About this index
An independent editorial index of sixteen hotels, grouped into four categories that each take a different position on what a hotel room is for.
What we do
We write descriptions. Each entry is a short piece of prose about what a building is, where it stands, and what kind of stay it is set up to provide. We avoid specification tables because they flatten the differences that matter, and we avoid superlatives because they are unfalsifiable.
How hotels are chosen
A hotel is included when it represents its category clearly. For the art category that means a genuine collection or commissioned interior rather than decorative framing. For capsules it means a considered design, not simply a small room. For casino hotels it means a full hotel operation of which a licensed gaming floor is one part. For ice hotels it means an annually rebuilt structure with warm accommodation on the same site.
What we do not do
- We do not take payment for inclusion or placement.
- We do not publish star ratings, scores or user reviews.
- We do not take bookings, hold inventory or act as an agent.
- We do not quote prices, which change faster than any index can honestly track.
The name
The domain is a brand name and nothing more. This is not a guide to any one country, and the index is deliberately geographically mixed.