Fodor’s releases top 100 hotels around the world

Fodor’s, the well-known travel guide and resource, has released the winners of its second annual 100 Hotel Awards. The awards are divided into eight categories including: Global Icon, Trendsetter, Trip of a Lifetime, Local Experience, City Chic, Royal Pedigree, Best All-Inclusive, and Fun for All Ages. Topping the list are some of the most luxurious and unique hotels in the business, among which you will find the entirely eco-friendly Treehotel, one of this year’s trendsetters and a prime example of sustainable travel at it’s best.

A luxury stay surrounded by nature

The Treehotel, located in Harads, Sweden, near the Lule River, has been entirely designed so that both guests and buildings can live in harmony with nature. According to the Treehotel website, the hotel is built on the pillars of sustainability and ecological values.

At present, the Treehotel consists of five unique treerooms–The Cabin, The Mirrorcube, The Bird’s Nest (pictured above), The Blue Cone, and The UFO–built in 2010, named appropriately after their unique style and architectural design. The hotel has nineteen additional rooms planned for 2012 on top of the existing treerooms and the Tree Sauna where guests can kick up their feet and just relax. All rooms are built on live trees; the hotel has a policy of not chopping down any trees or damaging nature during building, using eco-outdoor wood flooring that doesn’t contain any chemical substances. They also use local construction companies for every build.

In order to make every guest feel comfortable while bonding with nature, the treerooms are all heated using underfloor heating, supplied locally by green hydroelectric power. Rooms are lit using low-energy LED systems, and feature water-efficient sinks (wastewater is collected and emptied daily) but no sewage systems due to the environmentally friendly combustion toilets that incinerate everything at 600 °C. At the end of each stay at the Treethotel, the staff uses eco-friendly products to clean, and green, each room.

Have you been to the Treehotel? Let us know what you think! Questions or comments? Leave them below!

image credit: Gitta Wilan