Hospitality: Notable Seed stories from 2009

Germany, Austria, Norway – Fashion brands moved in, hotel rooms moved out and outdoors was brought inside as the hospitality industry reinvented itself in 2009.

Levi’s joined forces with hotelier Ardi Goldman to open a hotel designed to entice young urban nomads. Equipped with a music jam room and rooftop lounge, the 25hour Hotel – ‘tailored by Levi’s’ – embodied the brand’s casual and creative spirit and reflected the need for hospitality spaces to offer more than just room and board.

Unconventional accommodation continued to capture the imagination of travellers as they tired of the same old hotel experiences. Austria’s Pixel Hotel offered guests a real chance to explore and be part of the city. Each individual room is located in a different space – from old storefronts to former workshops – giving guests a truly immersive stay.

Meanwhile, a dramatic backdrop in the Gudbrandsjuvet region of Norway sought to attract the outdoor lover. The landscape hotel detached each of its rooms and plotted them across a beautiful rugged environment of forest and mountains. The landscaped design allowed the outdoors to flood inside, with each room having at least one wall made from glass and no room looking onto another.