23 hotels

Don Q Inn

‘The Don Q Inn of Dodgesville aka, Small Town, Wisconsin offers theme rooms for those seeking a different kind of hotel experience. There are rooms for all sorts of loser fantasies, called FantaSuites, like sleeping in a fake hot-air balloon in the “Up, Up, and Away” Room. There is an underground tunnel you can run through. There’s a room that’s the entire, dilapidated inside of an &47 plane that’s rammed up against the building. Then there is the “Northern Lights” room with a bed in an igloo; “Tranquility Base”, is a sort of space station; “The Geisha Garden”, which oddly enough has a bed and not tatami mats. But it’s “The Swinger” room that really got us and we’re almost too disturbed to even describe this one.

‘Upon arrival when we opened the door of the room and first thing we noticed was a “gross odor” about the room – we believe it was the smell of mold and the room had lots of flies. We keep killing them but there always seemed to be another one. The room was DARK. It had a dark (almost black wood ceiling) with more of that wood on parts of the walls. The DARK carpeting was so thin we think it was outdoor carpeting and OLD. The bedspreads were also DARK and under them the beds were adorned with blankets that were at least 25 years old.’ — Hotel Chatter

 

 

Henn-na

‘The receptionist at the Henn-na Hotel in Ginza, Tokyo, is looking at me blankly, smile fixed on her perfectly made-up face and eyes blinking in a disconcerting, shutterlike fashion. Then she speaks – first in Japanese, then in an English translation. “Welcome to the Henn-na Hotel. Please use the kiosk machine to complete your check-in.”

‘It’s hard to find good staff these days. So Japan’s H.I.S hospitality group, who own Henn-na (which translates as “weird”) in the heart of Tokyo’s upmarket shopping district, have taken a revolutionary step and installed very lifelike androids to look after the check-in process. And so far, no-one is complaining that the machines have ousted human employees.’ — Japan Nut

 

 

Null Stern Hotel

‘Null Stern Hotel is an abandoned Swiss nuclear shelter that’s been converted into a hotel. “Null Stern” translates to “zero star”, and that rating is earned because guests don’t get much more than a bed and hot water. You’ll even have to share your room with up to six other people. On the plus side a night only costs ten dollars, but this hotel isn’t designed just for travelers on a budget. Its creators are marketing it both as a social experiment and a chance for guests to get to know their fellow travelers on a more intimate level.’ — Hotelville

 

 

The UFO Hotel

‘This entire project is the dream of Alien Fresh Jerky proprietor Luis Ramallo, who lures an estimated 750,000 lovers of dried, spiced meats a year off of Interstate 15 and into Baker, which sits between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. “We are tremendously excited about developing the first authentic UFO Hotel in the world, not just in America,” he says. “There are tens of millions of Sci-Fi and UFO fans in the world who have been dreaming of a venue just like this. They will finally have it.”

‘Aside from the alien-themed everything, the best part of the hotel might be the opportunity for guests “to twist various dials and hatch handles” on the way to their rooms. “If they turn the wrong one, a warning light and siren will flash, just like on an actual spaceship.” JUST LIKE ON AN ACTUAL SPACESHIP. When they’re not setting off sirens, guests can also take advantage of “unique photo-ops throughout the spacecraft with alien crew members re-charging themselves in pods.” This hotel cannot come into being soon enough. Rooms are expected to start at just $300 a night. (“[A]n incredible bargain for a one-of-a-kind experience,” Ramallo says.)’ — la.curbed

 

 

Haoduo Panda Hotel

‘The Haoduo Panda Hotel, which lies at the foot of Emei Mountain in southwest China’s Sichuan province, is the first hotel of its kind in the world. The rooms are decorated with panda pictures and cuddly toy pandas sit on the beds, tables and chairs. The staff even dress in panda costumes to entertain the guests. The hotel will officially open in May with room rates from 300 ($48) to 500 yuan per night.’ — The Independent

 

 

Maya Hotel

‘The $209 million Maya Hotel located south of Cancun, slated to open in 2010. This pyramid-shaped hotel will float in the crystal clear Caribbean waters with the help of a new composite material, normally used in the defense industry, which is billed as six times lighter and ten times stronger than steel.’ — Five Star Alliance

 

 

CasAnus Hotel

‘A hotel in Belgium is offering tourists the chance to stay in a accomodation designed to look like a colon. The CasAnus Hotel offers couples an overnight stay for 120 Euros – around £100 – complete with a double bed, shower and central heating. It was originally created by Dutch artist Joep Van Lieshout, but the structure was renovated into living quarters and now sits on the grounds of the Verbeke Foundation Art Park. The hotel is run by owners Geert and Carla Verbeke-Lens, who say the hotel is ‘extremely popular’ with couples. It is utterly silent and pitch black at night, so bring a torch if you want to creep around at night.’ — collaged

 

 

Tianzi Hotel

‘The Tianzi Hotel in Hebei Province, China is the largest image hotel in the world. Shou, on the left, is holding a peach that contains a suite. Enter the hotel through his right foot. Built in 2000, this 10-story building depicts Fu, Lu and Shou—Chinese gods symbolizing good fortune, prosperity and longevity.’ — collaged

 

 

Waterhouse at South Bund

‘Like something from a Hitchcock movie, each of the 19 rooms in this converted Shanghai warehouse hotel comes with peepholes in the walls and the door, so visitors can “spy on” guests as they pass by (or vice versa). NHDRO, the interior design firm behind the hotel, claims that this voyeuristic approach to living harks back to the traditional Shanghai residential alleyways called “longtangs” (弄堂). Among these labyrinth-like communities, neighbors would peep into each other’s houses.’ — collaged

 

 

Amethyst Hotel

‘Purple amethyst crystals formed inside rocks provided the inspiration for this ambitious hotel design, proposed by Dutch studio NL Architects for an island off the south coast of China. “Amethyst Hotel is, in a way, a Marriott Marquis hotel sliced in the centre, exposing its magnificent interior,” they added.’ — dezeen

 

 

Hotel de Sal Playa

‘In the dining room of the Hotel de Sal Playa in Bolivia, the salt is always on the table. In fact, at the world’s only hotel made of salt, the salt is the table. Located near the famous Uyuni salt mine in the southwestern part of the country, Hotel de Sal Playa’s roof, and bar are built of salt. Even the floor is covered with salt granules.

‘The hotel was built in 1993 by a salt artisan who saw a mint in the number of tourists looking for places to stay while visiting the nearby mine, which is one of the world’s largest of its kind. The lodge has 15 bedrooms, a dining room, a living room and a bar.

‘The hotel walls are made of salt blocks stuck together with a cement-like substance made of salt and water. During rainy seasons, the walls are strengthened with new blocks, while the owners ask the guests to avoid licking the walls to prevent deterioration.’ — collaged

 

 

Flush Hotel

‘Sim Jae-Duck built the $1.6 million toilet bowl-shaped Flush Hotel in order to raise awareness about cleaner sanitation around the world. This live-in restroom is over 400 square meters in size, and is located just south of Seoul, South Korea. The most amazing part about this giant toilet is not the design, but rather how much it costs to stay here for one night: $50,000. It must be said, though, that the proceeds go to provide poor countries with proper sanitation.’ — collaged

 

 

The Sun Cruise Resort & Yacht

‘The Sun Cruise Resort & Yacht sits perched high above the shores of Jeongdongjin, a South Korean tourist town which, according to the South Korean government at least, has the best sunrise in all the land. Measuring in at roughly 540 feet, the cruise-ship themed resort has 211 guest rooms. Its rooms feature port holes to give an authentic experience, and the sounds of waves crashing against the boat plays out over loudspeakers. The piped soundtrack of bird calls adds to the illusion of being at sea. The resort opened in 2002 as a way to give tourists who didn’t have the money to go on a cruise the experience of being on one.’ — collaged

 

 

Can Sleep Hotel

‘Every August for the past 30 years, thousands of partygoers have flocked to the Dyrehaven, a magnificent beech forest next to Denmark’s Lake Skanderborg for the Skanderborg Music Festival, or Smukfest. Here, the creative juices flow just as freely as the beer. In lieu of living in a tent, some lucky attendees sleep in one of 114, two-story aluminum Royal Unibrew beer cans, enlarged to 12.5 feet high. Covered in golden, bubbly wallpaper and furnished entirely by Ikea, the first floor features a small living area and a minibar that’s replenished each day. When the dweller’s ready to turn in, he climbs the ladder to a circular double bed and pops the skylight.’ — moco-choco.com

 

 

Lloyd in the Sky with Diamonds Hotel

‘The Curtis Hotel in Denver, a DoubleTree Hotel, has created a $50,000 floating bounce house hotel, billed as “the world’s only floating pop-up hotel room”. Guests will stay the night suspended more than 22 feet in the air in an inflatable hotel room that features a bed, a couch and a small bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet. The hotel stay includes luxurious airport transportation via limousine, stocked with cocktails and munchies, a set of Swarovski binoculars, a Tiffany diamond necklace & earrings, a 60s themed party for 100 friends, and the butler service of Lloyd, the hotel’s spokesrobot who will give you bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys and iPad mini loaded with the Stargazer app.’ — collaged

 

 

Gagudju Crocodile Holiday Inn

‘Indigenous owned Gagudju Crocodile Holiday Inn is deluxe accommodation located in Jabiru, approximately 2.5 hours drive from Darwin and ideally located for visitors to explore the north of Kakadu, including Ubirr, Cahills Crossing and Magella Creek. The hotel is uniquely shaped to represent Kakadu’s most famous inhabitant, the saltwater crocodile. Relax in a spacious air-conditioned room, unwind in your private courtyard, by the shaded outdoor pool or take in the landscaped interior garden view from the balcony. After an adventurous day, dine at Escarpment Restaurant and Bar.’ — travelnt.com

 

 

Tate & Lyles Edible Hotel

‘The world’s first hotel made entirely from cake will welcome guests for one night only in London. More than 14 artists spent 2,000 hours baking and 900 hours decorating the hotel with over 600 kilos of sugar. It has three floors and eight rooms. Guests of the hotel will be encouraged to eat their way through windows and walls clad with 2,000 macaroons. The hotel contains a rug made from 1,081 meringues hand-stitched together.

‘Sugar fanatics will also be able to chow down on windowsills built entirely from fudge, a bath filled with caramel-coated popcorn and 20 kilos of marshmallow garlands. Bedside tables at the hotel even have edible books and there is edible art on the walls.

‘Guests will have the chance to enjoy a Pirates of the Caribbean room with a treasure chest full of edible pearls, ginger-spiced doubloons and cutlasses and a Mediterranean-inspired bedroom with 10 meters of edible bunting. There is also a British-inspired golden syrup sugar room and a South Pacific room with a two meter-high Easter Island statue made entirely from chocolate mud cake.’ — Opposing Views

 

 

The Nakanoshima Hotel

‘Where else can one enjoy room service while on the toilet than in Japan? The Nakanoshima Hotel is a small, but luxurious, fully functioning public bathroom. Located in downtown Osaka, fenced by two rushing rivers, this one-room facility boasts an ivory-sheeted bed, a stylish desk, fresh-cut flowers and a prominent opening in the wall marked with a male figure on the right and female on the left. Through this opening, a stream of citizens flow in hopes of emptying their bladders. Stay if the idea of waking up to a cleaner mopping up urine from the tiles is intriguing to you. Crafted by Tatzu Nishi, the hotel is his celebration of the everyman’s commode. On the other hand, it is thoroughly disinfected and designed to be comfortable even though you can still hear people using the toilet in the other side of the wall.’ — Purple Travel

 

 

La Villa Hamster

‘If you want to know what it’s like to live like a hamster, than look no further than La Villa Hamster. Tucked away down an unremarkable side-street near the centre of the western French city Nantes, La Villa Hamster offers guests the “unique” opportunity to live the life of a rodent. The hotel has all basic amenities essential for a rodent such as containers of organic grain, a metal water spigot activating by pushing a giant lever with your foot, and a double bed accessible only by a step ladder and a crawl space, a bathroom with a giant vat of wood chips, a giant troth for a sink and a working human-sized hamster wheel. Villa guests are also given hamster masks to wear during their stay. The owners are now looking for properties in Paris and in London with the intention of expanding the experience across the channel.’ — collaged

 

 

Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel

‘Soaring above the derelict shipyard-turned-edgy artist community NSDM-werf on the northern side of the IJ river (a free 10-minute ferry ride from Amsterdam’s Centraal Station), a vivid red, yellow and gunmetal-grey industrial crane contains a TV production studio and the Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel Amsterdam (faralda.com). Its three fantasy-world suites perched at varying heights – Free Spirit (35m), Secret (40m) and Mystique (45m) – are swathed in shimmering fabrics, with freestanding baths, bold objets d’art and vertiginous views. On the crane’s rooftop, you can soak in the outdoor hot tub or plunge off (attached to a bungee cord).’ — collaged

 

 

The Spitbank Fort Hotel

‘In 1800, the Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister at the time, commissioned the construction of several forts at Sea Portsmouth to protect the harbor from invading French forces after the news that Napoleon III had become Emperor of France. The attacks never materialized, but the forts continued to strengthen with weapons and maintained throughout the century. Decommissioned in the 1980′s and most were sold to individuals, and one of them was transformed into a luxury hotel. The Spitbank Fort has everything one would want to enjoy the holidays. Luxury furnishings in the eight suites, impressive surroundings with pool, bar, restaurant, sauna and specially designed decks for guests to enjoy the sun.’ — loststateminor.com

 

 

Love Villa Hotel

‘Love hotels are rife in greater Bangkok, since Thailand is one of the affair-iest countries in the world. But most of them are pretty dated and you wouldn’t really want to see them in bright light or sobriety. However, Love Villa, a new-ish property in Nonthaburi that’s about an hour and a half drive from downtown Bangkok, looks pretty modern. The 40-room hotel has been open just over two years. Its theme is “Communism”. Low-lit in red and black, the rooms feature light-up hammer and sickles behind the beds, surrounded by stars, gun-filled war rooms, and on one wall a Hitler mural.’ — collaged

 

 

Shimao Wonderland InterContinental

‘The $555 million Shimao Wonderland InterContinental is an epic 380-room, five-star, underwater-cave hotel-meets-sports-complex currently being built into the side of a partially flooded Chinese quarry. Located thirty miles from Shanghai near Tianmenshan Mountain, the S-shaped hotel from British design firm Atkins will be a “groundscraper”, since it’ll jut only 50 feet above the quarry but drop 19 stories below it. If all goes to plan, it’ll eventually be part of a huge theme park, as well.

‘Instead of draining the quarry, they’re gonna fill it up to create an artificial lake for water sports. They’re also installing a futuristic waterfall that cascades over the hotel’s façade. And that there’ll be rock climbers scaling the surrounding cliffs. And bungee jumpers leaping off of them. So, wait, if the hotel is now sitting in a lake, doesn’t that mean…? Correct, the two bottom floors will be entirely underwater.’ — InterTravel

 

 

Null Stern 2

‘One open-air hotel, called Null Stern, eliminates walls and a roof altogether. Located in the middle of the Swiss Alps, The Null Stern concept simply consists of a double bed with an oversized backboard, a small floor area, two bedside tables and a pair of lamps. The nearest toilet is 10km away. In German, the hotel’s name translates to “zero stars.”

‘”The star is not the hotel but each guest,” the hotel’s co-founder, Daniel Charbonnier, told Business Insider. “We got rid of all the walls, and the only thing left is you and your experience.”

‘Null Stern launched with one bed in July 2016, and it opened its second in early June on the Göbsi summit in Appenzell, Switzerland. Staying the night will set you back AED 1, 100 ($274).’ — collaged

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** JM, Hi. Thanks for toughing it out. Mm, for the post, best would probably be a Word doc or TextEdit or pasted into an email or something so I can easily extract the info. It can be whatever you want. You can organise it formally, or I can do that if you prefer. Any questions or anything, just ask. I think Zac’s on the upswing. On the laptop? Uh, I watched some films by this kind of obscure experimental filmmaker Jud Yalkut (post forthcoming) and part of ‘Vice’ ‘cos a friend of mine is in it and a bunch of theme park stuff. I think that’s all? Oh, yeah, I think some pix from that imminent show of yours were on Facebook maybe? I hope it goes extremely well. ** Keachunnel, Your name is the infinite gift. Oh, yeah, I’ve always wanted to go that Ringling museum. Let me know if it’s worth being part of a reason to go to Florida. Space museum tomorrow finally. I’ve never played chess. It’s like Proust, I guess. Meh from me on ‘Darkside’. I’m down with pretty much all Floyd prior to that and only maybe two tracks total beginning with ‘Darkside’. Twinks who look 9 years old can earn so much money if they want to. Zac is better, better-ish, thanks. Treat your Tuesday like a Saturday, why don’t you? ** David Ehrenstein, I did. Forget. Hm, thanks for the trailer. Doesn’t look like my kind of thing? DeNiro talks good. ** Dominik, Well, hi there, D! Oh, wow, those figurines your mom uses are really cool. Now I want to buy thousands of them and … I don’t know what. I haven’t read any of Patti Smith’s books apart from a few of her poetry books a long time ago. I guess I should. Prague, awesome! I think you said you haven’t been there before? I’ve never heard anything but great reports from visitors. Have huge fun, and, yeah, tip me in about the coolest parts, if you don’t mind. Yay! ** Kier, Hey, Kier! Hey, buddy! Oh boy, essays and applications are up there with a (or this) writers’ least favorite forms. Although I bet your essay is going to be a great thing. Good luck. I’m good. Zac’s bettering. I’ll see him today, and I’ll pass along your wishes because he still does need some, yours especially. We’re supposed to see Heizer tomorrow assuming Zac’s health uptick continues. Oh, jeez, about that infection. Oh, no. But you’re okay now? Except for still not being able to lift anything that isn’t microscopic? Hang in there for the next week and a half. Large-ish installations! Ooh, that’s so exciting! You must, must photograph that stuff. Nothing concrete from Black Box yet. Last I heard they were looking for a movie theater to show the film in. I expect to hear something firm in the next week or two. Can’t wait! Enjoy the work you’re able to do, and giant love from me! ** Steve Erickson, That’s very nice and heartening to hear about the crowded Rivette screening. Yes, I saw that about the Church of Satan. Someone needs to invent a cure for outrage. Even back in the day, only the most snowflake stoners picked ‘Darkside’ as their trip soundtracks. ** Sypha, Glad you liked it. Zac’s been sick that long too. Winter never comes without a price, I guess. I think it’s great that you’re contacting magazines and people to alert them to ‘HS’. It’s really kind of part of the deal these days, and, yeah, it’s a hassle, but the hassle part will seem like nothing once the payoff happens. Great, I highly encourage you in that and shake my pom-poms and stuff. ** _Black_Acrylic, Goodness gracious, how in the world did I forget that Tom Friedman piece! Thanks, Ben. Ongoingly happy to hear the sun is shining brightly on your dad. ** James, Well, the happiest birthday ever to you, James! Everyone, It’s James Nulick’s birthday today! Do or think something extremely festive on this occasion’s behalf, please. Ah, well, you’ll be happy to know that the date change on the PGL screenings turned out to be a folly, and the screenings have returned to their original locations. Feb 3, 9:30 pm and Feb 4, 9:15 pm @ The Roxie. Official announcement coming any hour now. So there you go. Happy birthday! ** Okay. For reasons good or bad, I decided to go with another light and thematic and non-taxing post again today. Please breeze though it pleasurably if possible. See you tomorrow.