Crazy stays
Even flying solo is no excuse for a dull night – check out some of the quirkiest hotel rooms in Europe.
words by Matt Turner
a night less ordinary
qbic, amsterdam
Perhaps the quirkiest of the recent crop of new budget hotel concepts that have taken their lead from the budget airline model (such as Yotel, nitenite, citizenM) Qbic Hotels are built from a series of ‘Cubi’ pods. Each Cubi is effectively an extra-long four-poster Hästens bed comprising LCD TV, safe, and a nifty table for working or dining. Bathroom fittings are by Philippe Starck. Check-in is done via a self-service touch-screen kiosk, and a Grab & Go Corner provides vending machines with homemade food, drinks and other amenities in place of room service or a restaurant. You can change the colour of your pod depending on your mood: yellow, red or purple. The unique construction means Cubis can be dropped into any existing space, plugging into a building’s plumbing, power and communications systems. The first QBIC opened in July last year in Amsterdam’s World Trade Center close to Schiphol Airport, and further hotels are planned for Antwerp and Maastricht later this year.
» Fly Sterling to Amsterdam
Prices start from €39
Qbic Hotel Amsterdam WTC, Strawinskylaan 241, Amsterdam, www.qbichotels.com
das parkhotel, linz
Described by its artistic creators Gunda Wiesner and Andreas Strauss as “a temporary, comfortable, uncomplicated home,” Das Parkhotel consists of three concrete drainage pipes sitting in a park by the River Danube in Ottensheim, Austria. On arrival, guests receive a safety code that unlocks one of three 2mdiameter tubes containing a bed with storage space underneath, sleeping bag, wool blanket, shelf, lamp and power point. A small circular window lets in daylight and the interior end wall of each pipe features a wall painting by Austrian artist Thomas Latzel Ochoa. Other conventional hotel facilities (toilets, showers, cafeteria) are housed in adjacent buildings, which are part of the existing public infrastructure. There are no rates as such – guests leave what they feel is an appropriate sum of money to continue funding the project.
» Fly Sterling to Salzburg
Prices at guests’ discretion
Das Parkhotel, Ottersheim, Linz, Austria, www.dasparkhotel.net
hi hotel, nice
Philippe Starck protégée Matali Crasset describes her designs for the HI Hotel in Nice as “a whole new ballgame”. She has turned conventional notions of a hotel room on their head – literally, in the case of the Up & Down rooms, which are arranged vertically rather than horizontally, with steps leading up to a bath hovering above the bed.
Indoor Terrace rooms have all the furnishings arranged on a central stage, with the showers hidden behind a screen of plants and the toilet housed in a garden shed-like construction in the corner. Technoscreen rooms are divided by a large projection screen, visible from both sides, in place of a TV. In the Rendez Vous room, a black stone bath sits in the middle of the space.
The hotel has its own internet radio station, broadcasting live DJ sets from the caged booth over the bar and chill-out music from the spa.
Rather than a conventional restaurant, organic biofood is dispensed from refrigerated cabinets in the kitchen. It is an approach based on “conviviality, open-mindedness and exchange” rather than checking-in and checking-out.
» Fly Sterling to Nice
Prices from €235 for a double room
HI Hotel, 3 Avenue des Fleurs, Nice, www.hi-hotel.net
lánchíd 19, budapest
Architects Radius B+S have created a shimmering, rippling curtain of glass, which both shields Lánchíd 19 from the outside world, and reflects its surroundings. Standing on the banks of the River Danube, the hotel is named after the famous ‘Chain Bridge’ it overlooks. The glazed facade stands proud of the windows to the rooms and guests can rotate the panels from their rooms with the flick of a switch to give a clearer view of the river. Each panel is etched with intricate patterns and aquatic motifs. From a distance, these combine with the accordion-like movements of the curtain and colour-changing LED illumination to create a sense of flowing that mirrors the swirling waters below. The fluid design continues inside, where glass and steel walls, bridges and walkways are combined with designer furnishings.
» Fly Sterling to Budapest
Rooms from €123 per double room Lánchíd 19,
Lánchíd u. 19-21, Budapest, Hungary, www.lanchid19hotel.hu
prestonfield, edinburgh
This 17th-century baroque mansion, just five minutes’ drive from the Royal Mile, gained notoriety in the UK press a few years ago when a Scottish politician was caught on CCTV setting fire to the curtains. And what curtains they are! This indulgent retreat features opulent velvets and brocade fabrics, fine art and antique furnishings, all lit by soft candlelight and the glow of roaring log fires. Owner James Thomson (the man behind Edinburgh’s celebrated Witchery and Tower restaurants) has procured a wealth of “grand, precious and quixotic finds culled from the auction rooms of Europe” to create a quirky and charismatic antidote to the recent crop of bland designer hotels.
» Fly Sterling to Edinburgh Prices from £225 (€300), Prestonfield, Priestfield Road, Edinburgh, www.prestonfield.com
hôtel palafitte, neuchâtel
hôtel palafitte, neuchâtel Ê Hotels built on stilts over water are nothing out of the ordinary in the Maldives, but the Palafitte is the only European equivalent we are aware of. Situated on Lake Neuchâtel at the foot of the Jura mountains in Monruz, Switzerland, the hotel was originally built by architect Kurt Hoffman for Swiss Expo.02, and is staffed by students from the legendary Ecole Hôtelière in Lausanne. German firm Siemens built the hotel, so its technology credentials are second-to-none. Guests give their fingerprints rather than credit card details on check-in, and a tablet PC controls everything in the room from curtains to lighting to air-conditioning. Glass plates in the floor give underwater views. Some 24 of the 40 pavilions are actually on the lake, and ladders from the rooms with private terraces give direct access to it.
» Fly Sterling to Geneva Prices for the lake pavilions start from €453 in high season
3rooms at 10corsocomo,milan
This three-room hotel sits above Milan’s ultra-fashionable 10CorsoComo lifestyle store, in a palazzo on the shopping street of the same name. Both are owned by Carla Sozzani, style guru and sister of Italian Vogue editor-in-chief e Franca Sozzani. The 10CorsoComo complex – an amalgamation of boutique, gallery, bookshop and fine dining restaurant – offers guests an ever-changing mix of art, music, fashion, literature and cuisine. The tea garden in the central courtyard is a beautiful spot to enjoy 10CorsoComo’s signature ‘slow breakfast’ while browsing international design titles from the galleria. The rooms themselves are more like private residences than hotel rooms, and feature an exquisite selection of classic 20th-century furniture by Ray and Charles Eames, Arne Jacobsen, Joe Colombo and Sebastian Matta. Carla recently opened a sister hotel on the rue du Moussy in Paris, with friend and legendary 80s designer Azzedine Alaïa.
» Fly Sterling to Milan Prices from €310 per night for up to three nights in any suite3Rooms at 10CorsoComo, Corso Como 10, Milan www.3rooms-10corsocomo.com
propeller island city lodge, berlin
More an inhabitable work of art or a residential sculpture than a hotel, Propeller Island City Lodge is the bizarre creation of German artist Lars Stroschen. Its collection of spaces includes the Flying Bed room, where a slanted floor and bed cantilevered from the wall combine to disorientate guests. In another room, the bed is hoisted, ship-like, from knotted ropes and beams, while in another the shower and toilet are hidden in an old-fashioned wardrobe. The kaleidoscopic Mirror room is a diamond-shaped structure clad in reflective metal (pictured). The Topsy Turvy room is accessed by a trap-door in the floor, with all the furniture suspended upside-down from the ceiling. Inverted photography in place of windows adds to the surreal feeling.
Some rooms are not for the faint-hearted – one has coffins for beds (with functioning lids), others feature voyeuristic cages on stilts, or a double bed with a guillotine-like divider that can be winched down from the ceiling. Even the breakfast room is idiosyncratic with giant photos of plants hanging on the walls.
» Fly Sterling to Berlin Prices from €69 per person (€15 supplement for double occupancy)Propeller Island City Lodge, Albrecht Achilles Strasse 58, Berlin www.propeller-island.com
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