Hotels as adventures – different type of travel

Travellers are a lot more demanding these days. In the times when categorization is no longer possible (or needed) and when all attention gets focused on whatever is new and different, we started changing our outlook on vacation. It’s still not hard to be original but, you can always exceed expectations.

Have you ever wanted to do something way different, try something uncommon, something you have never done before? Have you ever thought about hotel stays as adventures?

We all know about boutique hotels and themed hotels…that’s not it. More and more people are opening hotels in unusual places and it’s becoming rapidly popular.

You are familiar with

castles turning into hotels (they have been that way for years in Europe; some located in: Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain…) as well as

historic buildings like monasteries, churches and train stations (located in: Sweden, France, Ireland, Norway, UK, Italy, The Netherlands,Turkey, Belgium, Spain, Hungary…)

It seams like everything can turned into a hotel…and the crazier, the better!

lighthouses (The Netherlands, Norway…)

tree houses (Sweden, Germany, Turkey)

caves (Sweden, France, Turkey)

they can even be found in forests (Sweden)

underwater or floating (Turkey, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland)

made from ice (Switzerland, Andorra, Sweden, Finland)

as prisons (Sweden, Slovenia)

or inside planes and trains (The Netherlands, Sweden, UK)

even inside pipes in parks

As you can see, Scandinavia is at the leading edge at the moment. In my opinion, some ideas are quite interesting…why not change the way we look at accommodation and travel. If it can be more fun, more exciting, and if you are up for it, you already have a good choice. It’s definitely changes the concept of travel and adventure…

Are you up for this kind of adventure?

Stella – European Travelling Advisor

Green hotels – sustainable hotels

There are many reasons today why hotels are deciding to go ‘green’. In part because their business guests are demanding it, part because hotels are finding that going green saves money and part because they are getting more conscious about the environment and realizing it’s the way to go. But why should you choose an eco-friendly hotel?

Hotel chains are becoming rapidly more environmentally conscious, people are talking about it all the time but not many are saying what’s in it for you. So let me explain what it all means…

Here are some examples of what do hotels do to go green:

- recycling; they recycle all the paper, plastic, glass, light bulbs and batteries (that way they save thousands of kilos of vaste from ending up in landfills, saving huge amounts of energy and millions of liters of water)

- all toilets are using a vacuum drainage system that uses only 80% of water that conventional systems use; water from sinks and showers is recycled for use in toilets

- all lights are converted to long-life and low-energy light bulbs and all the lightning is the building is controlled by a system that operates through your card key; it’s turns off the lights when you’re not in the room and other timing controls

- low or no toxicity paint is used through out hotel

- the bathroom toiletries are 100% natural for your skin and hair; the plastic bottles are recycled or there are installed refilling bottles

- hotels use biodegradable cleaning products (so you will no longer smell the chlorine or any other weird odour and the cleaning staff won’t be sick all the time)

- food is organic and as much as possible local fresh produce

- bottled water is supplied from the local or near area

- linen is are recycled so they are not treated with chemicals

- new built hotels use sustainable/natural or recycled materials

Reading through the list of things hotels do to be more eco-friendly you can see that it’s not something that will make your stay less comfortable or less luxurious. On the contrary, better food, fresh air, natural products and materials and all the other things that you maybe don’t see at first but you certainly get positive thoughts about when using such a facility.  Here is an example of a sustainable hotel One Aldwych in London to show you that there is no compromise at all when it comes to going green…

In the end, it’s up to you to choose. Hotel officials today say that evidence of eco-friendliness is driving demand. It’s high priority particularly for young people, who make up the growing percentage of business travelers. When you’re travelling, it doesn’t matter if it’s a trend or not, it’s you who matters.

Stella – European Travelling Advisor

HOTELS & MORE book review

There are more ways to search for your accommodation when travelling that just online. You are absolutely going to go to their website but, before that I have an interesting source I want to show you. Taschen has published a number of books called “Hotels & more”.

Books are divided by sections; each section represents a number of hotels they picked to review located in certain part on the city. Every section has a very clear, hand drawn map with marked hotels. For each hotel you can find out a little history, about their philosophy, design and what they offer. Plus, at the bottom of the site, information on rates, types of rooms, cuisine, history (a note about the hotel building; ex. “A 19th-century building transformed into an unconventional designer hotel with an environmentally friendly philosophy.”), X-factor (a tip you didn’t know such as… “non-smoking hotel” or “hotel’s DJ plays music on Friday and Saturday evenings” etc.) and Interet.

All the hotels are reviewed with photos too. They are big and there are quite a few of them, showing entrance, lobby, rooms, restaurant, bar, terrace, pool and something unique about the hotel itself. You can find hotels to satisfy all tastes, from antique furnished ones to modern minimalistic or crazy designer ones.

But what I like even more about this books is that they are not only hotel guides. What you can find after every hotel review is two pages of interesting recommended places in the hotel souroundings. By that I mean restaurants, bars, clubs, shops (fashion, vintage furniture, markets, city sites, museums and even other hotels!) with a short short story about each place. Also including address, phone numbers, website, and how to get there from your hotel. Really great!

You can use it as a guide itself because it can help you with your hotel choice regarding what you want to have in the neighbourhood. The prices vary, you can find average priced hotels to luxury ones. I would absolutely recommend it to design conscious traveler, not because of the preety pictures, but because I think it’s a really useful and fun source of information. And not only to them, but to every traveler that is interested in cultural life or is just looking for a good hotel to stay in.

Stella – European Travelling Advisor