Pop-up hotels are one of the travel trends predicted for this year, according to Hotels.com's Trendspotting Spring Report.
“Consumers are being increasingly drawn to the idea of unique and exclusive accommodations such as mobile, pop-up hotel experiences that can't be replicated by brick and mortar properties. Instead of checking into a hotel room, travellers now have a range of options that include glamping tents, mobile shipping containers and pods,” said the report.
The report cited Belgium-based company, Sleeping Around, as an example. The company converts six-metre-long sea containers into self-contained luxury hotel rooms complete with a box-spring bed, rain shower, iPod docking station and air-conditioning.
Wayne Pritchard, Managing Director of African Anthology, which operates Chief’s Camp, a fully inclusive, luxury mobile safari camp, said: “While this is indeed an interesting concept, I think one would find that costs related to transport and installation are likely to be high, and one would need this to be on the ground for an extended period of time before these are amortised to the extent that the overall option becomes viable.”
“But I would imagine that there is indeed a broader commercial and non-tourism-related application, and this could include mines for example. Naturally, the application is also limited to the extent that potential sites can be accessed by large rigs, and this would exclude the vast majority of sites that are typically used by Chief’s,” adds Pritchard.
He said a mobile tented camp appealed, partly because it had a relatively light footprint, and while trucks were usually used to transport the equipment to a point, smaller vehicles were often required to reach the exact location.