Exclusive rooms that hotels do not want you to know

The Retreat at the Blue Lagoon – an escape from 62 low-profile suites that hides half-hidden in the rugged landscape right at The exterior of Reykjavik – a It has been open for three months and is already one of the liveliest places in Europe.

Perched on the edge of the geothermically heated pool, it has floor-to-ceiling windows with spectacular views of the lava. rock, plus a spa that offers massages in the lagoon. Guests get a particularly attractive advantage: access outside hours of access to the spectacular natural site, whose waters are crowded with people during peak periods.

But in retirement is an ultra-exclusive space that few visitors know. Spread over two levels and 2100 square feet, the Blue Lagoon suite is almost three times larger than the others. It has a private balcony overlooking the lava landscape, a kitchen and a dining room, as well as a king-size bedroom with a dressing room.Plus it has its own private spa, with steam room, sauna, fireplace and a private bathing area in the lagoon.

The catch? The sumptuous suite costs $ 10,500 per night, with a minimum of two nights, and it is not listed on the hotel's website.

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The Secret World unregistered hotel suites

The Blue Lagoon suite is like a cross between an unlisted phone number and a home seat in a theater: You can not find it unless you know already that it is there, and the reservation is by invitation only. In upscale hotels around the world, these unlisted rooms are a subtle staple, with reasons to be as varied as the rooms themselves.

According to Mar Masson, director of hotel marketing, the Blue Lagoon suite is designed as the ultimate hideaway. For those who want to go unnoticed, a private entrance and a nearby helipad allow discrete and private connections to Keflavik International Airport.

"No one ever needs to know you're there," he says. "This is not visible to other customers, and there is nothing that indicates that it is there."

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Privacy is not the only reason to keep a room unlisted, whether on a hotel's website or on partners such as Booking.com. Sometimes it is important to protect your most valuable asset.

"Let's say you have a suite that costs $ 2,000 US," says Stephen Brandman, hospitality veterinarian, who heads the management company Journal Hotels. Think about it, a crowd of high school students rent an apartment, and suddenly, you have a big problem.

York University Hospitality Professor Bjorn Hanson agrees. "Rooms that have something fragile – the art, a Steinway grand piano – where there is too much risk of wear and tear will be withheld," he says. "They will not be available to the public, but attributed to VIPs."

Often these types of rooms are called "owner suites".

At the Bennett Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, which will soon open. for example, Michael Bennett's 2,000 square foot suite is available on special request only. Even in this case, the guests are only confirmed after a personal signature of the promoter himself.

In other properties, they are called "partnership rooms," which means that they are only available through exclusive clubs requiring six-digit buy-ins. . At Paradise Beach, on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean, two of the resort's new beach houses – which are installed on stilts at the water's edge – can only be rented by Exclusive Resorts LLC, club of vacation whose initiation fees are of 125 000 US $. ] By invitation only

On the economic front, it may seem counter-intuitive to protect your most expensive product from the public.

But hotels prefer not to take the risk of a last-minute lawsuit. Free cancellation on an expensive suite, and affluent travelers are more inclined to last minute guilt than a rich rich person. For this reason, the JW Marriott Essex House in New York and St. Regis San Francisco require their penthouse suites to be booked by email – this gives managers time to check potential stays before confirming a reservation.

Of course, there is also an eternal question asked by refused visitors in hospitals and restaurants: "What would you do if Beyoncé accosted?"

In many hotels, some deluxe rooms are still kept empty in case a VIP decides to stay on a whim.

They are not always celebrities; they can simply be big spenders. At the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, for example, the penthouses at 21 Boulevard are completely unlisted, non-bookable and reserved for those who spend a million dollars in the high-roller show.

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Hotels have a secret that they do not want you to know – the secret rooms.

Exceptions to the rules

Unregistered rooms aren & # 39; It's always the biggest or the most glamorous.

Sometimes they are botched or rejected prototypes for renovations that have dragged on for financial reasons.

And sometimes they are just unusually small or strangely shaped. According to travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt of the Atmosphere Research Group, these rooms are placed most often in the old mansions of the Grand Hotel, which were "built to serve the people who travel with staff, such as a personal butler, valet or maid.

Harteveldt says that many of these cramped spaces have been assaulted or reconfigured, such renovations are not always possible, leading hoteliers to turn them into cheaper secret rooms that are kept in reserve.

C & # 39 So is the Moxy Hotel New York Times Square – built in 1907 under the name of Mills Hotel – is completed with its 120-square-foot Crashpad rooms.

They only cost 99 Dollars at night and are really … menu: They can only be booked on the drinks menu at the Magic Hour rooftop bar, for guests who have had a martini too much.

In Others Terms: Do not assume that all of your options are listed on a hotel's website – and be aware that like any good secret, unlisted suites may still be made public.

"Honestly, we could put it there at some point, "says Masson from the Blue Lagoon suite, by listing it publicly, without talking to us for this article. "But for the moment, we want it to be like a hidden gem."

– traveller.com.au