About the list
This page sets out how the eighteen entries were chosen, which sources stand behind them, what the reference deliberately leaves out, and how to report an error. The rules are the same on every page, so an entry in one category can be read against an entry in another without allowing for a change of method.
How the hotels were chosen
Four categories were fixed first, and the entries were then chosen to fill them: four houses of berths and cabins, six houses grouped for their interiors or their fabric, four sites where the sleeping rooms are cut from snow, and four Canadian resorts. Every one is a working hotel. Nothing was included in return for a payment, and no place bought its way onto the page.
Which sources are used
Entries are written from the hotels' own published material, from maps, and from open publications about the buildings. Where a claim could not be traced to a source, it was dropped instead of being softened. Dates and figures are avoided in the text, except for a construction year that a source states plainly. The month and year of the last check are printed with every entry.
What is not here
There are no prices, no star classes, no counts of bedrooms, no reviews, no rankings and no booking links. Hotels are not compared with one another, and no promise is made about weather, availability or what a stay will feel like. Nothing on the site describes a licensed floor, and the casino section keeps to the buildings around it.
How to read the winter section
Buildings of snow and ice are seasonal. They are cut afresh each winter, they melt when the thaw comes, and they are raised again the following year to a new design. No dates are promised on this site, because operators set them anew each season and the weather moves them. Where an operator also keeps heated buildings, the entry says so. Ask the operator for the dates of the current season and for what is provided.
Reporting an error
If something here is out of date or wrong, write and say which entry and which sentence. Corrections are made against a published source, and the check date on the entry is then reset. Contact