Aircraft as hotel
One of the latest hotel ideas to have hit the world, an aircraft hotel, is now operational in Stockholm. An abandoned Boeing 747 jet has been converted into a 25-room hotel at Arlanda Airport in the Swedish capital. This is a basic hotel, devoid of luxuries. It offers a 65 square feet room with a built-in platform bed, overhead luggage space, and a flat-screen television. Showers and toilets are shared, just as in any operational aircraft. There is, however, a reception to welcome guests and a cafe to serve food and beverages. This unique hotel has a conference room on the aircraft’s upper deck and a wedding suite in the cockpit.
 |
| An aircraft hotel in Waitomo, New Zealand |
A 1950 Bristol Freighter, one of the last planes used by the Allied forces in Vietnam, has been fully refurbished into a two-unit hotel, rater motel, in Waitomo, New Zealand. Barry Woods, owner and designer of this hotel, says one of the two units, in the cockpit, can sleep up to four people.
“It has a double bed and a sofa that pulls out to a large single bed,” he says. “It has a double mattress on the floor, and this is more suitable for kids as it has a very low ceiling. Children need to be over seven years old to climb a ladder to the cockpit safely. This unit has very little floor space.”
The tail unit of the plane can also sleep up to four people as it has a double bed and a set of bunks. A double bedroom is separated from the main area by a curtain. Bunks being slightly narrower than normal ones are more suitable for children, Woods says, though “Adults also do not mind sleeping in this,” he adds.
Underwater hotels
Watching fish and other aquatic organisms in aquariums can be fascinating. But imagine what the view would be like from inside. An underwater hotel provides just that. Though very few such hotels exist currently, a few others are under construction.
The world’s first underwater hotel, the Jules’ Undersea Lodge, Florida, became operational in 1986. The entrance to the hotel is 21 feet below water level, and knowledge of scuba diving is a must to stay here. However, a crash course is available for newbies from the trainers employed by the hotel. Once inside, you can not only enjoy watching the marine life from your 42-inch window, but you can have other luxuries like air-conditioning, hot showers and DVD players.
Similar hotels are coming up in Fiji, Dubai and Turkey as well. The one in Dubai is called Hydropolis and is expected to be functional by the end of this year. With a project cost, estimated at US $550 million, as reported by newspapers in the Gulf, the hotel will be a big one with as many as 220 rooms built at 66 feet below the surface. It will be different from the Jules’ Lodge in the design as the rooms are to be connected to the ground through a transparent train tunnel.
The Fiji project, called Poseidon Undersea Resort, was expected to have been functional by 2008, but has been delayed and is expected to start operations in 2010. Maximum occupancy at this five-star undersea resort at a depth of 40 feet from the surface is 144. Rooms rents are expected to be around US $1500 a night, and the entire hotel can be booked for six nights, seven days for US $3 million.
The Istanbul underwater hotel will probably also be operational by 2010 as well. There are plans to build underwater hotels in places like London, New York, Munich, and Monaco. Obviously not all would be under the sea; some will be under the surface of river or lake. An underwater hotel in a lake called the Utter Inn has been operational in Vasteras, Sweden, since 2000. In this one-room inn guests can sleep 9 feet below the surface at 1 km from the banks.
With a number of rivers and lakes, and a huge coastline in India, opportunities for such hotels seem immense. It is just a matter of time before some one takes the plunge.
 |
| Floatel, a floating hotel in Kolkata |
Floating hotels
Cruises are quite commonplace, but a floating hotel? This refers to a structure built on water with the sole purpose of floating and not transportation. Such hotels can be seen at quite a few places around the world. India also has one, the Floatel, located on the Hooghly river in Kolkata. It is a four-star hotel with 46 guest rooms, and it advertises itself as an eco-friendly establishment (see Box).
Hotel in plantations and orchards
Hotels in the natural setting of tea or coffee plantations or in orchards are gaining popularity, though such properties remain scarce. Major tea-growing countries like India and Sri Lanka have hotel cottages built amidst tea plantations. Some of the most renowned tea estate hotels include Makaibari and Glenburn, both in Darjeeling. Coffee tourism is also gaining popularity in the coffee-producing south Indian states, with plantations opening up their idle bungalows for tourists. These properties not only offer eco-friendly and pleasing environment to stay, but enlighten tourists about the fascinating processes of tea and coffee making.
Orchard hotels are not large in number either, but they do attract people wanting the experience of staying in natural settings. There are a few heritage hotels built in mango orchards in Rajasthan. Corbett has a hotel built in a mango orchard. Welcome Group manages such a property in Jodhpur and offers luxurious suites. Hotels built in apple orchards at places like Manali in Himachal Pradesh have also started attracting tourists. Devlok Hotel, Manali, for instance, offers cottages on weekly, monthly and yearly basis to business travelers. It also offers rooms for economy class tourists from where they can have a view of apple orchards and pine forests.
 |
| ICE CHURCH 2007 by artists Cindy Berg, Marjolein Vonk, Jan Willem van der Schoot & Marinus Vroom. Photo Big Ben Productions |
Ice hotels
Ice hotels are quite unique in the very sense that they are temporary hotels made entirely of snow and ice blocks. They are, as the very name suggests, seen in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle. These are seen in winters in countries like Norway, Sweden, Canada and Finland. According to Wikipedia, the first ice hotel, called IceHotel, was at Kiruna in Sweden. A hotel is created every year with ice artists working on the ice blocks to create all sorts of sculptures. Even beds and glasses used by guests are made of ice. According to the information on the website of IceHotel the temperature inside the hotel is never less than -5°C to -8°C, regardless of the temperature outside. Ice hotels not only have rooms made out of snow and ice, they have provision for warm accommodation as well. After a stay of one night in the cold, you are encouraged to stay one or two nights in a warm room. Warm rooms are like normal hotel rooms built alongside cold ice rooms. Cold accommodation in IceHotel is available on a tariff of anything between US $145 and 785 per person on a twin-sharing basis. Warm accommodation, in contrast, is much cheaper, between US $163 and 205 per person on a twin-sharing basis.
Is it possible to build such hotels in India in regions that remain under snow for more than five months a year? Possibly in regions north of Badrinath in Uttarakhand and north of Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh.
Hotel in a drainpipe
Odd though it may sound, there is indeed a hotel inside drainpipes in Austria. Called Dasparkhotel, it is situated on the banks of the river Danube in Ottensheim. It operates on a unique “pay as you wish” scheme, whereby guests are given the opportunity to decide how much they want to pay for their stay. Amenities are quite basic—a custom-made mattress, circular electronic door and a lamp. The hotel was started by an art student called Andreas Strauss with the aim of providing eco-friendly, yet economically feasible, facility for passing travelers.
While starting such a hotel in India can be easy, it remains to be seen how many people will opt to to stay in such accommodation!
Gallery hotels
There is a unusual hotel property in Berlin, Germany, called Propeller Island City Lodge, which is more like an art gallery than a hotel. The rooms are also not numbered, but have names like Flying Bed, Grandma’s, Padded Cell, Glass House, Freedom, Forest, Landscapes, Electric Wallpapers and Upside Down. There are altogether 31 rooms in the hotel, each with a rent of 79 to 115 Euros. Each room has its own special features. For instance, Grandma’s has its bathroom hidden in the wardrobe, and the items in the room are very old. The room called Space Cube, on the other hand, gives two persons the option to decide whether to sleep on the same bed or in separate beds. Depending on the decision, you can crank the illuminated barrier between the bed halves up or down. The most “normal” room in the hotel is the Electric Wallpaper. The hotel has its own gallery with lots of graphic and art works, where you can see and buy furniture and art created by Lars Stroschen, the person who took five years to create this artistic hotel.
Helga’s Folly is another artistic boutique hotel situated in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The walls of the hotel are decorated with murals, framed photos, newspaper clippings, huge mirrors and various other articles. Helga, who owns the hotel, calls the property “ant-hotel”, has impressed her visitors so much so that one of her British guests composed a song in her honor and interestingly the song was on top of the charts in 2003. Room tariff ranges between US $145 and 240 a night.
There is a hotel in Pondicherry managed by Neemrana Hotels with rooms having names, but they are not galleries of an artistic value. Perhaps, some day an Indian artist’s inspiration too will translate into a hotel like Helga’s or Lars Stroschen’s.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by holiday homes uk, November 09, 2010
written by limo hire, November 09, 2010
written by ddung doll, June 21, 2010
led flashing bracelets, make any ordinary night extraordinary.
cheap bakugan toys,
finger skate, power balance
ddung, barbie girls
organ donor dolls
at http://www.toptoys2trade.com
written by Rent apartment in Kiev, June 14, 2010
written by ROOMS, June 14, 2010
written by Arva, May 19, 2010
written by hotels in croydon, March 28, 2010
written by Manimaran, November 16, 2009
written by Arjun Rajkumar, June 18, 2009
It will also be easier to market yourself if you are the owner of these types of hotels. As an example, the term 'tree house' was searched 12,100 times on Google in May from India alone. Can you guess how many times the term 'tree house' was searched on Google worldwide in May? 823,000!!
These are done by people looking to stay in a tree house. The owners of these hotels should tap into this large online market. It will be worth it.
All these hotels are fantastic concepts! Well written.
Arjun.
first10.in
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
