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The Lobby Includes Pinball Machines, A Local Punk Record Shop Provides A Selection Of New Releases For Sale To Guests And Giant Screens Supply A Vast Database Of Where To Go Out.
Over the past decade Oslo's Youngstorget has become the city's music heart with locales, bars, restaurants and record shops creating a colourful scene in and round the square.
But till the start of this year, visitors swarming to the copious gigs and events would have struggled to find cheap accommodation in the immediate area. This has changed thanks to the opening of the Choice chain's Comfort Express Hotel, a new idea it plans to launch in every Nordic capital over the next three years.
Do not be put off by the name. This isn't your average bland budget hotel chain. The lobby includes pinball machines, a local punk record shop provides a variety of new releases for sale to guests and big screens offer a massive database of where to go out. Many in-house rock radio stations programmed by two local rock DJs offers a refreshing change to the generic chill-out compilations, which became the modern equal to Muzak.
Rooms begin at NOK299 ( around £35 ) rising with demand to up to around £115. Costs are kept low by charging for extras which some guests may not require. These include daily towel changes and room cleaning for those staying more than one night (around £10). Check-in is done via touchscreens. "As the check-in is performed by the guests, we weren't looking for normal receptionists," asserts director Simen Vinge.
Workers were hired at an audition in the nearby Revolver venue, with the five hundred candidates for seven positions chosen for their understanding of music and the town.
Though the 172 rooms fifty twins, 112 doubles and 10 singles are compact and there's a a touch "corporate trendy" feel, there are some nice touches like iPod docks and free Wi-Fi. Guests can also open their room door by sending a text and then holding their mobile to the sensor below the handle.
Designer Lars Helling created the design, which incorporates the facade of a former church. However , the owners created Facebook and Twitter communities which they consulted all though its development, inviting input on everything from what to stock in the shop, which magazines to offer and even the color schemes.
"Every time we needed to take a call we asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter," announces Vinge. "We sell lots of food, drink and magazines because our guests asked if we'd put them there."
The web communities are sustained by offering members free tickets to the various events which have partnered with the hotel since it opened. They include Scandinavia's huge music business conference by:Larm (bylarm.no), Oslo's distinguished ya Holiday (oyafestivalen.com) and the Inferno metal gathering (infernofestival.net), with the basement infrequently utilised for gigs.
Vinge is tight-lipped about which bands have stayed at the hotel, but given that there is special entrance for artists playing at the large Rockefeller locale across the road and ya's galvanizing line-ups, there are likely to have been some giant names.
So far the sole bad behaviour has come courtesy of guests attending the gigantic Sensation rave last April. Vinge describes that weekend as "hectic" with lots of intoxicated revellers dressed in white "breaking stuff all over the place".
Against this, he describes the black metal brotherhood attending Inferno last May as model customers.
"The only thing we had to handle was putting a bloke to bed who had passed out in the hallway," he says. "The next day he came with flowers to apologise", writes tagza.com.
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