The virtual hotel in The Hague no longer needs employees
Nøtel is a virtual hotel, according to the inventors. Everything goes automatically and you have complete privacy, because there are no employees anymore. Everything is controlled by technology for the ‘nomadic elite for whom confidentiality and security are crucial’. Think a bit about the hotel from Altered Carbon and then you’re in the neighborhood.
If you can not wait to check in, I must however disappoint you: the Nøtel exists only as VR installation. In fact, it does not even exist there yet. From 1 September, the installation can be visited at the Stroom art center in The Hague.
Fictitious look at the future
Nøtel is a fictional hotel chain that promotes a fully automated and luxurious way of life according to the maker Lawrence Lek . In his view, privacy will become a luxury in the future, and the hotel industry would be able to respond to this in the future. If you are not attuned to luxury, but in maintaining the privacy of your guests, that does not fit in with the traditional star system. Lek therefore calls the concept a ‘zero-star hotel’.
The idea behind the virtual hotel is to make us think about the future of work, technology and the relationship between citizens and the government. According to the artist, temporality in housing can sometimes become a guiding principle for the architecture of the future. He foresees a change in the concept of living as hotels and taxis have also been changed by Airbnb and Uber and that is reflected in the project. If you are interested in the future of the hotel, then you can take a look in The Hague from 1 September .