What Is A Pink Cloud and Why Should Travelers Care?

“Manhattan’s Midtown is in a real estate crisis.

Office vacancies are high, rents have been plummeting, and tenants are moving to New Jersey. A combination of outdated building stock, the economic recession, and a lack of amenities in the neighborhood have transformed Midtown from a vibrant business hub into an area of post-recession decline. The design of the Midtown Pop-Up Hotel focuses on the transformation of empty Class A office spaces into hospitality spaces.

The Pop-Up Hotel is designed to be a means of urban revitalization, an economic catalyst, as well as an active community partner. We strongly believe the Pop-Up Hotel to be a transformative experience for both the building and more importantly, the hotel guests.” Pink Cloud

Pink Cloud, a Denmark based architecture firm has won a major award for their yet to be launched pop-up hotel design.  Here’s how Pink Cloud explains the concept – a picture (or graphic in this case) is worth a thousand words (images from Pink Cloud’s project site)

So can you actually expect to see these pop-up hotels anytime soon?

“A traditional hotel can take five to six years to build, from start to finish. With the pop-up hotel, we see it taking two to four weeks,” says founder, Eric Tan. The company is currently looking for partners who can make the concept a reality. The way Pink Cloud sees it, the hotel could be a ‘savvy marketing stunt for the right brand’. For example, says Tan, a major fashion label could use the Pink Cloud model to promote itself during fashion week.

While Pink Cloud’s concept hasn’t yet launched, UK based The Pop-Up Hotel company has been putting up pop-up hotels along the UK festival market for the last two years. The Pop-Up Hotel launched at Glastonbury, the UK’s largest music festival, two years ago and only offered 20 rooms. This year, its rolled out 130, and was fully booked.

Pink Cloud estimates that the average price of a mid-town New York hotel is around $350 per night (give or take) while the cost of a pop-up hotel would average about $130 per night.  This could mean big savings and big tourism boosts.

So be on the lookout for Pink Cloud, you might be booking a pop-up hotel before you know it.