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Restored Jailhouses Rock as Trendy Hotel Destinations

Old schools, factories get facelifts too as hoteliers aim to attract upscale crowd

By Michael Roston,  Newser User

Posted Oct 30, 2008 11:26 AM CDT

(Newser) – Taking aim at travelers who want more than just Wi-Fi or a pool, hoteliers are converting former prisons, schools, factories, and other odd sites into luxury hotels, Portfolio reports. Younger guests who travel for leisure are demanding distinctive experiences, and the unusual locations help hotels market their rooms in a way Conrad Hilton never imagined.

The Charles Street Jail, built as a "model prison", is now a model of such transformation. Developers renamed it the Liberty Hotel, added a restaurant named Clink, and joke it’s “Boston's most captivating address.” And at the Kennedy School hotel in Portland, Ore., you can smoke in the Detention bar, but put those stubs out before you head to the Honors lounge.
Visitors to the Liberty Hotel in Boston, formerly the Charles Street Jail, move up an escalator from the street to the lobby as a hotel employee descends on Monday, Oct. 22, 2007.
Visitors to the Liberty Hotel in Boston, formerly the Charles Street Jail, move up an escalator from the street to the lobby as a hotel employee descends on Monday, Oct. 22, 2007.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
A woman walks under a section of the Charles Street Jail's original catwalks just off the lobby of what's now the Liberty Hotel, Boston's most captivating address, its owners say.
A woman walks under a section of the Charles Street Jail's original catwalks just off the lobby of what's now the Liberty Hotel, "Boston's most captivating address," its owners say.   (AP Photo)
A doorman wears a uniform suggestive of a prison guard's clothing outside the Liberty Hotel, former'y Charles Street Jail, in Boston.
A doorman wears a uniform suggestive of a prison guard's clothing outside the Liberty Hotel, former'y Charles Street Jail, in Boston.   (AP Photo)
Designers of the Liberty Hotel kept the prison guard catwalks as part of the hotel's lobby.
Designers of the Liberty Hotel kept the prison guard catwalks as part of the hotel's lobby.   (AP Photo)
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Frankly, most of the best or most interesting building
sites are already taken.
- Bjorn Hanson, associate professor at New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Hospitality

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COMMENTS
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If staying in a prison isn't unique enough, how about a treehouse or underwater?
Weirdomatic

A slideshow of unusual hotels...including one in a cave
Portfolio

 
Travel • Conrad Hilton • restoration • luxury travel • luxury hotels • art hotels • hotels

 
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