BLOC Hotels
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Hotel chain |
| Founded 📆 | |
| Founder 👔 | |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , London and Birmingham |
Area served 🗺️ | United Kingdom |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | BlocHotels.com |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
BLOC Hotels are a UK based hotel chain. The hotel chain has properties based in London and Birmingham in the United Kingdom, with plans for several additions. The hotel chain is best known for the innovative design of its hotel rooms, which are constructed offsite, and then installed at the hotel. The concept was created after BLOC's founders studied capsule hotels, which are commonly located in Japan.
The company has featured in the UK and International press, including The Guardian and The New York Times. BLOC Gatwick Airport hotel opened in March 2014, where the rooms lighting, temperature, blinds and TV could be operated from a smartphone or tablet app, which had been created by BLOC.
Overview and design[edit]
The hotel chain is UK based, offering ‘affordable luxury’ accommodation in Britain's two largest cities, London and Birmingham. Each hotel has been designed in a unique way, a world first when compared to the rest of the hotel market. The creative design and build methods with various materials and innovative techniques to keep build costs low. By achieving a low design and build cost, it is said that each city centre hotel can be provided with a high end finish at a budget price.[1]
The concept is based on Japanese capsule hotels, which focus on creating rooms for guests in small places. The construction technique was implemented by BoxBuild a UK based construction company. Their method of implementation of the hotel was to manufacture each room individually offsite, and then stack the rooms in situ so the hotel exterior could be built around them.[2]
Shortly after the creation of the first hotel in Birmingham, BLOC was reviewed in The Guardian for its innovative design.[3] It was later reviewed in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveller and The Times.
In 2012, the group announced that it would be opening another hotel, located close to Gatwick airport. The Bloc Hotel featured in the media, due to its innovative design. The hotel which is located at the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport in London, allowed you to control all the room settings from an app on the customers smartphone or tablet. This includes unlocking the door with NFC (near-field communication) technology, adjusting the lighting, black-out blinds and air conditioning, and changing the channels on a Samsung HDTV.[4]
Locations[edit]
The hotels are located within Britain's two largest cities, London and Birmingham. The Birmingham hotel is said to be located centrally on Caroline Street. The other well known hotel is located at Gatwick Airport's South Terminal in London.[5]
Reception[edit]
The hotels have received a fairly positive reception on UK review sites up to 2014. Both main hotels achieve a rating of 4/5 or better on the majority of Internet based review websites. This includes the likes of booking.com,[6] Trip Advisor[7] and LateRooms.[8]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Bloc Hotels to open Second Property". BigHospitality. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "About". Bloc Hotels. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Hotel Review of Bloc". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Bloc Hotels to open high-tech Gatwick property". Business Traveller. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Locations". Bloc Hotels. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Birmingham Hotel". Booking.com. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Bloc Hotel Birmingham". Trip Advisor. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Birmingham Hotel on LateRooms". LateRooms. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
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