Casa Camper

Design Notes - Aug 3

DWR has a spread on this cool hotel in Barcelona. Ashley and I have stayed in our fair share of hum-drum hotels over the years, and we got a taste of the chic W Hotels on our honeymoon. But as DWR points out the chic hotel formula has been beaten to death recently:

"In the past decade, designer hotels from Mexico City to Turin have become predictably similar, with chicly dressed staff, theatrical entrances and lounge bars, techno music, boutique soaps, and caffe latte on demand, all of which now borders on cliché."

There's a quirky hotel in NYC called the Carlton Arms where each room has a different theme. It was a great place to stay if you were visiting the city on a student's budget. A unique experience if not a swanky one. I like the idea of a hotel that isn't the same old generic hotel environment. I've gone back and forth on this over the years though. In the early nineties when I was in a road warrior phase, cris-crossing the US trying to see everything, I sorta liked the idea that no matter where I ended up each day, I could have a few hours of stasis in a hotel room just like the one I was in the night before, and have a Denny's breakfast just like yesterday, before facing an entirely new landscape and population. That had a lot to do with orientation though. I'd arrive after dark, dead tired, hours from where I started and the disorientation started to get to me. I was focussing on the driving and experiences inbetween stays at hotels then, so the less of an "experience" the hotel was the better for my sanity.

Sometime during my stay in Europe in the mid nineties, I changed my preferences for hotels and my travelling style. I switched from a 2 day stay to a 7 day stay. This gave me more time to take in a location and pick up it's rhythms. It also made the hotel more important as a base. The W hotel in Honolulu we stayed at on our honeymoon gave a little of both. It certainly was the generic swanky hotel in many respects, however, the Hawaiian staff made the experience very unique. As I look back on my travels, there are only a few hotels that really stick out in my memories. The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM is one of them. Not swanky, no long stay, but definitely a memorable night. The carefully preserved 50s style building and decor made an impression. Another hotel that comes to mind is the Inn at Bath in Bath, ME. I ended up there by chance for a wedding and got the only room available in the county I think. Really more of a bed and breakfast, but my room was in the basement, with a four poster bed on one side of the room and an in-floor hot tub on the other. The Captain's Suite I believe it was called. LOL. Nice room to come back to after the reception...

I'd be interested in any suggestions or recommendations for unique hotels anyone has happened upon during their travels. These places are out there, and they definitely need to be advertised. I'll spend some time coming up with a personal top ten hotel list over the next few days and put it up here.