Ikea mattress, Ikea sheets, Ikea towels, Ikea desk, Ikea chairs, Ikea curtains, Ikea lighting fixtures, Ikea trashcans, Ikea garments hangers, Ikea aspect tables, Ikea throw pillow, Ikea clock. That is the tough stock of a room on this planet’s solely Ikea lodge—the Ikea Hotell in its Swedish spelling—positioned in Älmhult, Sweden, the identical small city the place Ikea was based within the Nineteen Forties and the place its headquarters nonetheless sits. I stayed an evening on this very Ikea lodge lately throughout a reporting journey to Älmhult for a narrative about (shock, shock) Ikea.
As one would count on, the foyer, amenity areas, and lodge rooms themselves are outfitted totally with Ikea furnishings—Fröset chairs within the foyer, the Alex desk within the rooms, and the basic duvets on the beds. Getting into my lodge room was like getting into one of many meticulously furnished mock bedrooms on an Ikea retailer’s showroom ground, however with solely 1 / 4 the quantity of stuff and the spatial effectivity one would count on from an organization constructed round affordability. You’ll be able to insert your personal joke right here about having to construct the mattress earlier than you sleep in it. However you truly do have to make use of an Allen key wrench to open the lodge room door. (Kidding!)
One night time in Ikea’s lodge
I used to be in Älmhult for an unique daylong go to at Ikea headquarters in early April. Ikea invited me as the primary journalist to see its secretive prototype lab, the area the place its conceptual designs get molded and refined into the roughly 2,000 new merchandise launched to Ikea shops yearly.
For my one-night keep in Älmhult, the Ikea Hotell provided full immersion into the model earlier than my tour. Ikea gadgets and branding had been in all places within the foyer and amenity areas, and the lodge room itself serves as a try-before-you-buy retail expertise.
It’s additionally probably the most handy—and inexpensive—lodge close to Ikea’s domineering headquarters on this provincial Swedish village of about 17,000, lots of whom are employed by the worldwide house furnishings behemoth. Älmhult sits an 80-minute prepare journey from Malmö, the place just a few thousand of its staff dwell. (The hourly direct trains leaving Älmhult station within the afternoons are standing-room solely.) Throw a stone in Älmhult and also you’ll hit some piece of the Ikea universe. Enterprise farther and also you’re again out within the Swedish countryside.
Designed out of necessity
The lodge itself is deeply tied to Ikea’s historical past within the city. It’s positioned throughout a large car parking zone from a warehouse-sized constructing that was Ikea’s first purpose-built furniture showroom. Opened in 1958 with a modernist concrete design, it grew to become nationwide information and a magnet for patrons. Initially created to easily show Ikea’s furnishings, it was quickly tailored into the primary Ikea retailer, drawing budget-conscious buyers from throughout Sweden. It stayed in operation for greater than 50 years.
The shop reopened in 2015 because the Ikea Museum, with three flooring of exhibition area full of historic furnishings and paraphernalia, plus a cafeteria and a present store. Company on the lodge are given a card upon check-in that grants free admission.
The lodge exists due to the showroom turned museum. Throughout its days as the primary Ikea retailer, its attract drew clients from far and extensive, together with many who traveled to this point they wanted to remain in a single day in Älmhult earlier than driving again house with a carload of flat-packed furniture. Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad noticed a chance, and in 1962 commissioned an architect to design an American-influenced roadside motel, with 25 rooms and, in a rarity for this a part of Sweden, a heated pool.
Building took longer than anticipated because of the space’s persistently muddy soil, however the motel started receiving friends in the summertime of 1963 with rooms crammed with Ikea’s personal furnishings. It took one other yr for the hotly anticipated pool to open, and solely then was there an official grand opening of Motell Ikea.
Over time, the motel hosted annual showcases for brand spanking new furnishings ranges, in addition to friends touring for procuring or enterprise with the more and more world firm. Expansions and renovations have since been accomplished, and the rebranded Ikea Hotell now has 254 rooms. The pool, nonetheless, has been misplaced to time, stuffed in to change into a courtyard for lodge friends.
It was a bit too chilly to move on the market the night time I arrived on the lodge, simply off a two-hour, late-night prepare journey from Copenhagen. Inside, the spare check-in desk stands earlier than an prolonged foyer/lounge/Ikea showroom full of simple chairs, couches, eating tables, lamps, and a small play space for teenagers. The lodge has its share of well-known Ikea items, from puffy Jättebo couches to a kids’s play kitchen to a keyhole-shaped clock first launched in 1995. One was on the wall in my lodge room and the opposite, an outsized model, was on show within the foyer. Each, curiously, had been set to the fallacious time.
‘Democratic,’ not luxurious design
In step with Ikea’s guiding rules of affordability and “democratic design,” this isn’t a luxurious lodge. There are three room choices out there, with costs beginning as little as $60 per night time. Essentially the most economical is known as a cabin and is simply 45 sq. ft. It has a twin mattress, a TV mounted on the wall, a rack to carry a suitcase, and a shared toilet outdoors.
I stayed in the slightly bigger Double room, which works for about $90 to $150 per night time relying on the day. It’s outfitted with a double mattress and a personal toilet, however few different facilities. A family-sized option can be out there, consisting of two units of bunk beds, additionally with a personal toilet. (There may be additionally one wheelchair accessible room, with more room and additional furnishings.) Some rooms open out onto the courtyard. My third-floor room, as I found within the morning gentle, regarded out over a neighborhood church and its graveyard.
As a spot to sleep, the Ikea Hotell is adequate. Free breakfast within the close by restaurant, Grillen, was higher than anticipated, given lodge’s spartan choices. This being Sweden, there was pickled herring. This being Ikea, there have been additionally meatless meatballs.
One draw back, particularly for a traveler shaking off a 6-hour time zone change, is the shortage of a espresso maker within the lodge room. However for the ready and well-stocked visitor, every ground within the lodge is outfitted with a shared kitchen area and “widespread lounge.” The areas are, after all, Ikea’d to the max, and wouldn’t look misplaced within the showroom of a typical Ikea retailer.
A predecessor to branded hospitality
Whereas your entire area might have simply ventured into captive viewers commercialism, the Ikea Hotell shouldn’t be actively promoting Ikea furnishings. I used to be considerably shocked to not see a single product label or pricetag within the lodge room, nor anyplace within the widespread areas. It’s like a soft-sell predecessor to the present development of branded hospitality, where everything is for sale, and aggressively so. Ikea was there first, however the strategy is hardly pushy. In actual fact, I used to be additionally possibly a bit underwhelmed by how the area was furnished. Other than a number of the widespread areas, a lot of the lodge appeared merely populated with Ikea stuff, not deliberately designed to point out it off.
Which may be altering, although. Indicators within the lodge famous that renovations are at present underway, with a big refresh expected to open in 2028. The renovation will deliver the room rely to just about 300, add extra convention area, and create a brand new foyer and restaurant. The challenge may also revive one of many lodge’s authentic options by including a brand new indoor pool.
Perhaps not sufficient motive to enterprise all the way in which again to Älmhult, not less than for me. However for anybody visiting the house of Ikea, it’s arduous to think about a extra acceptable place to spend an evening.
