This is a register rather than a guidebook. Sixteen hotels have been entered in it, each one logged the way a port of call is logged: what the building is, where it stands, and what a night spent there actually consists of. The entries are written in plain prose because a table would flatten the only part worth reading.
The four parts are not a ranking and they do not compete with one another. They are simply four different answers to the same question — what makes a hotel worth writing down. One part is about art, one about sleeping in a berth the size of a bunk, one about large resort properties with a gaming floor among their departments, and one about buildings that will not survive the spring.
No prices, no ratings, no reviews and no booking desk. Where a fact would need sourcing to be trusted, it has been left out.
The four parts of the register
- Part the First — 4 entries
Art Hotels
Hotels where paintings, commissions and the fabric of the building itself are the reason the door is worth opening.
- Part the Second — 4 entries
Capsule Hotels
Compact berth hotels built around a single sleeping module, with washing, storage and lounging kept in shared rooms.
- Part the Third — 4 entries
Casino Hotels
Full-service casino hotels: rooms, restaurants and event halls first, with a gaming floor as one department among several.
- Part the Fourth — 4 entries
Ice Hotels
Seasonal hotels cut and cast from snow and ice each winter, always with heated buildings standing alongside them.