Blog 1: Quirky Hotels

I recently got furloughed (for 3 weeks as of now!) and found myself looking for a productive way of spending quarantine time besides the usual family cooking sessions, board game sessions and napping extensively. Since I work for a market research agency in London, and more specifically in the Hotels team, reading about hotels and gathering the latest news on them sort of comes naturally to me now.

While casually browsing the internet for updates on when the hospitality industry might pick pace after the pandemic dies out, I got distracted and started looking at images of very quirky and bizarrely themed hotels. Clearly, I found it so interesting that I decided to blog it. And decided that this might become a weekly thing even after I start working full time again!

So, without boring you further, here are my favourite picks:

1- In the food category, I was spoilt for choices. There are so many food-themed hotels that I couldn’t pick one- how is one supposed to choose between bread and cheese and wine?

The Bread & Breakfast room

The ‘Bread & Breakfast’ room was open between 17th and 31st January 2020 in New York. Freshly baked pastries, bagels, an assortment of bread, a cereal bar, donut wall complete this room, as if the novelty décor of croissant pillows, toast-shaped headboard- dubbed a breadboard - and a customised, take-home robe with the word "Carbivore" embroidered on it was not enough.

The ‘Cheese Suite’ was open in London for a week only (sigh) from 29th January to 6th February 2020. It looks un-brie-lievable! A cheesy stay at this suite would have included cheese-themed wallpaper, bedding, cushions, artwork, and giant cheese installations. There’s even more cheesiness beyond the decor, with cheese-themed boardgames and cheese soap. Guests were also greeted with wine, cheese and crackers upon arrival.

Tell me you’re not drooling…

The Cheese Suite

2- The world’s first ever Warner Bros Hotel opening in 2021 in Abu Dhabi. It is under construction right now and is situated next to the Warner Bros. theme park. Touted to have 250 bedrooms packed with WB merchandise, premium amenities and world-class hospitality, the hotel will be available for leisure and business travellers alike.

3- Half-n-Half hotel rooms, exclusively supplied by Hotels.com in collaboration with designer Johnny Wujek, were a hit among couples who couldn’t decide which type of hotel rooms they wanted to stay at. Named ‘So Extra and So Chic’, the room is split straight down the middle, with one half pandering to your inner maximalist while the other half satisfies your minimalist tendencies. I will let the picture do the talking!

Half n Half Room

4- The futuristic ‘Oppo 5G Hotel’- The luxury hotel suite is enclosed within a 40-foot shipping container in Australia and is powered by the OPPO Reno smartphone that's running on a 5G network. Guests will be able to enjoy cloud gaming, immersive augmented reality (AR) apps and buffer-free streaming. The best part- all proceeds from this venue will be donated to local charities. Indeed, a fine move by Oppo!

5- This one isn’t for us mortal humans, I’m afraid. It’s the world’s first hotel solely for plants (yes, you read that right- it is not a glasshouse, it is a hotel!) This one opened for a limited time by plant delivery shop Patch, the Patch Plant Hotel, gives plant parents a free and secure place to store their plants while they take a much needed vacation at their favourite hotel. Plant parents can feel good about the fact that their plants will be carefully watered and fed with Patch's seasonal menu of 100% organic, vegan plant food.

6- I was mind blown when I read this. Certainly, a very innovative idea- a ‘Superior Cockpit Room’. At Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu, this room was unveiled in early 2019 and it boasts of a life-size flight simulator. The concept is based on the Boeing 737-800 cockpit and customers are encouraged to learn more about the aviation technology used on this plane. The Superior Cockpit Room has a stunning view of the plane's runways and is connected to Terminal 2 of Tokyo's Haneda International Airport.

Hanneda Excel Hotel

7- The last on this list and frankly probably the most intriguing of the lot- the world’s first commercial space hotel- the Von Braun Space Station, aiming to be open to tourists by 2025. Developed by the Gateway Foundation, the hotel will be fully equipped with artificial gravity, full-working kitchens, bars and more. It will be able to host 100 occupants a week and eventually hopes to become just another holiday spot like going to Disneyland or a cruise. P.S. head to their website to watch some amazing videos on the project.

I hope you've been fascinated by some of these hotels and wanting to visit the others. I would want to visit all!

Till I see you again,

Anubhuti