Instagram Hotel
The world's first hotel where you can stay for free, but just so long as you're popular enough on Instagram
We recently covered Majorca's Sol Wave House, a place that claims to be the world's first Twitter hotel. Not to be outdone, Sydney's 1888 Hotel is incorporating Instagram into its fabric and encouraging guests to document their stay through the app.
Located in Pyrmont, a waterfront suburb of Sydney, the 1888 Hotel is integrating the ever-growing photo sharing app into the heart of its experience, with guests greeted at reception by a realtime projected stream of images collected from relevant hashtags. Continuing the theme once the guests have checked in are rooms that have been specially designed to accommodate and encourage selfies. And, for those bored of taking photographs of themselves indoors, the hotel has produced a map dotted with ideal photograph opportunities within the local area.
Whilst the power of social media popularity continues to be debated, the hotel considers it a currency: guests with over 10,000 followers are rewarded with a free stay, with those less fortunate (/famous) getting the opportunity to qualify by taking the Instagram photo of the month.
With Instagram followers readily available on eBay and through a host of websites found on Google, the hotel's policy may just be a niche novelty rather than a long-term financeably sustainable one. Either way it's interesting to see social media employed in this way, particularly when online influence is traded like a currency.
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