Take 3

Hotels in old factories

Sheraton Hannover Pelikan, Germany

Pelikanplatz 31, sheratonpelikanhannover.com

This former Pelikan fountain-pen factory combines industrial chic with hotel comfort. The 1906 red brick and reinforced concrete building allowed for large spaces in the production area which now form some of the 147 bedrooms, which have high ceilings and large windows. The interior draws on the building’s history with swirls and lines on carpets and ink-splats on curtains. Doubles from €154.

Fairmont Heritage Place, San Francisco

Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point Street, California, US, fairmont.com/ghirardelli

This all-suite hotel is part of a city “chocolate block” created by an Italian, Domingo Ghirardelli, who moved to San Francisco, started a chocolate company and bought buildings on the waterfront in 1893. The company has since moved its production elsewhere. The hotel has exposed brick walls and the decor includes lots of chocolate brown. Doubles from €421.

Heritance Tea Factory, Sri Lanka

Nuwara Eliya, heritancehotels.com

High-tea can be had on the terrace at this hotel 2km above sea level on a former tea plantation. The hotel retains lush organic tea plants, which guests can harvest and have made into tea to take home. Tea used to be transported on a narrow-gauge railway, and one of the carriages is now a restaurant. The hotel conversion kept the exterior, windows and woodwork. Doubles from €114.