Added on
September 27th, 2005:
Unusual Hotels of the World:
http://www.uhotw.com/Home.aspx
We discovered this gem thanks to a post by one
of our travel forum members.
It's always a pleasure finding something
unique online and this is one of those sites that need to be shared around, especially if
you like staying somewhere different; in a hotel that is special - unique even.
Many hotel chains are so brand conscious these
days that their rooms are pretty much the same, whether you stay at their hotel in Berlin
or Paris; right down to the complimentary copy of the Herald Tribune, in the morning.
Some of us prefer to stay in a hotel that has
some character associated with the town, city or country we are travelling in.
Take that one step further and choose to stay
in a hotel that has it's own raison d'ętre; a reason to travel to stay in the hotel
itself - rather than just sleep in a hotel for the night - and you need something really
unique.
If you like staying in places a little
different, check-in to Unusual Hotels of the World, created by Simon Penn and Steve Dobson. It's even worth a browse
if you're an armchair traveller.
Searching Unusual
Hotels
The active server pages throw up a new
featured property every time you visit Unusual Hotels of the World, so the homepage is
always looking fresh - until you've seen all the featured hotels.
Some of the hotels listed on the site are
already familiar to an international audience but dig deep and you could unveil some real
gems.
There were some 130 hotels listed when we
searched, with four hotels to a page being returned. The featured hotels are shown first.
All search returns include a thumbnail image
and brief description of the hotel; the type of hotel it is and its location. You can't
click on 'type' or 'location' here, to get full listings, but you can make booking
enquiries and comment on the hotel; if you've stayed there.
Hotels by Location
Search by Hotel Location and you're taken to a colourful
map of the world.
Roll your mouse over the image map and a
little box illustrates how many of each type of hotel are in a particular region.
Click on the region that interests you, then
mouse over all around the regional map that follows; to see what type of hotel is
available in each country.
You could pay to spend the night in a prison,
in Sweden (and not have a criminal record); or try the 7-foot tall Champagne Glass
Whirlpool Bath-for-Two, in Pennsylvania.
Hotels by Type
Maybe you prefer to stay underground, inside
an igloo, up a tree, underwater, in a religious building or in a bed where the furniture
is on the ceiling (crazy designer).
A search by hotel type could give you just
what you're looking for:
Art
Gallery/Museum (4 hotels); Cabins
(5 hotels); Cable
car connected buildings (Prague); Castle/Fortress/Palace
(5 hotels); Crazy/Designer/Décor
(15 hotels); Desert/Oasis
Fantasy (4 hotels); Floating
(3 hotels); Historical
Building (3 hotels); Ice/Igloo
(6 hotels); Island
(5 hotels); Lighthouse
(3 hotels); Luxury
New Age (Arizona); Prison
(3 hotels); Rainforest/Jungle
(3 hotels); Religious
Building (9 hotels); Safari
(South Africa); Station
(Scotland); Straddles
2 Countries (France/Switzerland); Train
(6 hotels); Tree
House (18 hotels); Tropical
Huts/Tents (7 hotels); Underground/Cave
(10 hotels); Underwater/Reefside
(3 hotels); Views
(4 hotels); Water
Tower (Köln); Wilderness
(5 hotels).
Hotels by Budget
Staying in an unusual hotel doesn't
necessarily mean paying ridiculous prices. If price is your concern though, you could just
search according to your budget - or someone else's.
Unusual
Hotels Under $100: (22 hotels);
Unusual
Hotels $100-$150: (23 hotels);
Unusual
Hotels $150-$250: (18 hotels);
Unusual
Hotels $250-$350: (52 hotels);
Unusual
Hotels $350+: (15 hotels)
The 'Unusual'
Newsletter
You can also sign-up for the latest unusual
additions or view previous
newsletters.
This site will feature in my future travel
plans. We hope you find something interesting in there too.
Michel
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