Mid-October, we wrote about this town of Sevelen in Sweden deciding to convert their nuclear fallout shelter into a budget (Between SFR 12 and 15) underground bunker hotel with 54 beds, no windows and a camera which pipes in images from outside. Now, a month and a half later, the knuckleheads still haven’t given the town’s hotels a run for their money, but apparently, they did host a test run for volunteers.

Wall Street Journal has a report and a photo slideshow. Accommodations are cheap but spartan: No TV, no private bathrooms and, most jarring of all, no daylight.

More info here. The hotel was planned by the Gemeindepräsident (mayor) Roman Zogg in cooperation with the Atelier für Sonderaufgaben (Studio for Special Projects), a sort of event agency from nearby state capital St. Gallen. It is owned by the two brothers Patrik and Frank Riklin, who are now managers of the hotel. Their idea is to offer cheap accomodation with a kick for open minded travellers.

Oh, and there’s not enough warm water for everyone, so a wheel of fortune decides who gets to shower. After a few days in there with the stench of the unlucky bastards who never won a hot shower, I think maybe most everyone would prefer to exit and face the radioactive cockroaches outside.

Posted on November 28th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: Hotels