Daily Social Wave

Eighteen hotels, described by how they were made.

Eighteen buildings, and the hands behind them

Bronze medallion with the number 10 and five stars on dark wood

What this guide does

It looks at eighteen hotels from one side only: how the building and its rooms came to exist as objects. Who drew them, who cut and assembled the parts, which pieces arrive finished from a factory, which are carved again every winter, and which decisions were taken once and cannot be undone. Nothing here reports on a stay, and nothing here rates a company. The buildings fall into four kinds.

Four kinds of making

Art Hotels

Six buildings. Named authors, and the authorship goes down to the conversion: jail, conservatory, brewery, prison, chapel, factory.

Capsule Hotels

Four buildings. Rooms manufactured somewhere else, brought in whole and connected to a borrowed shell.

Ice Hotels

Four buildings. Packed-snow villages and a snow castle rebuilt each winter, and glass-roof cabins that stay through the year.

Casino Hotels

Four buildings. Large Canadian resorts whose plans were settled by rock, delta soil and older buildings.

The eighteen buildings

Not published here

No prices, and no comment on what anything costs.

No stars, scores, rankings or awards.

No booking, no enquiry forwarding, no paid placement.