The Renaissance Zurich Hotel looks like a pretty hip place!

Jade Bar (the smaller of the 2 bars) right off the lobby. Painting is by Julian Schnabel. Nice intimate space. You can find more shots of Jade Bar on the hotel’s website.

Thanks to Spencer for sending in these images from his June, 2007 stay at the ritzy Ritz Carlton in Hong Kong.

You’ll probably expect high prices in a guestroom mini-bar but at the Crowne Plaza in Alice Springs, Australia - it seems to fall apart from there:

We checked into the hotel fine but it all went down hill when we got into the room. i was very let down by the quality of the room, it was like a 1970’s airport hotel, very drab and in need of refurbishment. i complained and we were moved to another room. the first thing to greet me was a large spiders web across the bathroom door which i walked through. there was a lot of spiders webs in the room and to be honest it felt as thought the room hadn’t been used in a while. there were a lot of other issues and in the end we checked out after the offer of a 3rd room.

HotelsByCity [Hotels in Alice Springs]

The last night we stayed in a regular hotel more convenient to the Lisbon airport for our early morning flight. When you walk into the hotel you get this view of the bar.

The Hotel Congress, built in 1919, is an historic landmark located in the heart of downtown Tucson, Arizona. The hotel has a colourful history that includes being the location on January 22, 1934 where the infamous American gangster John Dillinger was finally captured after a series of bank robberies committed by the “Dillinger Gang”.

The second floor lounge at the Congress Hotel is also known as a place where love-related wishes come true! Check out some examples from guests of the hotel:

Wish #1

My room was cool, but the 2nd floor lounge, site of the famous lover’s wishing shrine was hot! I made a wish as a joke the first night and was shocked when it came true immediately. The 2nd and 3rd wishes I made also came true. For the money, it is the greatest attraction in Tucson! No room price is too high to get this kind of ammenity…[TripAdvisor]

Wish #2

I heard about the famous lovers’ wishing shrine in the 2nd floor lounge at historic Hotel Congress. Rumour has it that wishes made there relating to love come true and I had to find out for myself. It’s TRUE!!! Aside from that, the hotel itself is a cool, hipster, artsy place. It has a groovy nightclub downstairs, pseudo French Cup Cafe and Tap Room. I had a great time there and fell in love too…[Yahoo!]

HotelsByCity [Tuscan Travel Guide] [Hotels in Tuscon Arizona]

The Dutch are no strangers to re-claiming spaces and putting them to innovative use. After all, about half of the Netherlands exists on re-claimed land.

The KruisherenHotel in Masstricht is a boutique property developed in a converted 15th century abbey. Cutting edge design flourishes throughout this hotel where traditional architecture gives rise to contemporary stylings.

Kruisheren Hotel in Maastricht. I took these pictures for school. This is a design hotel in an old church, really amazing!

HotelsByCity [Hotels in Maastricht, Netherlands] [Netherlands Travel Guide]

We spent part of our honeymoon in Florence and stayed at this hotel, right next to Santa Maria Novella. The picture is from the roof pool/bar. You can see the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio to the left. Left of that would be the Duomo. A great view of a great city.

Great view indeed. Thanks to Brad for sending in this image of the rooftop pool lounge at the Grand Hotel Minerva in Florence, Italy.

This is at the Ice Hotel in the Arctic Circle in Sweden, the glasses are made of ice as is everything else (except toilets and showers, which are in another complex).

Thanks for sending this in Mike!

[Sweden's Ice Hotel]
HotelsByCity [Sweden Travel Guide]