Cool Hotels

Shameless Promotion of Article that Drove Me Crazy

Normally I don't plug articles I write here, but the editorial process for this Budget Travel article memoir/list of call outs proved such a hair-pulling nightmare, I'd love some feedback.

You'd never know it, but they chopped out some really fun stuff. The main issue was that they told me that they wanted back roads, real Aruba stuff. And I wrote that. 2000 words of it, actually. But what they really wanted was a list of tourist attractions. Which is fine, but I wish they had told me that from the beginning. Tell me, is it as bad as I think?

Most Infamous Hotels

Okay, normally I don't like to point out that other writers' sometimes share my sensibilities about hotel trivia, but I wanted to call attention to this crackerjack article on infamous hotel rooms from Forbes Traveler. The writer is totally giving me ideas about where to stay the next time I happen to be in any of those cities.

And if you think staying at the place where Nancy Spungen was murdered or Michael Jackson dangled his baby, consider the following: the stall where infamous denial-plagued Senator Craig was arrested has become a tourist attraction.

Great Minds Think Alike

Anything that promotes cool indie hotels is all right by me. And apparently, Forbes Traveler and I think alike because they posted a little article about strange and interesting hotels today.

Of course, I think I could have added a few more examples, but that is neither here nor there. I also would have refrained from using the word unique.

I'm a Cool Pick of the Day

I wanted to thank the folks over at Cool Pick for making me the Cool Site of the Day. I appreciate it, guys.

Space Hotel

Today, Reuters made quite a splash with their story of a proposed Space Hotel. Set to open in 2012, a three night stay will cost $4 million and include all the necessary training and transportation. Considering that the current price tag for space tourism is around $20 million, it sounds like a bargain to me.

According to the article, the company estimates there are about 40,000 people in the world who could afford a trip to the Space Hotel. Guests will stay in pod-like rooms and will be able to observe the sunset 15 times a day. Designers have been working on tricky issues like bathroom design and how to facilitate weightless "intimate activities" by guests.

I just wonder if any of the potential guests have read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. In any case, I'm sure the space hoteliers have got some kind of Vermicious Knid infestation contingency plan.

A Unique Plea

This morning, I started looking through all the collateral information I have on various boutique and independent hotels. Most of them have high-end brochures and websites.

I assume most of these places have hired expensive public relations firms to produce both the images and copy for their collaterals. (Collaterals are websites, brochures, one-sheets, press releases.) And let me just say this to all of them: You are paying the copywriters too much.

Every website. Every brochure. Every ad. All describe. Every property. As. UNIQUE.

Now, I wouldn’t be writing about these hotels if they weren’t unique. I know they are unique. But unique as a vocabulary word is hackneyed, overused and says precisely nothing beyond the place not being a Holiday Inn Express.

Let me send out a plea to the copywriters of the world. When you feel tempted to describe a place as unique, please instead come up with specific details that make the property special. Does it have colonial antiques or was it designed by Philippe Starck? Does Brad Pitt stay there or did James Dean once stay there? Is it painted pink? Or made of ice?

So, dear reader, I hereby pledge never to use the word unique in any of my hotel reviews. If I’m listing a property here, you may assume the place has qualities that set it apart from the homogenized norm.