Stay in a steel box!

Given a chance, would you ever consider spending a night or two inside a steel box? Don't just dismiss the idea with a quick no, because an Ahmedabad-based hospitality firm is all set to introduce retrofitted shipping containers that offers all that you expect in a hotel room.

Hirise Hospitality Private Limited unveiled its portable-hotel room concept in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. To be rolled out under the brand 'Beetle Smartotels', the chain will reuse discarded containers and set up 141 fully-furnished portable rooms at Mundra in Kutch later this month.

The idea behind this portable-hotel concept was to bring hospitality services in remote areas where you generally do find hotels to stay in, said Tanmay Bathwal of the Hirise Hospitality.

Pre-fab container hotels are not just portable, but saves a lot of time and money when compared to those built in brick and mortar, he added.

They are ideally meant for places that are far-flung and do not have hotel facilities. Bathwal said each container room will be fully furnished, complete with a fridge and an attached toilet-bath. The containers have three layers of insulation and are good for any season.

Bathwal said they were not the first ones to experiment with container-hotel, but claimed that they would be the first ones to have a full-fledged hotel made out of containers.

“We have standardised things and applied for certification,” he said.

A container size is normally 40x8. To begin with, the Beetle Smartotels will throw open 13x8 containers. They will now also experiment with one or two rooms with a dimension 40x8.

Bathwal said they had leased the land in Mundra SEZ and invested in Rs 20 crore, besides the amount spent on the land. In the first year, Bathwal said, they expect occupancy of 50 per cent and later on around 80-85 per cent.

Hirise Hospitality aim at adding 2,000 portable hotel rooms by 2018 across the country. Gujarat, however, would be their priority, Bathwal said.