When traveling for business, we often prefer hotel rooms of the same type in London, Paris, or Shanghai. Its just more convenient. A different set of rules applies when we search for a place to celebrate a special family holiday, a weekend with a new lover, or a few days of blissful solitude with some great books. Suddenly a balcony with postcard-worthy views counts more than the number of TV channels, a sumptuous bed with a heavenly mattress and hand-ironed linens more than a Wi-Fi connection in every nook and cranny of the hotel building.

Thats where this new TASCHEN collection comes in. A compilation of 100 hotels, in locations from Abu Dhabi to Vietnam, the two volumes make it a breeze to choose where to relax next. The gamut runs from dream castles like Villa Feltrinelli on Lake Garda to the glass-fronted hipster chic of Juvet Hotel in Norway; from Mediterranean pensiones with nostalgic flair and moderate rates to the pricey-yet-worthy desert glamour of Amangiri resort in Utahs canyon country.

From bed & breakfast basic to six-star luxurious, each hotel comes with a reader-friendly chart listing the number of rooms, current prices, type of cuisine, amenities, plus the all important X-factor: the feature that makes staying there a truly unique experience.