Hotelship

Last updated
The river cruiser Amadeus Diamond is one of the hotelships at German trade fairs Jungfernfahrt der Amadeus Diamond.jpg
The river cruiser Amadeus Diamond is one of the hotelships at German trade fairs
Standard cabin on hotelship Amadeus Diamond Mozart Strauss Kabine web.jpg
Standard cabin on hotelship Amadeus Diamond

A hotelship is a passenger ship which is used for a period as a hotel. A botel or boatel is a boat that serves as a hotel or hostel. Currently there are few permanent hotel ships. [1] [2] The word is a portmanteau of boat and hotel. Botels may range from small [1] or larger [3] purpose-built or converted boats or other watercraft, to converted ships. [2] They may be permanently moored [2] or grounded, [3] or spend part of the year taking guests on tours. [1] The most famous examples are the Queen Mary, in Long Beach; and the Queen Elizabeth 2, in Dubai. Both ships were originally part of Cunard line. During the 2022 World Cup, Qatar chartered three cruise ships to mitigate accommodation shortages. [4]

Contents

United States

There are two permanently moored hotel ships in the USA. The Queen Mary is in Long Beach, California, [5] and the former Lake Michigan carferry City of Milwaukee is used seasonally as a hotel in Manistee, Michigan. [6]

Japan

The ocean liner Hikawa Maru is a botel in Yokohama. [7]

Netherlands

The former ocean liner Rotterdam is currently serving as a hotel and museum in Rotterdam. [8]

Finland

The former cruise ship and carferry Bore is serving as a hotel, museum and restaurant in Turku. [9]

Germany

At times when accommodation shortages can be predicted, for example during trade fairs or big events, hotelships can complement the already existing permanent hotels in a flexible fashion. In Germany, hotelships are evident during trade fair periods in Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg and Hannover.

The moorings are usually located near the town centre. During a large trade fair such as Drupa or Medica in Düsseldorf, up to 40 ships can be moored to accommodate visitors. [10]

River cruisers are used as hotelships for a limited time and intermittently. Whereas a hotel has a fixed address and is used permanently, hotelships are only in any one location for a defined duration. Ship owners and shipping companies are particularly keen on this use of river cruisers as, unlike in the case of deep sea cruise ships, there is no seasonal transfer of ships to warmer areas. The result is therefore more efficient use of the ships outside the main cruising season.

The main thoroughfares for river cruises in Europe are the rivers Rhine, Main, Danube and Elbe. Since many cities here lie directly on the river, this is also a particularly interesting area for hotelships. Moorings are usually conveniently located in the city centre, for example at the Konrad Adenauer Ufer in Cologne, the Altstadtufer in Düsseldorf or the Holbeinsteg at Nizza, Frankfurt. [11] These locations are all close to the city centres and the trade fair grounds. Because of this network of inland waterways, hotelships can be positioned where and when required, and usually without lengthy transfers.

Background

The origins of hotelships in Germany can be traced back to the 1970s. During international trade fairs it was often difficult to find good quality accommodation in a convenient location because of shortages of hotel rooms. During the International Textile Trade Fair in Frankfurt, the idea was born to moor a river cruiser on the banks of the Main and thus increase bed capacity in the city centre. Even today, the Frankfurt am Main harbour authorities offer moorings for hotelships on the Nizza Werft. [12]

During the last 10 years, river cruises in Europe have become a growth area of the tourism industry. Since the completion of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the expansion of the EU, there has been a huge increase in the potential for river cruising as part of the cruising industry. River cruising has become more comfortable and so has increased in popularity, allowing it to compete with European coach tours. As a result, there has been a steady increase in the number of ships available in recent years and therefore the availability of cruise ships for use as hotelships has also increased.

Another reason for the increased use of hotelships is the huge peak in demand for hotel rooms in trade fair cities. [13] Local hotels demanding heavily increased prices during trade fair events has recently led to cutbacks in trade fairs or even their complete withdrawal. Many visitors have stayed away or just come for the day and have been able to do so because of reduced transport costs with budget airlines or ICE train connections. Hotelships redress the balance during these temporary peaks and, in spite of criticism from local hotels, help make trade fair locations more attractive and more competitive. [14]

The market

Hotelships operate as a balance in the hotel market where the market is too inflexible to react to periods of high demand such as is the case during trade fairs. Additional capacity through the construction of new hotels is not always possible and indeed not always desirable since in times of low demand outside the trade fair season, this creates excess capacity. The introduction of hotelships takes account of this situation and helps to balance occasional high demand with supply.

Hotelships are usually marketed by charter agencies who make use of accommodation made available by shipping companies such as Viking River Cruises from Luxembourg, or private independent shipping companies. Their role is to charter ships and position them in the relevant cities whilst at the same time ensuring and maintaining agreed standards. The charterers keep in close contact with trade fair organisations and tourist offices in the relevant cities in order to provide hotelships as and when required. Hotelships are therefore seen as a way of accommodating more trade fair visitors in the city, rather than in outlying areas. Guests include individual clients as well as companies [15] who usually book their hotel accommodation via specialist travel agencies or directly with the local tourist office. [16] [17] During the 6-month season in 2008, hotelships in Germany boosted the market with an extra 100,000 beds and their turnover was about 10,000,000 Euros. [18] This only represents a small part of the total hotel capacity in Germany. Berlin alone, for example, has a daily capacity of 97,441 beds (figures from December 2008). [19]

China

During the COVID-19 pandemic, river cruise ships were used to provide nearly 1,500 beds for medical workers in the worst affected city, Wuhan. [20]

Sweden

The Viking is a converted sailing ship floated in Sweden.

Indonesia

Former cruise ship Doulos Phos currently operates as a hotel in Bintan.

United Arab Emirates

The Former ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 currently operates as a hotel in Dubai. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cologne</span> Largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Cologne is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the urban region. Centered on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf and 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankfurt</span> Largest city in Hesse, Germany

Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main, is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany, and it is the only city in the country rated as an "alpha world city" according to GaWC. Located in the foreland of the Taunus on its namesake Main River, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main and its urban area has a population of over 2.3 million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region. Frankfurt's central business district lies about 90 km (56 mi) northwest of the geographic center of the EU at Gadheim in Lower Franconia. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhenish Franconian dialect area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hesse</span> State in Germany

Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area, is mainly located in Hesse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mooring</span> Structure for securing floating vessels

A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An anchor mooring fixes a vessel's position relative to a point on the bottom of a waterway without connecting the vessel to shore. As a verb, mooring refers to the act of attaching a vessel to a mooring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Düsseldorf Airport</span> International airport serving Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Düsseldorf Airport is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about 7 kilometres north of downtown Düsseldorf and some 20 kilometres southwest of Essen in the Rhine-Ruhr area, Germany's largest metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean liner</span> Ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another

An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes. Only one ocean liner remains in service today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddle steamer</span> Steam-powered vessel propelled by paddle wheels

A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region</span> Urban area in Germany

The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers an area of 7,110 square kilometres (2,750 sq mi), entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from the Ruhr area (Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg) in the north to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Cologne, and Bonn in the south. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas such as the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Germany</span> Overview of tourism in the Federal Republic of Germany

Germany is the eighth-most-visited country in the world, with a total of 407.26 million overnights during 2012. This number includes 68.83 million nights by foreign visitors, the majority of foreign tourists in 2009 coming from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Additionally, more than 30% of Germans spend their holiday in their own country. According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is ranked 3 out of 136 countries in the 2017 report, and is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houseboat</span> Boat used as a home

A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily for regular dwelling. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. However, many are capable of operation under their own power. Float house is a Canadian and American term for a house on a float (raft); a rough house may be called a shanty boat. In Western countries, houseboats tend to be either owned privately or rented out to holiday-goers, and on some canals in Europe, people dwell in houseboats all year round. Examples of this include, but are not limited to, Amsterdam, London, and Paris.

SS <i>Rotterdam</i> Cruise ship from 1958-2010

The fifth SS Rotterdam, also known as "The Grande Dame", is a former ocean liner and cruise ship, and has been a hotel ship in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 2010. She was launched by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in a gala ceremony on 13 September 1958, and was completed the following summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golzheim</span> Locality of Düsseldorf, Germany

Golzheim is a quarter of Düsseldorf in Borough 1 on the Rhine, just north of the city center. It is primarily a business and hotel district, but retains some of the old stately villas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Köln Messe/Deutz station</span> Railway station in Germany

Köln Messe/Deutz station is an important railway junction for long-distance rail and local services in the Cologne district of Deutz in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated close to the eastern bank of the Rhine and connected via the Hohenzollern Bridge to Köln Hauptbahnhof, the city's main station, which is just a few hundred metres away. The Cologne Trade Fair grounds are directly north of the station, hence the Messe in the station's name. The Stadtbahn station of Deutz/Messe is nearby and connected by a pedestrian tunnel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Mainz</span>

The Port of Mainz is the port of Mainz, Germany. Lying on the western bank of the Rhine river, it has a long history reaching back through the Middle Ages to Roman times. The modern port facilities, existing for approximately 120 years in their general environs, are located mostly to the north of the city proper, and will be extended to the north of their current location during the coming years to make space for a new residential area.

Köln-Düsseldorfer (KD) is a river cruise operator based in Cologne, Germany. The company operates a total of 14 cruise ships on the Rhine, Main and Moselle rivers. The famous KD steamer line operated on the Rhine with steamers and tourist boats. The Lorelei rock was a famed day outing for pleasure seekers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Amsterdam</span> Port in Netherlands

The port of Amsterdam is a seaport in Amsterdam in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the 4th busiest port in Europe by metric tonnes of cargo. The port is located on the bank of a former bay named the IJ and the North Sea Canal, with which it is connected to the North Sea. The port was first used in the 13th century and was one of the main ports of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. Today, the port of Amsterdam is the second largest port in the Netherlands, the largest being the Port of Rotterdam. In 2014, the port of Amsterdam had a cargo throughput of 97.4 million tons, most of which was bulk cargo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel barge</span>

A hotel barge is a barge that has been built or converted to serve as a hotel or other kind of lodging. Hotel barges are generally found on rivers and canals in Europe, and may be used for river cruises or permanently moored in one place.

SS <i>Lavia</i>

Lavia was a cruise ship that caught fire and sank in Hong Kong Harbour in 1989. She was built for Cunard White Star Line in 1947 as the cargo liner Media. In 1961 she was sold to Italy, rebuilt as an ocean liner and renamed Flavia. In 1969, she was refitted as a cruise ship and renamed Flavian. In 1982 she was sold to Panama and renamed Lavia. She was undergoing a refit when the fire occurred. The damage to her was so great that she was scrapped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dormitory ship</span>

A dormitory ship is a vessel whose primary function is to serve as floating living quarters. Such craft serve as conventional land-based dormitories in all respects except that the living quarters are aboard a floating vessel, most often moored in place near its host facility. It may be seaworthy or not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nizza, Frankfurt</span>

Nizza is a small area in central Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, known for its microclimate making it one of the warmest places in Germany. Nizza is on the northern bank of the River Main, and the combination of its open southern-facing position, the urban heat island, the high walls of the adjacent promenade which act as a windbreak, and reflection of sunlight off the water combine to produce a Mediterranean climate. At 4.42 hectares, Nizza is one of the largest gardens of Mediterranean plants north of the Alps.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Botel Zebra in Amsterdam, Netherlands" . Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "Amstel Botel" . Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 "The Botel, Savannah, Tennessee". Archived from the original on 2011-12-13. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Qatar Brings in Three Cruise Ships for World Cup Hotel Space". The Maritime Executive. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  5. ↑ "The Queen Mary™ - One-Of-A-Kind Long Beach Hotel Experience". queenmary.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  6. ↑ "Boatel". SS City of Milwaukee. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  7. ↑ "Hikawa Maru". ssbarnhill.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Step aboard the ss Rotterdam". ss Rotterdam | by WestCord. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  9. ↑ skmalara (2020-03-11). "Ship Hostel S/S Bore". www.hostelbore.fi. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  10. ↑ Rheinische Post Archived 2009-04-30 at the Wayback Machine Daily Germany Newspaper, published in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, The Article “Volles Haus in Düsseldorf”, May 26th, 2008 (Full House in Düsseldorf) describes the hotel situation and the need of hotelships during the major trade fairs in Germany.
  11. ↑ Hafen Frankfurt Archived 2010-01-21 at the Wayback Machine The Frankfurt Harbour management company (FHM) | Hotelships in Frankfurt, The FHM describes hotelships as a central part of Frankfurt’s hotel industry during the major trade fairs.
  12. ↑ Hafen Frankfurt Archived 2010-01-21 at the Wayback Machine The Frankfurt Harbour management company (FHM) promotes hotelship accommodation as an attractive option during trade fairs in Frankfurt.
  13. ↑ The Hindu Business Line Indian Financial Daily Newspaper, “SOTC sees growth from trade fair tours — Ties up with German cruise cos”, May 10th, 2004
  14. ↑ Rheinische Post Archived 2009-04-30 at the Wayback Machine Daily Germany Newspaper, published in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, The Article “Volles Haus in Düsseldorf” (Full House in Düsseldorf) describes the hotel situation and the need of hotelships during the major trade fairs in Germany.
  15. ↑ British Plastics Federation The British Plastic Federation advises its members about the option of booking hotelship accommodation for K2010 in Düsseldorf.
  16. ↑ Düsseldorf Marketing und Tourismus GmbH Archived 2009-06-28 at the Wayback Machine Hotelship accommodation in Düsseldorf is also bookable over the Düsseldorf City and Tourism Marketing association(DMT).
  17. ↑ Tourismus und Kongress GmbH Frankfurt am Main Archived 2009-09-01 at the Wayback Machine The Frankfurt Tourism Association promotes a booking service for hotelship accommodation during trade fairs in Frankfurt.
  18. ↑ Crossgates Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine British hotel ship agency, Key facts on the hotelship industry in Germany.
  19. ↑ Berlin Tourismus [ permanent dead link ] Berlin Tourism Association, Statistics on the hotel situation in Berlin 2008.
  20. ↑ "Coronavirus: China brings in seven cruise ships to house Wuhan medical workers". 22 February 2020.
  21. ↑ "Queen Elizabeth 2 | Luxury 13-Deck Floating Hotel, Dubai". www.qe2.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.