Warning: essay alert. This hotel has made me feel ...

Warning: essay alert. This hotel has made me feel things I ve never felt before (well actually, I don t believe any hotel has made me really feel anything before): mostly blown away with awesomeness (wow-factor, how the heck did they read my mind?!? / did I just time travel? etc)(2.) BUT also a little bit of ummmmmmmm that was weird (1.).

1 . Background: Just got off the ferry. Female, short solo trip, staying a couple of nights for the Women s World Cup. As I arrive in the lobby, close to 11pm there s a couple of fellow girls who have presumably also just got off the ferry, using a check-in machine.
I use the one next to it. I power through the check in process, as I already logged my details as they ask you to in the booking email, so I was faster than the 2 girls beside me who had got there before me. I speed up to the room, walk in and start admiring the utterly inspired concept (another side story later). 90 seconds in of me talking to myself in delight, I hear the key card lock of my door activate, and the door being opened. Luckily the girls were chatting as they did so, otherwise I m sure I would have been utterly petrified (re: solo female). The self-serve check-in kiosks had somehow assigned us the same room number & printed out room keys that both worked for this one room. Huge system flaw; if it can happen once it can happen again, and I m only posting this because reception staff didn t quite seem to grasp the seriousness of this. I felt the need to permanently have the deadbolt locked the entire rest of my stay. Strangest check-in experience of my 29 years on this planet.
2 . The room/concept/principles: I wish every hotel was like this. Eco-tech is my utopia. The whole idea has clearly been built in to the foundations of this hotel, and the attention to this detail has been well thought through. From the solar panels & rainwater collection, to the water-usage-monitoring indicator on the tablet app. Even the gym equipment is made of wood (mostly).
On the subject of material usage: plastic. The complementary soaps & water cups were all single-use plastic . I ve stayed in other hotels recently that use refillable dispensers containing eco soap; glass cups placed upside down on a paper circle; and paper key-cards. Once you ve done this then you may just be one of the most eco-centric urban hotels on the planet. Perhaps a bonus could also be to choose plastic-free alternatives in the hot/cold food fridge. You already have drinks in glass bottles for sale which is a good start .

Oh and my shower LED didn t work :(