blackduff

What are the names of the hotels, apartments, rooms, etc. of where you've stayed. What were the best and why did you remember. Or, does it really matter if there's no name.

I find that best places always had names. How about you others.

Blackduff

Powell

The three that have significant memories for us are:

Hotel L'Amandiere in St. Remy de Provence. (We stayed there for 13 straight years. It, alas, has been recently sold.)

Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais in Paris

Heaton's Guest House in Dingle, Ireland

blackduff

What I was trying to find is funny or nice names at hotels or houses or apartments. As an example, how about a place called "The Little Key". I have no idea of what would mean but certainly if I stayed at this place I would ask.

I've seen many places like this but I never found out why the name means.

Blackduff

Intrepid1

OK..you asked for it: The Black Tulip hotel in Amsterdam; everything its name implies and so much more!

blackduff

The Black Tulip-LOL. That's exactly what I mean. There are thousands of places with names like this hotel.

I also think that I stayed at that hotel once before.

Blackduff

Neopolitan

Hotel Parsifal in Ravello. How could you not burst into song when you entered or stood on the huge terrace with the view. Alas, it is no more.

Hotel Rialto in Venice, practically atop the Rialto Bridge with our balcony sticking out over it. Friend with us gave me a canister of "Rialto Coffee" with a scene on it including our balcony. I still use it on my kitchen counter to hold coffee beans.

How about The Dog Rock Hotel in Albany, Western Australia. The name said it all. The huge rock in front only looked like a dog after a whole lot of beers.

And of course the rustic, but colorful Hotel U Tri Pstuosu (The three ostriches) in Prague.

blackduff

The Dog Rock Hotel is similar to the hotel in Spain called "Hotel Despeñaperros".

This town and hotel comes from a name which means "falling the dogs" over the cliff, or something similar. This is a place where you don't want to drink too many beers there neither.

Blackduff

laclaire

Hotel Majestic Barcelona. . . the name says it all.

Hotel Arts Barcelona is also true to its name.

KathrynT

One of the most memorable (in a negative way) hotels I've ever stayed in was the Hotel Ouen in Rouen. The "R" had fallen off the sign, so the hotel changed its name rather than reattach the letter!

The hotel actually wasn't so bad but we had an unpleasant encounter with the manager.

m_kingdom2

"Hotel Arts Barcelona is also true to its name."

Not at all, I stayed there, and was dreadfully underwhelmed by it. In all the travel guides, and web-sites (even Tripadvisor) people extolled its virtues. The interiors were bland, not even minimalist which has a style, but just "contemporary luxury" bland. The rooms were comfortable, the bathrooms were a generous size, the service was excellent, but the guests were awful.

Americans were wandering around the lobby at 11pm wearing flip-flops and shorts. A regular occurence, and the people at the hotel fancied themselves. It really isn't anything special at all.

laclaire

mkingdon- when were you there? We took a suite there in the off season (mid-January) and there was a conference going on, so mostly there were business people walking around. The staff was endlessly attentive and our suite (Japanese) had an amazing sound system and view. The spa is insanely good as well.

I will say that it was far from the action, which in our case was the point. . . a vacation from the city. We took Monday off and spent an extended weekend there, which I would recommend to anyone.

m_kingdom2

I was there over a year ago, however, it's just lacking in character. It's a modern building so the ceilings are too low.

The service is good, but it's impersonal even though it is personal. It's insincere and cold, it's not genuine and warm. I just felt that I could've been staying in any country in the world in that hotel.

Not take Alfonso XII in Seville, the staff need a little bit of a shake-up there, but the service is warmer, and the hotel has atmosphere. Arts was devoid of any atmosphere other than people sitting in the lobby reading pretentious "books" (art/photographs) and posing. Another excellent hotel is Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, once again it has an enormous sense of grandeur and atmosphere. Arts is little more than a glorified office block. And to be honest with you, its interior is naff now. It's rather like seeing one of those huge 80s sofas in someone's home.

I can understand why people like staying there, but it's just not nearly as good as the travel guides like to make out. The position however, was a bonus for me. Much nicer to be beside the sea in the evening than stuck in the centre of the city.

lkarpiloff

Greetings: Having just emailed the Hotel Parsifal in Ravello, and received a reply for pricing as to rooms available in August 2006, I am a bit unclear as to whether it is now a convalescent home? Would anyone who has input on this conversion please post a reply? Thank you.

Guy18

la claire--You deserve the Fodor's award for graciousness. Someone needs to spend less time honing her exquisite taste and more time honing her manners.

cigalechanta

The room was called the sitting dog in French at the Crillon Le Brave.

Neopolitan

How very strange, lkarpiloff. We stayed at the Parsifal in June of 2004. The owner spoke with us and told us that the future was unknown as their lease was up. Last year we got a form email telling us that regrettably they were closing their doors as the order who owned the property was taking it back over.

I'm not sure that I remember it said a convalescent home, but where did you get that information? And what did they say when you requested information?

Statia

I'm going out on a limb here in answer to the question. Although not in Europe, it's in the Dutch West Indies. A quaint little inn on Simpson Bay in St. Maarten called "The Horny Toad." It's quite popular, has been around forever, and I've always wondered where the name originally came from. Perhaps it's all those tree frogs you hear chirping at night.

blackduff

http://www.wildlife-international.or...c/you/you.html

This is a good photo of a horny toad. I think it's different than a tree frog but I'm not certain.

Anyway, it's a great name for a hotel. I would try a place with a name like this.

Blackduff

adeben

It seems that around the world there are many hotels called 'The Elephant & Castle', presumably named after the London locality, which is itself a Cockney version of 'The Infanta De Castille'.

historytraveler

Hey Neopolitan

The Dog Rock Hotel in Albany...a great place although its been years since we were there. Still remember the Penny Post and Nona's Italian restaurant.