Ikea mattress, Ikea sheets, Ikea towels, Ikea desk, Ikea chairs, Ikea curtains, Ikea lighting fixtures, Ikea trashcans, Ikea garments hangers, Ikea facet tables, Ikea throw pillow, Ikea clock. That is the tough stock of a room on the planet’s solely Ikea resort—the Ikea Hotell in its Swedish spelling—situated in Älmhult, Sweden, the identical small city the place Ikea was based within the Forties and the place its headquarters nonetheless sits. I stayed an evening on this very Ikea resort just lately throughout a reporting journey to Älmhult for a narrative about (shock, shock) Ikea.
As one would count on, the foyer, amenity areas, and resort rooms themselves are outfitted completely with Ikea furnishings—Fröset chairs within the foyer, the Alex desk within the rooms, and the basic duvets on the beds. Entering into my resort room was like coming 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 really do have to make use of an Allen key wrench to open the resort room door. (Kidding!)
One evening in Ikea’s resort
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 have been all over the place within the foyer and amenity areas, and the resort room itself serves as a try-before-you-buy retail expertise.
It’s additionally probably the most handy—and inexpensive—resort close to Ikea’s domineering headquarters on this provincial Swedish village of about 17,000, a lot of whom are employed by the worldwide residence furnishings behemoth. Älmhult sits an 80-minute prepare trip from Malmö, the place a couple of thousand of its staff reside. (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 resort itself is deeply tied to Ikea’s historical past within the city. It’s situated 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 turned 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 consumers 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 filled with historic furnishings and paraphernalia, plus a cafeteria and a present store. Friends on the resort are given a card upon check-in that grants free admission.
The resort exists due to the showroom turned museum. Throughout its days as the primary Ikea retailer, its attract drew prospects from far and large, together with many who traveled thus far they wanted to remain in a single day in Älmhult earlier than driving again residence with a carload of flat-packed furniture. Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad noticed a possibility, 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.
Development took longer than anticipated because of the space’s persistently muddy soil, however the motel started receiving company in the summertime of 1963 with rooms full of Ikea’s personal furnishings. It took one other 12 months 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 company 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, nevertheless, has been misplaced to time, crammed in to turn into a courtyard for resort company.
It was a bit too chilly to go on the market the evening I arrived on the resort, simply off a two-hour, late-night prepare trip from Copenhagen. Inside, the spare check-in desk stands earlier than an prolonged foyer/lounge/Ikea showroom filled with straightforward chairs, couches, eating tables, lamps, and a small play space for teenagers. The resort 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 resort room and the opposite, an outsized model, was on show within the foyer. Each, curiously, have been set to the fallacious time.
‘Democratic,’ not luxurious design
Consistent with Ikea’s guiding rules of affordability and “democratic design,” this isn’t a luxurious resort. There are three room choices out there, with costs beginning as little as $60 per evening. Probably 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 lavatory outdoors.
I stayed in the slightly bigger Double room, which works for about $90 to $150 per evening relying on the day. It’s outfitted with a double mattress and a non-public lavatory, however few different facilities. A family-sized option can also be out there, consisting of two units of bunk beds, additionally with a non-public lavatory. (There’s additionally one wheelchair accessible room, with extra space and additional furnishings.) Some rooms open out onto the courtyard. My third-floor room, as I found within the morning mild, regarded out over an area 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 resort’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 resort room. However for the ready and well-stocked visitor, every ground within the resort is outfitted with a shared kitchen area and “widespread lounge.” The areas are, in fact, Ikea’d to the max, and wouldn’t look misplaced within the showroom of a typical Ikea retailer.
A predecessor to branded hospitality
Whereas all the area might have simply ventured into captive viewers commercialism, the Ikea Hotell is just not actively promoting Ikea furnishings. I used to be considerably shocked to not see a single product label or pricetag within the resort room, nor wherever within the widespread areas. It’s like a soft-sell predecessor to the present pattern 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. Apart from among the widespread areas, many of the resort appeared merely populated with Ikea stuff, not deliberately designed to point out it off.
That could be altering, although. Indicators within the resort famous that renovations are presently underway, with a big refresh expected to open in 2028. The renovation will deliver the room depend to just about 300, add extra convention area, and create a brand new foyer and restaurant. The undertaking may also revive one of many resort’s unique options by including a brand new indoor pool.
Possibly not sufficient purpose 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 laborious to think about a extra applicable place to spend an evening.
