In fight for clients, hotels go crazy

Hospitality business today is trying on a variety of forms and solutions. A few clients will be impressed by a classic set of services, and the competition in certain geographic markets is so intense that hotels have to lure customers with a wide variety of novelties. Hotels often are not only a comprehensive service, but a real tourist attraction.

In addition to various forms of hotel facilities, hoteliers now surprise their guests not only by providing additional services and exotic entourage.

In hotel V8 located in Germany, all beds are made in the form of various brands of cars. The entire hotel interior showcases automotive theme. There is a hotel in France made in the shape of an enlarged hamster burrow. Smells, however, are not authentic, but for 99 euros a day, every visitor can feel like small rodent and spin a large hamster wheel.

France boasts a literary hotel for the fans of more intellectual pastime. However, nobody debates about literature here, and the main advantage of this hotel is fully soundproofed rooms where one can read books in absolute silence. Yet, if all guests come here to read books, perhaps it would be quiet without any sound insulation.

Japanese hotel 9h exploits customers' desire to hide from the world. It was built in 1979, when the echo of the launch of the space age was still heard all over the world. Each room is built in a shape of a capsule.

In Spain there is a mini-hotel made from debris. It has only five rooms, and its construction required 12 tons of garbage collected on European beaches.

Eco-hotels in general are a major fashion trend of recent years. There are no specific parameters on what makes a hotel environmentally friendly, and any such hotel offers something unique. Some boast natural materials the hotel is built of. Some objects are simply located in places where people did not have yet a chance to litter.

Swedish Hotel Sala Silvermine qualifies as an eco-option only because it uses eco-friendly interior materials. It is located 155 meters below ground, which does not presuppose the availability of parks, forests and beautiful views from the window.

The hotel was built in a former mine where silver was once excavated. There is only one single room, but there is a reception hall and a long corridor. They say that weddings are organized in this scary place. Some underground hotels may have some health benefits. For example, these are hotels in the salt mines that spread out in the recent years.

A German hotel located in Osnabrück has an entire underground zoo that features animals that spend most of their time underground. The total area of the building is approximately 500 square meters.

The British are also planning on building an underground eco-friendly hotel complex. A hotel with 200 rooms located completely underground will be built in London. The British call their creation eco-friendly, since the complex will be built using "green" technologies. The hotel will be part of Hersham golf clubs, and will host a golf course on its roof.

This year, hoteliers will certainly try to surprise the world with their rampant imagination. In the past 12 months there was a significant raise of investments in the hotels in the global market, says Mark Win-Smith, chief executive officer of the European and Middle East region with Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLL). In its report, JLL names increasing profitability and repositioning of existing hotels the main trends of the hotel industry this year.

Vitaly Salnik
Bigness

Read the original in Russian