From Heritage Buildings to Hotel Stays, Meet the Salvaged Stay

What if your next hotel stay came with a past? You could sleep in a former schoolhouse, wake up inside a centuries-old abbey, or spend the night in a grand railway station. According to Hotels.com, a Salvaged Stay is a hotel created by giving a historic or architecturally significant building a new life as a place to stay.

The idea is closely related to what architects call adaptive reuse, repurposing an existing building for a new function. But in a Salvaged Stay, the building's former identity is part of the attraction. The old walls, grand halls, original details, and sometimes even traces of the building's previous occupants give guests a sense of history a newly built hotel can't easily provide.

From schoolhouses to railway stations

Hotels.com's Unpack ’26 report highlights several striking examples.

Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu in Kyoto, Japan

A former elementary school has been transformed into a contemporary hotel while retaining elements of its schoolhouse heritage. It topped Hotels.com's Salvaged Stays list, with searches increasing 194% year over year.

Fontevraud L'Ermitage in Anjou, France

For something considerably older, guests can stay in a former abbey whose history stretches back centuries. The property combines the atmosphere of its religious past with modern hotel comforts.

Bodmin Jail Hotel in Cornwall, U.K.

This one comes with a darker history. Once a prison, this unusual property has been converted into a hotel while retaining elements of its imposing past. Searches increased 110% year over year.

Union Station Nashville Yards in Nashville, U.S.

One of Nashville's most distinctive hotels occupies a former railway station. The grand Victorian building once welcomed train passengers; today, its historic spaces have been reimagined as guest rooms, restaurants, and gathering spaces.

Sandi Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This property brings together several chapters of history; its buildings were once used as a mint and a school. Today, they form a colorful boutique hotel in the heart of Rio.

The list also includes The Old Clare Hotel in Sydney, a former brewery and pub; Hotel Place d'Armes in Montreal, occupying historic bank and federal-building spaces; Nine Orchard Hotel in New York, housed in a former bank; Bank Hotel in Stockholm, another former bank; and Canfranc Estación, Royal Hideaway in Spain, a spectacular former railway station.

Why "Salvaged Stay"?

The name is deliberately playful. "Salvaged" refers to the rescue and restoration of buildings that might otherwise have lost their original purpose or fallen into disuse. "Stay" simply refers to hotel stays.

The result is a type of accommodation in which the building itself becomes part of the travel experience.

A schoolhouse once filled with children becomes a place for travelers to sleep. A railway station that once connected cities becomes a destination in itself. An abbey that once housed religious communities becomes a retreat for modern guests.

That is the charm of a Salvaged Stay, where the past isn’t erased to create something new. At a time when so many new hotels can feel interchangeable, it offers a room with a history of its own, something far harder to replicate.