Old shells, new rooms
This site records hotels whose buildings are the point. Some began as houses, palaces or workshops and were later given over to art. Some are compact sleeping berths in Japanese cities. Some are cut from river ice and last only as long as the cold does. The rest are large Canadian resorts.
Entries are short and follow the same shape within each section: what the building is, where it stands, when the entry was last checked, and then the description. Nothing here is sold, ordered by preference or booked. Anything that changes with the season or the operator should be confirmed with the hotel.
- Art HotelsHouses, palaces and workshops from earlier centuries, now run as small hotels with their own collections.
- Capsule HotelsCompact sleeping berths and cabins in Japanese cities, with one small European address that works the same way.
- Ice HotelsWinter structures cut from river ice and packed snow across the far north of Europe and Canada.
- Casino HotelsLarge Canadian resorts with theatres, restaurants and spa floors, described here only as buildings and public rooms.
How this was made
Every entry was written from material published by the operator or from established reference sources, and each carries the month its description was last read over. Where a detail could not be confirmed, the wording was changed until what remains is accurate.
The longer note explains how the addresses were chosen, what has been left out on purpose, and how to report a mistake. How this was made.