logo
Back to Blog

Top 5 Pop-up Hotels

At ABCey, we’ve heard of everything from Pop-up stores to Pop-up cafes. Now, the latest trend to come upon us is the Pop-up hotel! This new idea utilizes freight containers as convenient portable hotel units. This means you can “build” your hotel in any cool location to cater to your specific clientele. Imagine the events you could host in these container hotels!  We’ve compiled a list of the Top 5 leaders in this trend.

1. Sleeping Around:  Sleeping Around is a “hotel” composed of 20-foot-long recycled shipping containers. Some containers are bedrooms, complete with high-end bedding, a rain shower, an iPod docking station, and air conditioning. Others are designed for eating meals or enjoying a sauna. Sleeping Around is currently located in Antwerp, but they are considering future locations.

2. Sleepbox Hotel:  Earlier in 2013, the first Sleepbox Hotel opened in an old building in Moscow with more than 50 pods that guests can book for overnight stays or just a few hours. Accommodations are admittedly barebones but, unlike at most hostels, travelers are ensured privacy with single and double capsule options.

3. Snoozebox Hotel:  Snoozebox, a British company offers a hotel system that can be set up anywhere. Known as the Snoozebox Hotel, the portable lodge hosts 40-400 rooms which can provide supplementary housing during an event, a busy travel season, or a natural disaster. Similar to Sleeping Around, the Snoozebox Hotel can be built in atypical locations for nature-loving travelers who do not want to sleep outdoors. Each Snoozebox room is climate-controlled and offers typical hotel amenities such as flat screen TVs and WiFi.

4. The Deûle Insolite: A French hotel near the Belgian border north of will start taking reservations for a converted shipping container this September. The new shipping container room was designed in partnership with HouseUP, a French company that specializes in transforming the 20-foot-long steel boxes into vacation homes. Some units will even have balconies and kitchenettes.

5. Xiang Xiang Xiang Pray House: China exported 3.2 million shipping containers last year — more than any other country in the world. It is only fitting that its newest hotel covers is made up of 35 new shipping containers.  The hotel covers 5,000 square meters and has 21 guestrooms in total. The rooms come in two sizes: 15 square meters or 30 square meters and windows are installed on one side of the containers as well as in the roof.

Do you think the freight container hotel concept could take-off in the United States? Do I sense a future Kickstarter campaign? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter.