Unusual Hotels of the World

Earlier today, I mentioned that Conde Nast Traveler had published its top 130 hotels for
2006
.  Most of the hotels on the list, while new, don’t necessarily have … what’s the word? …
character, perhaps.  So for those of you who need a bit of the odd in your travel, never fear:  Unusual Hotels of the World is here.

This charming
website was "started over a pub lunch, after a few beers" by two friends who’d been in the travel industry
for a while.  They decided to put together a guide of hotels that offer their guests something unusual in their
stay.  So — wonder what it would be like to stay in an igloo?  Up a tree?  In a church?  This
guide can tell you how.

From their "About" page:

Unusual Hotels
of the World offers ‘experiential’ hotels. Staying there is worth the trip, which will often be long and arduous, and
delivers the guest a memorable and hopefully enjoyable experience. Some are luxurious, some are not, and throughout the
guide you will find a range of choices to suit the budgets of every traveller.

Man, it’s fun just
surfing around their page.  Thanks to them, I now have something new to add to my "What I Want to Do Before I
Die" list:

Stay at the Hydropolis
hotel in Dubai
— what will be billed as the world’s first underwater hotel.

Cool.