Every hotel is unique – but you’ve heard all that before, and to truly find something unique and worth traveling for – well that doesn’t come around so often.
Hotels want to create a destination within the hotel itself, but all too often that simply doesn’t work because there isn’t enough creativity and the crucial element of uniqueness isn’t quite there. Yes, we all know about that Thai hospitality, or Swiss management, and state-of-the-art gyms, and so on, but a hotel is still just bricks and mortar.
There are, however, some truly unique hotels that really are worth traveling for.
Knight’s Glamping
Nothing is special about Glamping – I hear you. But glamping in the British countryside like a knight – that’s something you don’t get to do so often. The site is at Leeds Castle, which itself has a unique history. The castle has been the residence of several monarchs, and the property of a number of aristocratic families, and perhaps most famously was prepared by Henry VIII for the first of his wives, Catherine of Aragon.
At the camping site, which only opens from 1st April until 30th September, there are eight striped pavilions, each of which can accommodate up to four people.
To make your experience even more authentic as a knight, you can book a falconry experience or take on the challenge of navigating your way past 2,400 yew trees in the Leeds Castle Maze.
The UFO
The UFO belongs to the famous ‘Treehotel’ in Sweden, and is a one-of-a-kind hotel room in the middle of a forest. You can imagine one of those sci-fi movies where UFOs landed on earth – that’s exactly what it looks like at night. And just like a UFO, you have to enter your room using an electric, collapsible ladder through a hatch in the floor.
Keeping the environmental impact in mind, this hotel also has incinerating toilets and 3 liters of water for washing your hands. In addition to the room itself, there are various activities you can choose from, and for something authentically Swedish you could try Yoga on Ice and a Snow Bath.
Crazy House
This place lives up to its name. The best description for the Crazy House Hotel, Da Lat, Vietnam, would definitely be crazy. It looks like a giant tree and gives you a bit of an Alice in Wonderland vibe.
Each guest room offers a different animal theme from a bear to a termite mound. Decoration style? I would say ‘unconventional’. It sits between being ‘creative’ and ‘crazy’.
One thing that I have to give it to them is that as a brand calling itself ‘crazy’, they have done a very good job of portraying that brand persona because every review on TripAdvisor about this ‘Crazy House’ mentions the word ‘crazy’…
The Manta Resort
At Manta Resort in Tanzania, guests can submerge themselves and be surrounded by marine life. If this isn’t unique, I don’t know what is. The units are built in the form of a 3-level floating design consisting of a living room and sun deck above the water, and a bedroom under the water.
The Manta Resort is also environmentally friendly. They provide guests with biodegradable shower products and a marine toilet system that is also eco-friendly – and this alone is a unique experience.
So, as we all strive to deliver something truly unique – how unique can we be? What does unique mean when you make your pitch to your travel agencies, to media, and to guests? Or has uniqueness died, and we just do what know best – being just a little bit better than the guy next door?