Also known as pod hotels, capsule hotels are quirky, minimalist hotels that offer privacy in a compact space that’s usually just big enough for a bed, with communal bathrooms and toilets outside. The concept originated with architect Kisho Kurokawa, who created the first capsule hotel, Capsule Inn Osaka, in 1979. The new concept gained traction across not only Japan, but also the world, cropping up in busy airports and large cities where space is at a premium.

The New Yorker hotel on Manhattan's West 34th Street was once New York City's largest hotel. An Art Deco edifice with 43 stories and 2,500 rooms, it boasted its own power plant, bank vault, switchboard, 50-seat barber shop, and a dining room with a retractable ice floor for dance shows. The hotel even had its very own radio station, which not only provided music for the radio set in each guest room, but also broadcast shows from the hotel's Terrace Room.

A stay at Giraffe Manor is one you won't soon forget. As part of the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, the hotel doubles as a sanctuary for Rothschild giraffes. It's located outside Nairobi, Kenya, and features wide windows that welcome giraffes to peek their long necks inside, so hotel guests can feed them treats of dried grass pellets. (Just watch out for their 18-inch tongues!)

The lobby of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco spans a whopping 42,000 square feet and features an incredible 20-story atrium. A massive cascade of lights illuminates the front reception hall, as glass elevators whisk guests up and down the atrium, providing views of the art installations below.

The first ice hotel, in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, wasn't intended to be a hotel at all. Instead, it was meant to house and display art created during the town's annual ice sculpting event. A few years into the event's run, however, a group of tourists found themselves without a place to stay, so the town put them up in the icy structure — and the Icehotel was born. The hotel has been rebuilt every winter since, although there's also a permanent structure that's open to visitors year-round.

The Palacio de Sal is located on the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia — the world's largest salt flat. Given the abundance of salt in the region, hotelier Juan Quesada Valda had the idea to construct the hotel and most of its interior using salt blocks. The original building, from the 1990s, had to be dismantled, but a new location opened in the 2000s. If you go, resist the temptation to lick the walls — doing so damages the structure over time.

In 2018, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort opened what was billed as the world's first underwater hotel residence. Known as the Muraka — which means "coral" in the local language — the villa spans two floors, one of which is submerged more than 16 feet below sea level in the Indian Ocean. It features multiple bedrooms, an infinity pool and an outdoor deck on the upper above-water level, a private gym, and (of course) amazing views of the water.

Opened in 1946, the Flamingo was the first luxury hotel on the Las Vegas strip. It was modeled after Miami's art deco style, and features a garden including — you guessed it — live flamingos. Since its debut, Las Vegas has transformed from a dusty desert town to a worldwide gambling and entertainment destination, with more than two dozen hotels on a roughly four-mile-long stretch of road.

Stephen King got the idea for "The Shining" while staying at the Stanley Hotel in 1974. (In the novel, the hotel is called the Overlook.) Located in Estes Park, Colorado, the Stanley often uses its connection to the book as a marketing tie-in, offering an in-house psychic and ghost tours. The famous 1980 Stanley Kubrick film adaptation starring Jack Nicholson was not shot at the hotel, but King did use the exterior for some scenes in his 1997 TV miniseries.

Declared the world's oldest hotel by Guinness World Records, the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has been a family business for more than 1,300 years. The inn was founded in 705 CE and has been run by founder Fujiwara Mahito's descendants ever since. As it's located in the Southern Japanese Alps, many tourists come to experience the nearby hot springs.