On August 1th we opened the first hotel-in-hotel version of Creators Inn by Elvine at Hotel Scandic Malmen in Stockholm. Located in the heart of the SoFo area, this offers a stay in direct proximity to culture, shopping and within walking distance to some of Stockholm’s best live music venues, including Lilla Hotellbaren located on the ground floor of the hotel. Basically an ideal hub for any creator visiting the Swedish capital.
The room have been re-designed based on answers to the questions below:
- What are the most important needs of a traveling creator? How do they differ from “regular” guests?
- What would your ultimate room for creators look like? What kind functions, products and services would be provided for the visiting creators?
Answers which we kindly received from creators and previous guests through email, our Facebook discussion board, via Twitter and from people commenting here on the web page. The result is presented after the jump together with a floor plan, lots of pictures, descriptions and comments.
The floor plan
The Creators Inn by Elvine room at Scandic Malmen consist of three separate rooms: “The local library”, “The dreamy study” and “The relaxing spa”. Here’s a floor plan of the rooms:
Living room – “The local library”
This is the first room you enter. In this room you’ll find a map over Stockholm and the local area of Södermalm covering the whole wall on the left, where the guest can mark out their favorite spots using pre-printed notes, creating a collaborative city guide, by the guests for the guests. The room is furnished for up to five people using comfortable second hand furniture such as a black leather sofa, an armchair and a side table from the Elvine showroom. A vintage IKEA sideboard is placed beneath the window and contains art materials such as pens, papers and CDR-records, as well as selected books, local magazines, and flyers for inspiration. On top of it is a vinyl record player and a nice selection of records. If you don’t find anything you like there is also a chord to hook up your iPod to the sound system. On one wall you’ll find framed photos of some of the previous guests at Creators Inn by Elvine. The room is also decorated with a selection of plants.
Bedroom – “The dreamy study”
This is the second room. Since there are no windows in this room the wall above the bed-foot is covered with a panoramic and soothing view over Gothenburg at sunset. This also connects the room to Gothenburg and Elvine as well as the first and original Creators Inn by Elvine room. The wall behind the desk is covered in cork to function as a notice board where the guest can write down their thoughts and ideas or put up scraps of inspiration. The desk is complemented with a desk lamp, electronic sockets, wifi and stationary. The wardrobe contains Elvine clothes the guests are free to use. The room is decorated with six plants which also seconds as an art installation and functional hangers can be found on the opposite wall next to the bed.
Bathroom – “The relaxing spa”
The bathroom. Here you’ll find plants, magazines and a black Dala horse to keep you company while you are at the toilet reading The Story of Elvine put up on the shower glass. You’ll also find spa products, a bench to rest your legs as well as branded towels and bathrobes.
Growing our own fresh air
Since we weren’t able to provide a balcony with the room were the guest could get some fresh air, we decided to grow our own fresh air in the rooms after a formula by Indian researcher Kamal Meattle using three common houseplants. Read more about the interesting research behind it and see how an arrangement of these houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.
Collaborative city guide
The map over Södermalm in the living room also doubles as a collaborative city guide, where the guests can mark out their favorite spots using pre-printed notes and pins, helping out future guests to find their way around town.
Creative concierge service
Since we try to prioritize foreign guests and know how valuable it can be to have a local guide when you’re new in a town, we offer our guests a creative concierge service. Found in the room is a list describing eight different people our guests can call up if they need someone to go out with, need to ask where to get great vegetarian food, if they just want to hang out and play video games for a while, or anything else.
Elvine fixed gear rental bike
If our guests dare, we offer them the exclusive chance to borrow our custom made Elvine fixed
gear bike free of charge. This “sophisticated bike for unsophisticated driving” has been produced in collaboration with Childstore. Some basement snapshots in bad lighting found below.
Elvine clothes to use
“Sophisticated clothes for unsophisticated behavior” is provided in the room for the guests to use. Clothes they can wear if they run out of clean clothes or if they need a functional jacket for those rainy Swedish days.
Various details
Various pictures and details from the room in Stockholm.
Feedback
Please leave feedback by commenting or by emailing us at: manager@creatorsinn.com
Creators Inn is yet again breaking new ground. This time by opening the world’s first hotel-in-hotel, offering free short-term accommodation for visiting creators. Partnering with the Scandic Malmen Hotel we are also proud to offer the first Creators Inn outside of Gothenburg. This time in the Royal Capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
About the Scandic Malmen hotel
In the heart of Södermalm, where Götgatan meets Medborgarplatsen, stands the Scandic Malmen Hotel. This is the hotel for those who want to be within easy reach of culture, shopping and the buzz of the city. The hotel puts you within walking distance of some of Stockholm’s best live venues – Mosebacke, Södra Teatern and Debaser. The district of SoFo has masses of trendy boutiques offering everything from Swedish fashion and design to vintage stores and stylish home furnishings.
The hotel now has a new restaurant plus the bars Stora Baren and Lilla Hotellbaren, with its stage for live music, making Scandic Malmen an excellent choice for modern guests looking to stay in Stockholm. Wireless Internet access is free, in your room and in the public areas. The organic breakfast buffet is always included – simply put, the perfect choice for any creator.
The Hotel-in-hotel concept
We are happy to present the first hotel-in-hotel in the world. The hotel-in-hotel concept is similar to the shop-in-shop concept in the retail business. One of the rooms at the Scandic Malmen hotel will be re-designed and transformed into Creators Inn by Elvine, a special room optimized for visiting creators and available free of charge.
Limited time only – register today!
The Creators Inn by Elvine at the Scandic Malmen hotel in Stockholm will be open under a limited time only, between August 1 and September 13. People who are interested in free accommodation in Stockholm during this period are welcome to register to stay straight away. Foreign guests and creators from Gothenburg are prioritized.
We are proud to present the capsule hotel version of Creators Inn by Elvine together with creative collective LAT, located at Lindholmen in Gothenburg. When interviewing LAT we realized we had a lot in common in our quest to house visiting creators, so we decided to team up.
The capsule version of Creators Inn by Elvine differs from our previous rooms in some ways. There is only room for one person (or two if you have a very intimate relationship) in the private sleeping quarter, and the toilet and shower is shared with the other guests. On the other hand you get access to a common work space, kitchen, dining area, a music studio, and a work shop in the basement. Besides that you get the usual Creators Inn benefits such as clean sheets, bathrobe, slippers, free wifi and consumables.
We decided to try out the Creators Inn concept in a collective environment since many of our previous guests have listed “meeting other creators” as more important than “luxurious interior” while giving us feedback. Still, we wanted to keep the right to privacy and a high service level.
Please find out more about the creative collective LAT here, or email us if you have any questions or wish to stay in the room.
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Creators Inn by Elvine offers the following grooming products for our visiting guests…
- Bathrobe
- Towels
- Slippers
- 2 in 1 Shampoo
- Hair & Body gel
- Body Lotion
- Gentle soap
- Dental set
- Vanity kit
- Sewing kit
- Shaving set
- Comb
- Bathrobe
Due to an enormous interest and response from all around the globe, we feel the need for the project to evolve. Creators Inn by Elvine is no longer a room or a certain physical space, but merely an idea and concept of creative hospitality that can be spread to other parts of the world for a limited period of time. We are currently experimenting with our second room in Gothenburg to see how the project can be packaged, exported and implemented in other cities besides Gothenburg, keeping a high standard of comfort and service. Please keep emailing us if you have any ideas or suggestions.
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We got a brand new doormat that say a little more than “welcome.” This one says “Creators Inn by Elvine.”
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It should have been there from the start, but at least now it’s here: the guestbook. New improvements also include a new waste basket for dirty laundry and a new luggage rack pictured below.
Open the night stand drawer in almost any hotel room in the world and you will find a Bible, usually placed there by there the Gideon’s International. But not at Creators Inn by Elvine. Instead you’ll find the pamphlet Alcohol and the Bible by Howard H. Charles. Here is what the Lutheran Witness Reporter had to say about it:
Regardless of the reader’s stand on moderation or total abstinence, this is a fair, exegetically sound, enlightening pamphlet worth reading
Click here to read more about alcoholic beverages in Sweden.
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The wonderful view from our model room’s balcony.
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Niklas Åström was the first guest to enjoy free wifi internet connection.
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