LightHotel - A Tiny Container Home Vacation
What happens when your brilliant customer makes a hotel room out of one of your containers? Answer: You stay in it!!
Geoffrey Warner, AIA, the founder of Alchemy and weeHouse created LightHotel as an ecotourism alternative. They started with a 20' container from Super Cubes. We added in the windows and door for the utilities. The LightHotel team created a solar-powered, self-sufficient, stand-alone hotel room.
Naturally, we were excited to get to stay there.
The LightHotel has been traveling around Minneapolis, St Paul and the surrounding area to various events and festivals, including being stationed outside the Eco Experience building at the Minnesota State Fair. Recently, the LightHotel officially became an approved for rental as an RV hotel. As soon as LightHouse announced the approval, we rushed to get our reservation!
The view from the doorway
LightHotel all lit up at night
The hotel is currently next to a community garden.
Watching trains from the patio of the hotel room.
We decided to reserve it for a Saturday night. We arrived around 4:00pm. I took this video before we moved in. They had left us some bubbles since they knew we were coming with our son and meeting up with a couple of other families. Our son was totally enthralled with the container and checking it all out. It is currently parked in the parking lot for a community garden in St Paul. We saw trains coming by and people gardening. When our friends arrived, we showed off our home for the night. The adults love the nice finishes and space-saving measures taken to make the container feel really nice. The kids all thought it was very fun. From there, we set off to one of the neighborhood tap rooms that has food trucks and entertainment for kids.
When we came back from dinner, we did some more bubbles and sidewalk chalk art and enjoyed checking out the container by night. We happened to reserve it on one of the hottest nights we've had so far this summer. The windows did provide some cross-breeze and there was a fan in the container. The container has a heater, this is Minnesota after all! But does not have air condition because the amperage is too high with the current set up. We turned on the fan, created a little nest area with a sleeping bag for a son, and settled in for the night.
The container does have its own water system that gets refilled and emptied, so showering is an option. We skipped showering in the morning since we were heading right home and had packed light. It also has a composting toilet.
The container was a fun night's stay. The hotel room felt like it put the glam in glamping for us. Since we work with so many people interested in tiny homes and making homes from containers, it was a thrill to get to stay in one for the night. We do not have a cabin, like so many Minnesotans, but a 40' container with a kitchen added on would definitely be a fun option. LightHotel really took the decor in a different direction than many of the tiny homes that you see on TV. It had a very sleek, yet fun feel to it. We also thought it would be fun to stay in it in the winter. I would think it would be so snug and cozy. It had such a warm, welcoming feeling at night. The walls glowed in the light.
While we know a tiny home would not fit with our current situation, there is something so appealing about the compactness of tiny living. Hotels offer that great middle ground where you can try it out without committing your whole family to a huge change. Urban areas are often so densely populated and space is so expensive, tiny hotels seem like a great alternative for tourists. They also lend themselves to leaving small footprints both in terms of water and energy.
Would you want to stay in a tiny hotel? What appeals to you most about it? What appeals to you least about it? Would you consider having one moved around to different locations like an RV or are you more tempted to have one already set up and ready for you in a place you want to visit?
The cozy hotel room at night.