Plug and Play Hotel

BusinessWeek: There are hotels built on stilts in the ocean, hotels fashioned out of former royal palaces, even hotels set among jungle treetops. So why not craft a hotel that can be plugged into an existing space in any city in the world? That was the thinking behind Qbic Hotels, a low-cost, high-design concept made up of prefabricated rooms that literally come out of a box.
Qbic allows guests to make their reservations online, with rooms ranging from €39 to €139 (about $80 to $200) a night, based on an advanced booking system. Once at the hotel, guests receive an electronic card that’s needed to check in and check out.
In order to create a hotel in big cities where real estate is often costly and space at a premium, Qbic’s founders came up with a novel idea: Create a prefab, plug-and-play module called a Cubi that can be outfitted inside existing space.
What distinguishes Qbic—at least for now—is its ability to offer both high style and low cost in a self-service environment. “Qbic is quite stylish and slick,” says Harteveldt. “I think that it appeals to someone who appreciates style after being in an airplane cabin that is devoid of style.”
A Hotel in a Box [BusinessWeek]