Pop-up hotels and resorts

Pop-up retail created plenty of buzz over the past few years, but seems to be over its peak. So, what’s up next? How about pop-up hotels and resorts? Two recent spottings from the travel and tourism industry: On land, there’s Spanish Hotel Movil, a large truck trailer that can be dragged to any location and turned into a two level hotel within 30 minutes. After its 11 rooms are unfolded, the hotel on wheels can sleep up to forty people, making it roomy enough for wedding parties, family reunions or luxury camping trips with a large group of friends. Hotel Movil isn’t short on luxury: every room has a bathroom, plasma screen TV, DVD, internet access and more. Depending on the trailer’s configuration, a bar and movie screening room can also be included. Price for a weekend is EUR 7,000. Alternatively, you can buy a hotel of your own for EUR 400,000. Secondly, touted as “the next frontier of the sexy jet-setter life,” Nikki Beach at Sea aims to be the world’s first floating resort, and will move from party to party across the globe. The concept is being developed by Nikki Beach Hotels and the Kloster cruise family, targeting Nikki Beach’s young and hip South Beach clientele. The USD 498 million floating hotel and party boat will set sail in 2009, starting off in St Barth’s for New Years, then on to Rio for a week of carnival, followed by the Winter Music Festival in Miami and the Cannes Film Festival. While a floating resort isn’t a venture you can start up overnight, pop-up hotels could carve their own niche for exclusive, ‘any time, any place’ travel experiences. And there should be plenty of opportunities for the events industry, too. One to watch! Spotted by: Joandó Reverter and Donal Cahalane