No walls, no ceiling and no doors for privacy, no air-conditioner or room heater for comfort, and no ‘room’ for complaint. Welcome to the ‘zero star hotel’, designed that way to make the guests “think about the problems in the world”. The arrangement aims to “inspire” people to act differently, believe Frank and Patrik Rilkin, the twin brothers behind the concept of 'null stern suite' — German for ‘zero star hotel’ — art installations.
All that these hotel rooms designed by the Swiss concept artists have are a double bed on a platform, with two bedside tables and lamps on either side.
After installing such beds at a few idyllic spots in picturesque Switzerland, the brothers have now come up with one on a roadside next to a petrol pump in Saillon village — their first 'anti-idyllic' site.
The suite, however, comes with butler service, offering drinks and breakfast, according to a Reuters report. Those interested can book a bed from July 1 to September 18. The price? 325 Swiss francs (a little over Rs 26,000) for a night.
What The Rooms Without A Roof Offer
"Sleep is not the point," Frank Riklin tells Reuters. "What's important is reflecting about the current world situation. Staying here is a statement about the need for urgent changes in society."
During the sleepless nights they are likely to spend in these “rooms”, the guests are invited to think about climate change, wars, and “humanity's endless quest for perfection and the damage it causes the planet”.
"...now is not the time to sleep, we have to react," says Patrik. "If we continue in the same direction we are today, there might be more anti-idyllic places than idyllic."
The project has been developed with hotelier Daniel Charbonnier. The three other null stern suites are located in a vineyard and on a hillside.