About Us
Founded by veteran travel writer, Shayne Benowitz, Hoteligence was built on the philosophy that where you stay is your first impression of any destination. That’s why hotel reviews are at the heart of the site.
Hotel Reviews
Our hotel intel breaks down everything, from a property’s location to its design, amenities, hospitality, rooms, restaurants, bars and overall value—plus, insider tips and the ability to book directly via Booking.com. (We may earn a commission from hotel stays booked via affiliate links on the site.)
With reviews spanning North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, you can search by destination or simply browse the latest reviews.
You’ll also notice literary quotes about hotels and travel hidden within hotel reviews, like little Easter eggs, just for fun.
Pico Iyer once said, “All you need to travel is wonder and a Swiss Army knife.” We tend to agree. And our Swiss Army knife—or at least one of its sharpest blades—is the perfect hotel.
Travel Stories
Hoteligence is also here to capture the wonders of travel. After all, it’s the moment after you check in that the real adventure begins.
Travel Stories is where you’ll find practical and hyperlocal guides, dispatches from the road, field notes, inspiration, intel, tips, advice, news and more.
We’re headquartered in New York City, so Travel Stories is also home to monthly Best of New York recaps, chronicling the very best restaurants, bars, plays, museums and any other delights in the city.
Letters & Leisure
Think of Letters & Leisure as a place to find stories you might enjoy reading while lounging by the hotel pool. It’s home to long and short form essays, humor, criticism, experiments and other musings.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Letters & Leisure is also the name of Hoteligence’s Substack newsletter. We invite you to subscribe to stay in the loop and get the very best of Hoteligence delivered directly to your inbox, from hotel reviews to travel stories, Best of New York dispatches, exclusive content, essays, criticism and more.
Collaborate
As Hoteligence grows, we look forward to welcoming contributors and expanding our coverage. If you’re a traveler and/or writer interested in contributing, drop us a line. If you represent a hotel that you’d like to see on our site, we’d love to hear from you.
For all inquiries, pitches, collaborations or to simply talk travel, contact us at hoteligencelife@gmail.com.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. It’s going to be a good time.
Meet Shayne
Shayne Benowitz launched her career as a journalist and travel writer in Miami in 2010. As the inaugural hotels editor for the Miami Herald’s Miami.com and the Miami destination expert for The Telegraph in the UK, she’s checked into hundreds of hotels, interviewing hoteliers, celebrity chefs, mixologists, designers and architects along the way.
Traveling extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, her stories have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, AFAR, Nat Geo Traveler, the New York Post, Maxim, BOAT International, Forbes, Time Out and many other publications. A regular contributor to the Miami Herald, she’s written cover stories for nearly every section of the newspaper and for its lifestyle magazine. She’s currently an editor at FOUND, a new subscriber-based lifestyle publication with editions in New York, LA, Miami and San Francisco.
Shayne holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and her essays and a short play have appeared or are forthcoming in Drift, Catamaran Literary Reader and Sweet Tree Review. Her play, “A Short Play About a Man I Used to Love,” was selected for staged readings at The Barrow Group and Naked Angels in New York City. She’s currently working on her first full-length play.
To learn more about Shayne and her philosophy on travel, please read her essay “Why I Travel” and her “21 Questions” interview.
Shayne Benowitz launched her career as a journalist and travel writer in Miami in 2010. As the inaugural hotels editor for the Miami Herald’s Miami.com and the Miami destination expert for The Telegraph in the UK, she’s checked into hundreds of hotels, interviewing hoteliers, celebrity chefs, mixologists, designers and architects along the way.
Traveling extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, her stories have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, AFAR, Nat Geo Traveler, the New York Post, Maxim, BOAT International, Forbes, Time Out and many other publications. A regular contributor to the Miami Herald, she’s written cover stories for nearly every section of the newspaper and for its lifestyle magazine. She’s currently an editor at FOUND, a new subscriber-based lifestyle publication with editions in New York, LA, Miami and San Francisco.
Shayne holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and her essays and a short play have appeared or are forthcoming in Drift, Catamaran Literary Reader and Sweet Tree Review. Her play, “A Short Play About a Man I Used to Love,” was selected for staged readings at The Barrow Group and Naked Angels in New York City. She’s currently working on her first full-length play.
To learn more about Shayne and her philosophy on travel, please read her essay “Why I Travel” and her “21 Questions” interview.