Beyond the Room: The Decentralized Hotel Model
Discover Hotels with Villas, Cottages, and Cabins
The idea of the hotel room is quietly evolving. Increasingly, travelers are seeking places that offer not just service and design, but space and privacy as a fundamental part of the experience. Beyond shared corridors and communal walls, a new generation of landscape hotels is redefining hospitality through decentralized layouts of private villas, cottages, and cabins. Spread across vineyards, forests, coastlines, or countryside, these stays allow guests to live more independently while remaining deeply cared for. Privacy here is not an upgrade, but the starting point.
Many of these homes were not conceived as hotels at all. They were farmhouses, fishermen’s cottages, estate residences, rural shelters, or working buildings shaped by necessity and climate. Today, they are thoughtfully reimagined within decentralized hotel models, their original purpose still legible in thick stone walls, low ceilings, handcrafted joinery, and weathered materials. Upcycled furniture, local craft, and vernacular architecture preserve a sense of continuity, allowing the past to quietly inform the present rather than be erased by it.
In these settings, hospitality feels less transactional and more domestic. Kitchens invite slow mornings, terraces become places for long afternoons, and outdoor space is as important as what sits inside four walls. Service is present but unobtrusive, delivered with intention rather than intrusion, allowing the landscape to lead and daily life to unfold naturally. These are places to settle rather than check in, where the decentralized nature of the hotel dissolves the boundary between home and hospitality into something more grounded, spacious, and enduring.
Photo by Ocama
Ocama, Dominican Republic
Tucked into the cliffs and jungle of the Dominican Republic’s northern coast, Ocama Boutique Hotel unfolds as a collection of private villas intimately woven into the landscape. Once simple farm structures inspired by local vernacular architecture, the villas have been reimagined to honor the natural rhythms of forest and sea. Interiors feature hand-crafted furniture, natural textures, and generous terraces that frame uninterrupted views, allowing guests to feel suspended between canopy and ocean. Privacy here is shaped not by walls alone but by the contours of the land, where wild vegetation, rugged cliffs, and the gentle slope of the hills create a natural sanctuary. Daily life unfolds quietly, from mornings punctuated by birdsong to evenings spent watching the sunset reflect across the jungle canopy and surf, reminding visitors that luxury need not intrude on the senses, but rather exists in harmony with the environment.
Photos by A Sociedade Rural
Photos by A Sociedade Rural
A Sociedade Rural, Portugal
In Portugal’s Alentejo region, A Sociedade Rural transforms former agricultural estates into a series of understated rural dwellings that honor centuries of farming heritage. Thick whitewashed walls, terracotta roofs, and interiors filled with reclaimed wood and local craft preserve the character of buildings once used for work and storage. The cottages are carefully arranged to create intimacy with the surrounding landscape, where rolling wheat fields and wildflower meadows stretch toward the horizon. Interiors are restrained yet comfortable, allowing the textures of stone, linen, and earth to be felt rather than overshadowed by modernity. Guests move through space slowly, guided by the rhythm of the sun and the quiet of the fields, where seclusion and simplicity become a form of luxury.
Photos by Estancia Santa Cruz
Photos by Estancia Santa Cruz
Estancia Santa Cruz, José Ignacio, Uruguay
Set in Uruguay’s open pampas near José Ignacio, Estancia Santa Cruz offers private houses deeply rooted in ranching tradition. Once functional buildings for cattle and horses, the structures have been transformed into refined retreats, preserving wooden beams, stone floors, and broad porches while integrating modern comfort. Each house is spaced across the vast property to maximize distance and privacy, allowing guests to inhabit the expansive land as if it were their own. Daily life moves at the rhythm of the environment, with horseback rides across grasslands, sun-drenched afternoons on terraces, and quiet evenings beneath endless skies. The vastness of the pampas offers a rare sense of freedom and perspective, where privacy is not just a design choice but a natural consequence of the landscape itself.
Photo by Skinopi Lodge
Photo by Skinopi Lodge
Photo by Skinopi Lodge
Skinopi Lodge, Milos
Skinopi Lodge perches above the Aegean Sea on Milos, its villas echoing the simplicity and geometry of traditional Cycladic homes. Built with volcanic stone and plastered walls, each villa frames uninterrupted views of the sea, cliffs, and sky, creating an immersive dialogue with the island’s elemental landscape. Interiors are minimal yet tactile, layered with locally sourced textiles, ceramics, and hand-hewn furniture. Guests inhabit each villa as a private world, where the rhythm of the day is defined by the movement of light and shadow, the soft lap of waves below, and the occasional call of seabirds. Skinopi balances privacy with openness, offering independence within a setting that is intimate but never isolated.
Photo by The Tawny Hotel
Photo by The Tawny Hotel
The Tawny, United Kingdom
Nestled within the rolling hills of the English countryside, The Tawny transforms historic estate buildings into a collection of treehouses, woodland cabins, and boathouses that combine solitude with understated luxury. Each structure is freestanding and carefully positioned among mature trees or along the water’s edge, allowing guests to experience both privacy and a close relationship with nature. Interiors are cozy and thoughtful, mixing heritage touches such as exposed timber beams with contemporary furnishings and locally sourced materials. The experience unfolds slowly, guided by the sounds of woodland, the movement of light through foliage, and moments of quiet reflection by rivers and gardens. Here, the architecture mediates between service and solitude, offering a space where stillness feels intentional and restorative.
Photo by UXUA
Photo by UXUA
UXUA, Brazil
In Trancoso, Brazil, UXUA occupies a cluster of restored fishermen’s houses, each reimagined with care to preserve its original character while offering refined comfort. Thick adobe walls, terracotta roofs, and courtyards once used for daily village life are now private villas filled with reclaimed furniture, artisanal textiles, and Brazilian craftwork. Guests are enveloped in color, texture, and light, inhabiting homes that feel personal and domestic rather than hotel-like. The village layout ensures privacy through staggered positioning and intimate courtyards while fostering a sense of community if desired. Here, heritage is honored not as nostalgia but as a living backdrop for contemporary hospitality, where each villa offers a narrative of place and time, grounded in local tradition.
Photo by Mount Congreve
Photo by Mount Congreve
Photo by Mount Congreve
Mount Congreve House and Gardens, Ireland
Mount Congreve offers guests the rare experience of inhabiting historic estate buildings within one of Ireland’s most celebrated gardens. The heritage homes retain original architectural features such as stone walls, carved woodwork, and period fireplaces, blending them with modern comfort and thoughtful service. Guests move through house and garden at leisure, where privacy is afforded by both scale and meticulous layout, and the landscape itself frames vistas and walking paths. Living within these buildings is akin to inhabiting history, where the quiet presence of past inhabitants, the seasonal rhythm of gardens, and the textures of stone and wood combine to create a reflective, restorative environment.
Photo by Haritha Villas
Haritha Villas, Sri Lanka
Haritha Villas reinterpret traditional Sri Lankan village homes through contemporary tropical design. Each villa is a standalone residence set among lush gardens, coconut groves, and rice paddies, creating privacy through natural landscaping rather than walls alone. Interiors draw on local building techniques, using clay, timber, and woven textures alongside modern comfort. The daily rhythm is shaped by sun, breeze, and the subtle movements of the surrounding land, allowing guests to experience the sensory richness of tropical life. Here, wellness emerges organically through immersion in place, where privacy, space, and connection with nature are inseparable from the architecture itself.
Photo by BoysPlayNice
Photo by BoysPlayNice
Art Villas, Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, Art Villas blends sculptural architecture with self-contained private residences. Each villa is a standalone work of design, oriented to capture forest views, light, and airflow, while integrating local materials and artisanal details. Once untamed jungle, the site now hosts homes that feel personal yet part of a larger landscape, offering independence without isolation. Privacy is layered through orientation, topography, and vegetation, while open living areas and terraces foster a quiet dialogue with the surrounding rainforest. Here, the immersive experience of nature is inseparable from the tactile, designed environment.
Photo by Pink Houses Azores
Photo by Pink Houses Azores
Pink Houses, Azores
On the volcanic islands of the Azores, Pink Houses restores traditional farm and fishing homes into private retreats that celebrate local heritage. Thick stone walls, simple rooflines, and minimalist interiors retain a sense of history while accommodating modern comfort. Set against verdant pastures and ocean vistas, the homes create privacy through distance, elevation, and landscape design. Each dwelling is rooted in place, offering guests the ability to move slowly through the rhythms of island life, with quiet mornings, expansive skies, and sensory engagement with wind, water, and volcanic terrain.
Photo by Bambu Indah
Photo by Bambu Indah
Bambu Indah, Bali
Set along the Ayung River outside Ubud, Bambu Indah unfolds as a collection of historic Javanese teak houses and contemporary bamboo structures immersed in tropical forest. Once traditional homes sourced from villages across Indonesia, these buildings have been carefully relocated and restored, their original craftsmanship preserved while being reimagined for slow, intentional living. Open-air interiors, hand-carved details, and natural materials blur the boundary between inside and out, with terraces, gardens, and river views shaping daily rhythms. Privacy is defined not by separation, but by immersion, where dense greenery, flowing water, and layered canopy create a sense of seclusion without isolation. Days move to the sound of the river and cicadas, with swims in spring-fed pools, barefoot meals, and quiet moments that reflect Bambu Indah’s belief that true luxury lies in cultural continuity, ecological sensitivity, and deep connection to place.
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