Travel has a definite allure. The opportunity to break from the routine and to experience something new offers the perfect antidote to the tedium of everyday life.

But travel also entails its own set of concerns and constraints. Flight delays, lost baggage and foul weather can quickly turn an alluring adventure into a travel

I inhabit a world in which hotels loom unfortunately large. During many work weeks, I spend more nights in hotels than at home. Many of these hotel nights involve nondescript rooms in cookie-cutter chain hotels. These chain hotels are neither good nor bad, merely boring. They are so lacking in distinctiveness that often I am