Welcome to Issue No. 053 of Sojourn.
It has been a little while.
I stepped back because I kept asking myself what Sojourn could become that would actually be useful, not simply interesting to read, but worth coming back to.
Then I picked up a very thick book from my shelf called Where Architects Sleep.
It contains hundreds and hundreds of hotel recommendations from architects around the world, and the format is quite simple: each architect names the places they return to, their favorite urban hotels, the ones worth traveling for and, my favorite, the hotels they wish they had designed themselves, and so on.
I’ve always enjoyed discovering hotels through the people who design them.
Then I started thinking about the ‘key’ at the front of the book:
Beach. Spa. Luxury. Urban. Best-kept secret. All-time favorite.
The key makes the book easy to navigate, but they still begin with the hotel, its location or someone else’s opinion of it.
So I found myself wondering how I could translate that into categories that began with the traveler instead?
Not simply, do I want a beach, a spa or a city hotel?
But, what do I need from this stay?
Because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I do not look for the same hotel every time I travel, even when I go back to the same places, I don’t think any of us do.
Sometimes I want to feel immersed. Sometimes I want to hide. Sometimes I want to meet people, and sometimes I would prefer not to speak to anyone at all.
There are trips when I want stimulation and others when I need to be quiet for a few days.
The destination may be the same. The person arriving may not be.
That is where the Sojourn Index begins.
The Sojourn Index
The Sojourn Index will organize hotels into categories according to what I believe they are capable of making possible.
It will not rank them or attempt to decide which is ‘best’ in the world. I believe a wonderful hotel can still be entirely wrong for a certain person, moment or trip.
Price, location, availability and amenities still matter, of course, but they do not always tell us whether a hotel is right for a particular stay.
This is an experiment I’m working through with myself so I can better understand how to make travel more personal, and I don’t have every category worked out yet.
I would rather build the index slowly, one hotel, one intention and one observation at a time, and allow the language and categories to become clearer.
So here are the first three:
1.LA COLOMBE D’OR
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Sojourn Key
To Belong
Go When You Want To…
Enter a cultural story already in progress
La Colombe d’Or is usually described through its impressive art collection.
Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Braque, Léger and Calder are among the artists whose work found its way onto its walls, but calling it an ‘art hotel’ does not quite explain the place.
The collection assembled to become a hotel concept, it grew through hospitality.
La Colombe d’Or began as a small café and inn where locals and travelers came to eat, drink and dance. Its owner, Paul Roux, became a friend to the artists who passed through Saint-Paul-de-Vence. They stayed, ate, returned, and sometimes left works in exchange for rooms or meals.
The art became part of the house because the artists had also become part of its life.
That is what places La Colombe d’Or under To Belong.
For the traveler who wants art to feel lived with rather than formally presented, and who likes the idea of briefly staying in a place shaped by friendship, conversation and decades of history.
It may be less right when you want to stay invisible, anonymous, surrounded by contemporary design or seeking an experience that feels entirely your own.
The Sojourn interpretation:
A house where art became part of the family.
—
2.HAZLITT’S
London, England
Sojourn Key
To Disappear
Go When You Want To…
Have the city close without remaining inside its energy.
Hazlitt’s sits in the middle of Soho, surrounded by restaurants, theaters, bars, people and noise.
When you step inside, you quickly notice how the mood changes.
The hotel occupies historic Georgian townhouses filled with period furniture, old books, fireplaces, nooks, narrow passages and the irregularities that come with buildings that have real history.
Breakfast can be brought to your room or enjoyed in one of the sitting rooms. A bar reserved for guests, so even having a drink can feel like something you do in a private house.
Hazlitt’s brings you into London, with Soho at your doorstep, so you can decide at a moment’s notice when you want to step out.
That is why I would place it under To Disappear: for the traveler who wants privacy without being remote, character without performance and the idea of living in London for a few days.
It might not be for those who expect contemporary design, expansive rooms or a hotel that becomes a destination, or serves as the social center of the trip.
The Sojourn interpretation:
A place to hide in the middle of old London.
—
3.THE SUKHOTHAI BANGKOK
Bangkok, Thailand
Sojourn Key
To Restore
Go When You Want To…
Find sanctuary in the middle of the city.
Bangkok asks for your attention.
There is a lot to offer: movement, heat, food, traffic, sound, color and life happening in almost every direction.
The Sukhothai Bangkok creates its own pace within it.
Low-rise pavilions sit among tropical gardens, courtyards, water, and lotus ponds can be seen from every angle. The architecture and interiors draw from Thai palatial traditions expressed through teak, silk, stone, symmetry, and carefully framed views.
The hotel creates some distance from the city’s intensity.
That is what makes To Restore feel right.
The restoration here is not necessarily about retreating from Bangkok but having enough space to come back to it, and return feeling restored.
It might not be for those who want a hotel where the city extends into it or prefer a hotel with a more informal, urban energy.
The Sojourn interpretation:
A place to absorb the energy of Bangkok, slowly.
Where the index goes from here
These are only the first three entries.
Other intentions are already beginning to emerge:
To Discover.
To Be Held.
To Create.
To Feel Alive.
To Mark a Moment.
Some hotels may belong under more than one. Some categories may change as I speak with more travelers, advisors, founders and the people who understand or run these places firsthand.
That is actually part of the idea.
I do not want to create another set of filters. I want to develop a more human language for recognizing what a hotel can do and when that particular experience might matter.
Whether we are choosing hotels or recommend them to someone else, perhaps the question should not only be:
Where should I stay?
Perhaps it should also be:
What do I need the stay to do?
If you run or recommend hotels professionally, I would love to hear about a hotel you reserve for a particular kind of traveler or moment.
Or simply finish this sentence:
I send this hotel to the traveler who…
The idea behind the Sojourn Index, its editorial direction, and the hotel selections are mine. I used AI to help develop and draft parts of this issue, then edited the final piece and verified the hotel information against original sources.