NiteNite, sleep tight
Friday, May 9, 2008 Next month Forest will reveal our plans for the 2008 party conferences. On Wednesday I was in Birmingham, which is hosting this year's Conservative conference. A couple of months ago we booked a fantastic venue close to the International Conference Centre and, this week, we booked our hotel.
Now, anyone who goes to party conferences will tell you that finding a good hotel at a decent price is a real pain. The better hotels are inevitably booked months if not years ahead, and the main conference hotels often insist that you book for the entire event (four nights) when you may only want a room for one or two days.
Anyway, thanks to Simon Richards of The Freedom Association - whose idea it was - we have block booked a number of rooms in a brand new city centre "hotel" which, on further investigation, is more akin to a social experiment (and we're the guinea pigs!).
NiteNite city hotels is an "evolving concept" catering to travellers who prefer wi-fi over scenic views (there aren't any) "and don't mind cramped quarters if that means saving money" (Wall Street Journal).
In Birmingham, NiteNite offers "windowless seven-square-metre rooms with mood lighting, 42-inch plasma-screen TVs and Egyptian cotton linens ... The windowless design allows NiteNite the possibility of building in unconventional sites, such as warehouses."
NiteNite is reviewed HERE in the Guardian.
Events
Reader Comments (3)
Do they offer smoking rooms?
Do they offer breathing rooms? I couldn't think of anything worse than a room without windows, reminscent of Austria I would think???
I phoned NiteNite in Birmingham to be told that the hotel has no provision for smokers.
Last month in a post that highlighted the lack of courtesy that smokers experience, Simon exhorted us to "Save [our]anger for those hotels where smoking is completely verboten. They're the real enemy."
I, therefore, find it very disappointing that FOREST is now going to patronise such a hotel.