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Barcelona’s Hotel Omm

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By Zolton in Cool Travel on Tuesday 9 June 2009

There’s something to be said for staying in a hotel room that’s bigger than your Brooklyn apartment. Yup, it happens so rarely that when you come across it, you kinda want to hang inside, bask in the space, and imagine that this really is your life. 365 days a year. Ah ha, then you wake up. Anyway, I stayed recently at the beautifully designed Hotel Omm in the Eixample district of Barcelona, surrounded by the glitzy, sparkling shops that dot the landscape and by the disarmingly original Gaudi buildings that tower spectacularly above the skyline. It’s quite a sight. [photo by Alison Zavos]

Barcelona’s Chic and Basic Born Hotel

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By Zolton in Architecture on Saturday 30 May 2009

My wife and I have just returned from a week lapping up the culture and exploring the long winding alleyways that run off the main streets in the center of Barcelona. What a magnificent city! The seamless blend of old and new in the architecture, food, and sounds, which float out of the bars and cafes, combine with a very distinct design aesthetic, which permeates the stores and hotels to create a thriving modern city with one eye firmly on the future and the other on the artifacts of its past. While in Barcelona, we spent a few nights staying at the sublime Chic and Basic Hotel [photographed above and below], located in the Born area. This hotel symbolized so much of what we considered Barcelona to be about.

Sleeping in a Hobbit House, Cappadocia, Turkey

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By Katrina Whitehead in Cool Travel on Saturday 7 February 2009

While I’m definitely not into the whole Lord of the Rings thing, I’m convinced Tolkien stole his inspiration from Göreme, in Turkey’s central Cappadocia region. After a mammoth volcanic eruption around 2,000 years ago, the landscape eroded to form a series of valleys, filled with peculiar, phallic-shaped tufts that the locals call ‘fairy chimneys’. Early [...]

Sweden’s Ice Hotel

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By Casper Johansson in Architecture on Sunday 25 January 2009

This remarkable construction is located in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi and is built entirely from scratch every year. It features 10,000 tonnes of ice from the nearby Torne River, and 30,000 tonnes of snow, covering more than 30,000 square feet in total. Oh, it even has its own ice chapel. But be sure to bring your winter woollens. It could get a little, errr, chilly at night.

Adult Hotel opens in Nanning, China

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By Gerry Mak in New Trends on Tuesday 11 November 2008

State-controlled news outlet Xinhua reports that a new ‘adult hotel‘ is opening in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province in southern China. Apparently state censors think homosexuals and tattoo parlors sully their nation’s image, but not establishments aimed at facilitating heterosexual unions. The owner is apparently worried his business will be perceived as a brothel. [...]

The Atlanta Hotel, Bangkok

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By Anna Sutton in Cool Travel on Monday 10 November 2008

The Atlanta has the kind of charm and character most tourists wouldn’t expect to find amidst the rambling chaos of modern Bangkok. In contrast with the debauchery of the nearby sex district, this secluded 1950s hotel harks back to more civilised times. As you sip your icy tropical libation at the check-in desk, the quiet grandeur of the art-deco-style foyer takes precedence over your fleeting obsession with passports and heatstroke. Before you know it, the porter is beckoning you to follow him as he carries the luggage to your laidback room.

The 10 most interesting boutique hotels in Australia

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By Andy Boyd in Cool Travel on Wednesday 6 August 2008

By definition, boutique hotels are the smaller, more fashionable, niche hotels which offer its guests enhanced levels of service. Previously we’ve covered some of the coolest hotels in the world, but given the rising popularity of independent boutique hotels, we thought we’d show off some of the best in Australia.

7 of the coolest themed hotels from around the world

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By Andy Boyd in Cool Travel on Thursday 19 June 2008

One of the things that hotels, and international hotel brands in particular, are often criticised for is a lack of identity, the feeling of being somewhere but nowhere simultaneously. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. One of the emerging trends in the industry is the personalization of hotels around a style or a theme, so feast your eye on 7 of the coolest and most individual themed hotels from around the world!