The Bible says that Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger "because there was no room at the inn." A recent trend --houses of worship being converted to boutique hotels -- suggests that in some of the world's most visited locations, things have come full circle.
With global travel spend continuing its upward trajectory, more hotel developers appear to have been eyeing empty or underused churches, convents, monasteries, temples and synagogues in their search for new places to build an inn or hotel.
Which makes sense, as the first time the term "location, location, location" was uttered, it was likely in reference to a prime spot near the town's church. Is it any wonder that the same phrase, in Latin, would be vestibulum, vestibulum, vestibulum?
Granted, the concept is nothing new, as monasteries and convents in medieval Europe were often used as de facto hotels that offered travellers rooms within their walls but outside their cloisters.
Today, many of these structures are being converted to a strictly secular purpose. And whether judged by geography, sect or rate potential, this trend, like the Almighty himself, does not discriminate.
For instance, last year, the Temple Hotel debuted on a Beijing site that had been used as a place of worship for the better part of 600 years. First the site's French-cuisine restaurant began operation in 2011, followed by an eight-room luxury hotel in 2013, within what had once been an 18th century Tibetan Buddhist temple. And while Buddhists question materialism, the hotel's guests no doubt feel otherwise, if the property's $400-a-night rates are any clue.
Far less problematic for the guilt-ridden set is Poland's Hotel Ilan, which started its life as a Jewish yeshiva in 1930 in the town of Lublin, about 110 miles southeast of Warsaw. The former Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva lasted until World War II, after which it became a medical school before returning to Jewish ownership in 2004. The 48-room hotel, which includes a restaurant specializing in Jewish cuisine, elicits a mazel tov for the budget-conscious set, with rates starting at $65 a night.
For something far more ethereal, though, one could venture to the Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa on Italy's Amalfi Coast. Built as a monastery in the late 17th century on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, the property was converted to a hotel in 1924 and, after a period of being shuttered, reopened in 2012 as a 20-room resort on a seasonal (April to October) basis.
Of course, such rarified lodging doesn't come cheap, with April rates ranging from about $800 to more than $2,500 a night. Still, the well-heeled can attempt to get well-healed by pondering the everlasting in the hotel's infinity pool.
Granted, such redevelopments had been going on long before the fated year of 2012, when some prognosticators were envisioning the end of the world as we know it. In 1959, retail heir Robert Frederick Woolworth took over the Carmelite convent, built in 1651 across the street from Puerto Rico's San Juan Cathedral, the Western Hemisphere's second-oldest church. Woolworth reopened it as the 58-room El Convento luxury hotel (now the Hotel El Convento) in 1962.
The practice appears to have picked up momentum within the last decade, especially in Western Europe, with its vast inventory of centuries-old churches and a steady influx of travelers.
In 2005, the Netherlands' Kruisherenhotel Maastricht opened in what had been a 15th century monastery constructed by a group of friars known for writing, illuminating, binding and copying books. By 1797, the French Revolution had driven the friars out, though the order regained control of the property about a century later. The building had fallen into disrepair by the late 1990s, when work began to transform it into a 60-room hotel. Fittingly, its features include a library. It fetches a rate upwards of $300 a night.
Meanwhile, about 70 miles west and across the Belgium border, the town of Mechelen boasts Martin's Patershof. That hotel, whose rates run about $135 a night, started its life in the late 18th century as a church before eventually being converted to a 79-room hotel in 2009.
Likely contributing to this trend is the combination of higher spending on global lodging and the fact that securing a good location for a hotel is getting harder and harder. At the same time, the costs of new construction continue to rise.
What's more, the idea of building green continues to gain favor around the world, and by repurposing a house of worship instead of razing it, hotel developers can show a little love for the environment (and possibly make use of some classically stunning architecture).
Nowhere is that more evident than in the unlikely city of Syracuse, N.Y., where the Hotel Skyler opened in 2011 in a building that had been built in 1921 as Temple Adath Yeshurun. The synagogue lasted until 1968 before eventually being converted into a performing arts center. Featuring a closed-loop geothermal heat pump as well as other environmentally sensitive goodies, the 58-room hotel, whose rates start at about $170 a night, became the third ever in the U.S. to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Of course, just because a developer has a church, temple or synagogue that he or she wants to repurpose as an inn doesn't portend to any indulgences when it comes to the Nimby oppositions faced by many investors in conventional structures.
One Los Angeles-area developer has been proposing for at least the past three years the conversion of the now-empty Pilgrim Church in the city's Silver Lake district into a 25-room boutique hotel, complete with four separate lounge areas.
Paradoxically, progress stalled in mid-2013 when neighbors in the notoriously hipster enclave complained that the hotel would have too many drinking areas. Which is sort of like "Duck Dynasty" Robertson family members complaining about a new restaurant serving too much pheasant.
That said, uber-hip boutique hotelier Ace Hotels put its own spin on the religious/conversion concept when it opened its first Los Angeles hotel in the old United Artists building (see related story, "L.A.'s nightlife hotels"). After U.A. had sold the downtown property, its 1,600-seat theater was converted into a church that was as widely known for its huge red neon sign proclaiming "Jesus Saves" as it was for its controversial leader, the televangelist Gene Scott.
By converting most of the building into a 182-room hotel while using the theater for a live-performance venue, it's safe to say that Ace spared this 87-year-old piece of classic architecture from either demolition or a life of irrelevance.
Ironically, Ace kept that sign intact and fully lit at night, a testament to the building's moment in the inner light.
Contact Danny King at dking@travelweekly.com.