Heavenly Hotels: The OOOH and AAAH Test

I loooove traveling and am one of those people who loves planning the trip almost as much as making it.   Hmmmm, that must be why I have this career!

Choosing hotels is one of the most dicey things as you want to get it just right. Many of us are members of "loyalty clubs" so always book with one chain. Often these are cookie cutter properties devoid of personality, but certainly are adequate.
 
Sometimes, though, a trip calls for something different.   Maybe it's a celebration.  Maybe you want to, just once, pamper yourself.  Or maybe you will begin or end the trip with something special, just because, and save $$$ the rest of the time.

I  like to look for the "aaaahhhhh" factor.  The feeling you get when the room welcomes you at entry.  And if I can also get the "ooooooh" factor it's a double whammy.   This can be harder to find, depending upon what gives you that feeling.  For me it could be the whimsical, the non-traditional, the imaginative, the history, the great locale....things that set it apart.

Although some of them are expensive, not all are.  I don't need an 800 thread count on my Egyptian cotton sheets and bathroom amenities with a label that says "ca-ching."

But I do love a wow factor, sometimes paying for it, sometimes not.

Take, for example, Washington D.C.   Everything from drop dead luxurious to standard digs are there.   I chose, on my last trip, the Willard.    For the Abraham Lincoln connection, and the location.  Our most important president ever, as judged by many, hid in plain sight here for the time between his arrival in Washington and his inaugural. It served as his "pre-White House"  I'm sure I traced some of his footsteps (building replaced in 1904, but is in the same place).   In the next block over is the Treasury building and in the block beyond that, which covers acres, is the White House.  

 The view from our room was toward the Washington Monument and they very nicely ordered lightning for us one evening which lit up the area beautifully.   This was a higher than average priced hotel, but the atmosphere, location and history were the intangibles that I couldn't have found elsewhere.  Both oooh and aaaahh factors.

I chose this next hotel for the view and location and I bet you'll never guess where it is (tongue in cheek) by the view from my balcony!  The Park Hyatt Sydney is almost under the Harbor Bridge  at the foot of The Rocks,  the "old town" of Sydney.  It was an easy and just-what-the-doctor ordered walk around the shoreline of the bay to the Opera House and along the way you can enter historic buildings, see ruins of the some of the original structures of Sydney, pass by parks, restaurants, and shops.  The hotel itself has huge and comfy rooms,  a restaurant with floor to ceiling bay and Opera House views, and the best breakfasts I have ever had, high praise coming from someone who doesn't care much for her morning meal.  (I think it was the mini pots de creme studded with raspberries that did it.  What a way to get your fruit!)

 We were there to board a cruise ship and imagine our surprise the day before embarkation when we went out on the balcony to get our morning breaths of sea air...and there was our ship!

This was, again, an expensive hotel.  Something more in the center of town would have cost less, but the feeling of being enveloped by the most interesting neighborhood of Sydney, and the convenience of being able to walk to so much  made it well worth it.  The thrill of going out on the balcony to see the Opera House, only obstructed by passing watercraft,  is my best and most lasting Sydney memory.   Both oooh and aaaah.

I found this  little boutique hotel in Stockholm completely by accident.  Don't ask how.  Not too expensive, not a deluxe hotel, but with a superb location on Gamla Stan(the oldest, original part of the city).  As is sometimes the case in older sections of towns, a couple of buildings were cobbled together and it was like a rabbit warren of rooms.   Small and outdated, with older but functional bathrooms.  About a two minute walk from a subway station and just a block off the busier streets of this area, we found the hotel itself to be most satisfactory.  Then the next morning I went into the breakfast room in the basement and saw the thing that I look for in my travels:   ruins!

This is the only remaining fragment of the city's original medieval defenses ( part of the base of a tower) built during the 1300s...and by my calculations I was sleeping a couple of floors above it!  To the right, the accompanying artwork depicts Stockholm at that time, and if you had a magnifying glass you could see this actual tower.  But how amazing that they were able to identify this chunk of brick and mortar, and obtain a painting that shows it as it originally was.

The owners have several small hotels and they have filled them with Lord Nelson memorabilia.  We stayed at The Victory (named for his ship) and it's decor was a marine history buff's dream:   model ships,  figureheads,  pictures, like a mini-museum.  Not much aaahhhh factor but plenty of oooooh!

Next up, London, known for it's abundance of world-class hotels. I chose the Egerton House just because I had a feeling about it....it was named, one year, the "Most Excellent Hotel in London"  and it's regular rooms will not cost $500 per night or more.   I was not disappointed.  The "aaaaahhhhh" factor hit me at the door.  Each room in this house is like a little Faberge egg of perfection, no two alike,  all drool-worthy.  Although the house was built in the 1840s the bathrooms  are fine and you  hate to drop even a jacket onto the bed to disturb the impeccable look of the room.  Italian ex-pat Antonio,  known in certain circles as "King of the Martinis" does make the most heavenly concoctions  in the bar and the whole staff is eager to help.  Views vary,  mine was into the  garden behind the hotel:

What a great location this is, especially if you are a walker.   It's in Knightsbridge, smack dab between Harrod's and the Victoria and Albert, so you can go from educating yourself to shopping easily.   We walked to Buckingham our first evening and then on to the Whitehall Parade grounds for the horse parade in honor of the Queen's birthday.  An invigorating stroll and a great way to see several parts of the city.

There are others on my list that I would be willing to pay a little more for,  such as the hotel near Cape Town that grows virtually all of it's own produce and has access to the home that Nelson Mandela first stayed in after leaving prison, left relatively intact.  They are willing to show it to their hotel guests even though it is not open to the public.

And the one in Morocco, very new, where you can have lunch brought to you while you are dangling your bare feet into a soothingly cool stream.  What an example of a simple pleasure!

My last hotel stay was in a small town in Southern Idaho in a perfectly decent place where the bathroom was clean, the bed was OK, the included breakfast was...edible, and even though it's only been about six months,  I barely remember it.  It won't be the last place I stay at like that, I'm sure, but I am looking forward to the next remarkable hotel that will bring me moments to treasure forever.

I'd love to hear about any special hotels you've loved and why, especially their
"wow" traits.   Please leave a comment below for everyone else to read.

My commercial:  If you want to experience a world-beater hotel I have a large stable of these with either discounts or added amenities!  Or,  I can help you find that just-right hostelry that will provide you with, hopefully, your own aaaah and oooh moments.

888-857-7379.