from last Monday night: a human-sized bird’s nest perched on top of Highway 1 in Big Sur.
The treehouse, which is actually called The Nest is one of the accommodation options at Treebones Resort – you can either choose a yurt (more on those another time), full-on camping, or this. Although, if you book the nest, you’ll be required to pitch a tent just below it, in case the weather’s too bad to sleep in the nest (it’s bang on a ridge overlooking Highway 1 and the Pacific, so it’s the windiest part of the property). And seeing as Big Sur is, as we found out this weekend, pretty damp and foggy anyway, whatever the time of year, it’s not a bed for the fainthearted.
Hotel Architecture / Unusual Hotels / Odd Hotels / China Hotels / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags
Hotel Balls of Fury? China to Open Ping Pong Paddle Hotel
We couldn't ask for anything better to break up the monotony of a slow news day than the announcement of a Ping-Pong Paddle Hotel.
The hotel is being constructed in the city of Huainan, China as part of a $45.8 million sports complex which will have a main stadium shaped like an American football and smaller facilities shaped like a basketball, volleyball and a soccer ball.
But the pinnacle of this complex will no doubt be the Ping Pong Paddle Hotel. AOL Travel has more on this awesome-shaped hotel:
The China Daily newspaper reports rounded guestroom windows will resemble the surface texture of a table tennis racket, while the "handle" of the 500-foot hotel will be an observation deck, allowing tourists to take in a view of the city of Huainan, where the hotel will be built.
Unusual Hotels / Odd Hotels / Pop-Up Hotels / Madrid Hotels / WTF Hotel News / → All Tags
What A Load Of Garbage: The Rubbish Hotel
Where: Madrid, Spain
We’ve stayed in some gross hotels before but nothing quite as trashy as this one.
Corona’s Save The Beach Hotel is made out of 12 tons of rubbish gathered from beaches around the world. The idea behind the hotel is to raise awareness of the campaign to keep beaches litter free and stop people using the ocean as a garbage dump. However, like yesterday's trash, this hotel has already been hauled off to the junk yard.
The 'boutique' hotel was only open for four days in Madrid on January 19th but the five double rooms were fully booked for the whole time. A rubbish hotel that sells out--impressive!
Sweet Suites / Ice Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Sweden Hotels / → All Tags
The Icehotel Gets Even Cooler with a 'Tron'-Inspired Suite
The Swedish Icehotel attracts adventurous types with its all-ice accommodations 12 miles north of the Arctic Circle. But the sci-fi squad and design geeks will want to make reservations at the hotel to check out the new Tron-themed suite.
Inspired by a nightclub the upcoming Tron: Legacy flick, the "Legacy of the River" suite is pimped out with futuristic lights using technology the hotel's never used in its 20-year history.
Unusual Hotels / Germany Hotels / Odd Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Got the Munchies for a Hotel Room? Then Spend a Night at The Food Hotel
A food snob's dream hotel is probably a place where after indulging in a seven-course tasting menu from one of the world's best chef, they could just roll themselves into an elevator and head up to a spacious hotel room (and order some room service.)
But for someone who's got the munchies instead, their dream hotel might just be an actual hotel inspired by a supermarket.
In Neuwid, Germany, The Food Hotel has opened with lobby furniture that looks like soup cans, tables and cushions in the guestrooms that are shaped like biscuits and theme rooms inspired by supermarket food and drinks. Oh and the hotel's logo is a barcode.
Thirty six of Germany's biggest supermarket names teamed up with the hotel to create rooms designed around their product however they wanted. Reuters reports:
Ice Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Odd Hotels / Sweden Hotels / → All Tags
Looking for a Wintry Getaway? Sweden's Icehotel Will Reopen Next Month
While we hate it when we walk into a hotel room and the A/C is blasting a below 72-degree temperature, we'll have to make an exception at The Icehotel, which is opening for the season early next month in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.
The hotel is actually an 80-room hostel which is rebuilt annually from snow and crystal-clear ice.
The Icehotel is a spot where half the fun is in staying there. It begins from the moment that you open the main, reindeer-skin-clad doors and are greeted by a grand, ice-pillared hallway illuminated by a spectacular ice chandelier. The interior temperature, hovering around 23 degrees Fahrenheit, actually feels almost balmy, especially when compared to the outside temperature which can drop to minus 34 Fahrenheit.
Balmy? We'll see about that. Guests do get special gear to wear during their stay such as a one-piece thermal suit, mittens, hat and thermal waterproof boots. At night, you'll snuggle down into your thermal sleeping bags.
The room categories at the Icehotel start at a standard Snow Room and work up to an Ice Room (complete with actual ice "furniture") and the Art Suite (individually themed with ice art). Looking for a special getaway for your honeymoon? The Art Suite has lockable doors and double sleeping bags available. We're guessing that candles are out of the question though. (Incredibly, the hotel has a very popular Ice Chapel where several weddings are held each season.)
Underwater Hotels / Odd Hotels / Unusual Hotels / Key Largo Hotels / → All Tags
The Original Underwater Hotel is Still Alive and Kicking
What better way to follow up yesterday's story on the latest Space Hotel with an update on the progress of another ambitious category of hotels? Underwater Hotels!
Fortunately for you adventure-seekers, underwater hotels seem to be more "do-able" than Space Hotels. While Istanbul, Dubai and the Bahamas have still not opened their planned underwater hotels, we have seen an underwater suite open at the Conrad Maldives.
However, if you truly want an underwater hotel experience, the place to be under the sea remains the Jules Undersea Lodge (named after explorer Jules Verne) in Key Largo, Fla. We discovered this place way back in 2003 and it looks like not much has changed since then or since the hotel first opened (as evidenced by this photo found on their website.)
Guests still have to scuba dive 21ft down to the bottom of a lagoon before swimming into the hotel's "entrance."
Space Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Hype / Unusual Hotels / Energia / → All Tags
How Many More Times Do We Have to Hear About a 'Planned' Space Hotel?
Space Hotels might just be another flash in the sky.
Here's yet another Space Hotel making the rounds on the interwebs today. A Russian firm, Energia, has teamed up with Orbital Technologies to create a hotel that no one except wealthy billionaires will be able to afford. Their space hotel will essentially be a private space station that can fit up to seven people. ABC News reports:
The hotel will provide facilities for scientific research, media projects and entertainment and will be able to dock with Russia's Soyuz manned spacecraft and Progress transport craft, Orbital said in a statement.
Private investors have pledged to commit between $100 million and $1 billion, said [Alexander Derechin, the company's chief designer.] Orbital said several customers have already signed contracts.
"I do not think we will be able to complete it before 2015 but I do not think we should wait much beyond that. The competition is growing and we need to hurry up," Derechin said.
Popular Stories
Follow Us
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
