Through various examples of futuristic hotels, we explore how the hospitality industry will change internally and externally.
Imagine a utopian world where 3D-printed walls have integrated screens, and everything in the rooms is controlled digitally or even directly by your mind. Window shutters in the rooms open exactly when the sun starts to shine and dim if you need privacy.
There will be no more "don't disturb" signs, as the hotel automatically recognizes when you are inside your room. Bathrooms will send notifications if towels need to be exchanged, and you will receive personalized tips on what to do around the city based on your digital profile.
Cool or creepy? Probably both, but it will surely make staying at hotels more hassle-free.
The list of hotels below is so far technologically or visually advanced that they appear to be from the future. So, if you want to experience the future without a time machine, these are your choices:
1. Fantasyland Hotel - Edmonton, Canada
This unique theme hotel is located inside North America's second-largest shopping mall, the West Edmonton Mall.
It has quirky rooms depicting Rome, Hollywood, a modern igloo, Polynesia, and a bunch of others, but the one we are interested in is the Space and Luxury Space Suites.
Futuristic Room
The "space-ous" room has a pretty normal-looking king-sized bed until you see it float.
Then there are the space capsules, which are a modern version of bunk beds. The main decoration is the ceiling, which portrays faraway galaxies. You can control all aspects of this futuristic room with high-tech gadgets.
2. Morpheus Hotel - Macau, Macau
The Zaha Hadid-designed building part of the City of Dreams in Macau is quite simply stunning. A piece of modern art sharing uncanny similarities with AI-generated architecture.
Was Zaha Hadid so much ahead of her time and predicted the future?
Inside the free-form exoskeleton structure, hypermodern elevators zoom up and down.
Although Morpheus Hotel's exterior oozes space-age, its architecture is based on China's traditional jade carving.
3. Viceroy Los Cabos - San José del Cabo, Mexico
Viceroy's futuristic resort in Mexico is the masterwork of a self-taught architect, Miguel Angel Aragonés. The eight white concrete blocks around the pools are straight out of a 22nd-century civilization.
The sophistication continues with the perfectly integrated pathways in the network of pools and submerged lounge decks where the brim of the infinity pool's water is at eye level.
4. Aqua Dome - Längenfeld, Austria
One day a quiet holiday town in the middle of the Ötztal valley was awakened to the eerie sounds of three silver flying saucers landing by its river. Locals rushed to see the fascinating attraction and cracked open its top only to find out there were no aliens inside.
Disappointed by the lack of extraterrestrial life, the three unidentified objects were thoroughly examined for potential use benefitting the town.
As Längenfeld was already attracting hordes of tourists looking for wintertime adventures and a place to relax, the locals thought, why not fill these silver saucers with thermal water?
And so, here you can see the fruit of a common effort to make something great from an ordinary flying saucer!
This story may or may not be pure fantasy, but Aqua Dome's spa is spectacular!
5. Shangri-La Hotel Shard / London, United Kingdom
The landmark building that towers above London could easily fit into Half-Life's post-apocalyptic world, or any other for that matter.
The 1,016 feet (309 meters) tall building was designed by Renzo Piano - a talented Italian architect who doesn't shy away from futuristic structures like the Nemo Science Centre in Amsterdam or the Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
The luxurious Shangri-La Hotel occupies floors between 34–52 of the 72-story skyscraper.
6. W Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
W Hotels chain has transformed the boring scene of five-star hotels into cool luxury with its extravagant styling and bold interiors. Marriott's upscale lifestyle hotels are easily recognizable thanks to their unique styling.
But W Abu Dhabi goes a step further with its architecture and location. The five-star hotel is built on UAE's Yas Marina Circuit, and there is a part where the road goes right below the building's structure, where a sky bridge connects its two parts.
The unique facade comprises 5,096 diamond-shaped glass panels that glow in the dark.
7. Yotel - New York, USA
68% of the world's population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050. Not only that, but we will grow from the current 8 billion population to close to 10 billion. No wonder then that with all the densely populated cities, every inch of space will be worth gold.
Yotel's concept forecasts what we all know is coming for us but may not like — tight spaces. Fortunately, at the cost of space comes attention to detail, and well-designed rooms, like the ones in Yotel, can offer superior comfort.
Interacting with robots is perfect for introverts, as there will be no more awkward situations with the hotel staff. YO2D2 (yes, that's a clever mix of Yotel and the most famous robot in Star Wars) can help you without wanting anything in return (save your tips!).
8. Juvet Landscape Hotel - Valldal, Norway
If the photos below seem familiar, you must have watched Alex Garland's brilliant movie, the Ex-Machina. But, in case you haven't, the story is about a genius programmer fascinated by the capabilities of a highly advanced humanoid AI.
His hideout in the Norwegian wilderness was a high-tech building where his story with Ava, the highly intelligent robot, evolves into a thrilling drama.
Juvet was the filming location for Ex-Machine, a very fitting place for a world where humanoid AIs interact with humans.
9. Nine Hours Capsule Hotel - Tokyo, Japan
Regarding space-saving, nothing comes close to the Japanese capsule hotel concept. You can read our article about its history with examples of each era and its manifestations worldwide.
Nine Hour capsule hotel brand is the original pioneer of the concept's modern iteration. They have 13 properties in 5 locations, and each has a design straight from a science fiction movie.
Whether you consider them utopian or dystopian is debatable, but these high-tech capsules envision a realistic future for our cities.
Nine Hours can fit six capsules on two levels in the same space as a standard hotel room's floor space. Talk about Japanese efficiency!
10. Hotel Ještěd - Liberec, Czechia
The architect Karel Hubáček designed Ještěd as a TV transmitter, restaurant, and hotel in one.
The UFO landed... I mean the building was constructed in 1996, and ever since, it has been decorating the mountains next to Liberec.
Photos by Ales Jungmann
The rooms come in five styles, and all have a space-ship-like interior with windows to the cosmos.
11. Hotel Puerta América - Madrid, Spain
Puerta América went all in and hired nineteen of the world's best architect and designer studios, including four with Pritzker Prizes - Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki, and Jean Nouvel.
Located in a modern tower on Avenida de América, the five-star hotel has 12 floors, each designed individually with vastly different colors, materials, and shapes.
Hotel Puerta América is the closest you get to the wild AI renderings if you task the algorithm to show examples of futuristic hotel rooms.
12. Henn na Hotel - Tokyo, Japan
This Japanese high-tech hotel chain uses advanced robotics and AI to replace the human workforce.
You will meet holographic cartoon characters, humanoid robots, or their trademark dinosaur robots during check-in. The hotel also uses automated machines to store your luggage or to bring it to your room.
Since its original debut in Japan, the brand has expanded to South Korea and, most recently, New York.
13. Kameha Grand Zürich - Zürich, Switzerland
Kameha Grand offers luxurious suites near the Zürich International Airport and a 15-minute public transportation ride from downtown.
The Marcel Wanders-designed theme hotel has five executive suites: Fairplay, Oriental, Gentleman, Workout, and Space.
The Space Suite is a 646 square feet (60 square meters) virtual travel to a faraway galaxy.
14. Capsule Hotel - Lucerne, Switzerland
Switzerland's first capsule hotel was opened in Lucerne, next to its historic old town.
The cryogenic hibernation capsule will freeze your body until humanity becomes a multi-planetary species, so you can wake up and decide which planet to live on.
Photo by imhof.photography
Just kidding! Although the space-age capsules do look like they are from the distant future.
15. Atomium - Brussels, Belgium
Originally constructed as the centerpiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, the futuristic-looking structure of Atomium became the landmark of Brussels.
The 335 feet (102 meters) tall modernist building has nine interconnected stainless steel-clad spheres representing the unit cell of an iron crystal, but 165 billion times bigger.
Its name comes from the combination of atom + aluminum.
As Atomium is mainly a museum, most of the 600,000 annual visitors will not have the privilege of staying overnight.
The tower's sixth sphere is where workshops of urbanistic are held and rooms to stay. However, it's only for kids between six and twelve. Bummer!
16. Me Dubai by Mélia - Dubai, UAE
The freshly opened Me Dubai by Mélia is the city's showstopper architectural attraction. Not that Dubai lacks any of that.
However, the Zaha Hadid Architects designed building is a next-level high-tech in the Business Bay district.
If you are not yet convinced of Me Dubai's futuristic pedigree, enter the building to see the spectacular Atrium, which could be an intergalactic spaceship's interior.
17. Shiki-Shima Traim Suite - Japan
The Japanese rolling hotel is a bit of an exception as it's on a hyper-modern train service by East Japan Railway Company. But what's better than a regular stationary hotel? One that teleports you to another city while you are asleep.
The sleeper train has 17 luxurious rooms and a Michelin-starred restaurant.
The observatory car of the E001 series train that you can see in the photos is so futuristic it's hard to believe it's real. But it is, so if you plan a trip to northeastern Japan, you can take two to four-night-long trips on this mind-blowing train.
18. The White Desert - Antarctica
As you can see in the description above, there is no mention of a city. That's because Antarctica's first luxurious accommodation (the other options are basic tents where you can pray not to freeze to death) is in the heart of the harsh icy environment with no civilization nearby.
The White Desert's spherical fiberglass pods look uber futuristic - possibly because they have to withstand a similarly unforgiving environment as if the pods were installed on Mars.
Inside the pods, you will find a "2001: A Space Odyssey"-inspired design where before you, retired astronauts have stayed.
19. Star Wars Hotel - Bay Lake, USA
The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is an action-packed role-play inside the Halcyon spaceship where you eat, sleep, play, and interact with all the famous characters.
It's a three-day-long virtual journey into the epic space opera of the Star Wars universe. During your stay, you will go on secret missions, learn to use the lightsaber, and sleep in a futuristic room where the window projects the spaceship's movement in the universe in real-time.
20. Rosewood Sao Paulo - Brazil
Cidade Matarazzo is Sao Paulo's brand new cultural district. The project includes renovated historical buildings, and its pinnacle is the state-of-the-art Mata Atlantica Tower.
According to the developer, the 328 feet (100 meters) tall tower houses the largest urban forest in the world. Inside the unique building are 122 suites in the hotel area and 90 apartments for residents.
21. Zhongshan Yibo E-sports Hotel - Zhongshan, China
China's space-ship-inspired e-sports hotels are the new hype, where hardcore gamers can be locked up in a futuristic environment. And when they are too tired to play they can crash in one of the sleeping pods.
Futuristic Gaming Capsule Hotel
The Yibo E-sports Hotel is located on the 24th floor of a modern multi-purpose complex with a shopping mall in Zhongshan. The city is part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen megapolis, which has 65 million inhabitants.
You can play on state-of-the-art computers packed with the latest GPUs, which allow you to run the games smoothly at the highest frame rates. The space-age design was achieved by using integrated LED lights and aluminium-covered surfaces. When you get exhausted from playing, you can jump into one of the capsules and close the lids for full privacy.
