Snoozebox offers touch of luxury for weary culture fans

THERE is a lot of chat in the office when I announce I am going to sleep in a portakabin in a car park.

“You’ll be boiling hot,” “you’ll never sleep” and “you’ll be kept awake by screaming and people having sex” are some of the comments.

But everyone is intrigued to find out what it will really be like to stay in the portable hotel which has popped up in the Caltongate gap site in Edinburgh.

Shortage of city centre accommodation is always an issue during the Fringe and this is the first visit by Snoozebox – a new company which began as a way of providing portable accommodation for people visiting big sporting events.

Snoozebox founder Robert Breare set up the company after a bad night at Le Mans and is delighted to be bringing it to Edinburgh.

He said: “To be in the heart of the great city of Edinburgh and part of the extraordinary cultural festival and party that is the festival was always something we’d hoped to be able to do.”

Breare, who used to run the Malmaison hotel chain, brought in his friend, racing driver David Coulthard, as president. The driver, who had also had bad experiences with temporary accommodation, insisted sound- proofing of the hotel pods was as good as it could be.

The offer of the Caltongate site was a last-minute thing. But there are already plans to bring the portable hotel back to Scotland to cater for visitors to the Open Championships and Hogmanay.

There has been some controversy over pricing. Initial reports suggested the 48 rooms in the portable hotel, which can sleep three at a push, would be on the market for £229 a night. However, prices appeared to drop dramatically and are now £80 during the week and £120 at the weekend.

Richard Worrell, marketing manager, says: “There has been a little confusion on room rates. As I understand it, a rate of £229 was briefly on our website at the very beginning, though this was very much a result of the advice we were being given by our agent on expected rates in Edinburgh for the period. When it became clear that capacity was unusually high for August, we reduced our rates to reflect the situation. From our side this is our first foray into Scotland and we are determined to offer both fantastic value for money and to get the Snoozebox experience and presence established in the city.

“The most important thing is that the whole opportunity came very late and part of our unique ability is to scale a hotel to meet demand.

“To go from an empty brownfield site to what we have now is something we’re very proud of, and is very much what we’re about.”

So what do you get for £80? Well, I’m in the William MacTaggart suite on the second floor – all the rooms have been renamed after Scottish heroes.

When I say suite, this is compact accommodation. There’s a huge double bed with soft, white linen and over the top is a bunk with a single bed. There is about three square feet of floorspace but lots of storage, two drawers, a couple of shelves, a wardrobe and a hook.

Through a sliding glass wall is the wetroom bathroom, with a lavatory, a sink and a shower.

There’s not a window as such, but there is a porthole in the door which you can keep open or cover with a plaque bearing the company’s slogan Zzzzzz.

Touches of luxury include a wall-mounted flatscreen television, there are plug sockets, free WiFi, air conditioning, fluffy towels and a selection of mini toiletries.

Iain Thomson, a former captain in the Royal Tank Regiment who is now head of hotel operations on the site, tells me the Fringe Snoozebox came in on 15 lorries, took two-and-a-half days to build and has a staff of 17, including cleaners, caterers and  receptionists.

The set-up at New Street is relatively small, with just 48 rooms, but Snoozebox can also go bigger, providing space for several hundred guests.

We sip prosecco in the hospitality area, which is in a marquee with white sofas and pot plants, similar to the kind of thing you might find on a film set.

Thomson tells me the portable hotels have previously served the Diamond Jubilee in Windsor as well as at Goodwood and Silverstone and the Isle of Man TT.

Tonight my fellow guests include Nancy and Keith Tomlinson, who are beekeepers visiting from New Zealand. They have found it a bit too compact: “The phrase sleeping in a shoe box at the side of the road comes to mind.”

Nadine Lavin and Sophie Scott were booked into the Snoozebox by the BBC. They are neuroscientists appearing on a programme about the science of laughter.

Ms Scott has been impressed: “Their use of space is very good. They fit quite a lot into a small pod.”

I catch Manchester teachers Jo Hurford and Rosie Talbot as they are running out of the door. “We are late for our train,” they tell me. “The beds are almost too comfy.”

Blair Hanlon, a psychologist from Glasgow, has stayed here with his wife Gill and their 20- month-son Cal. “It is a bit like staying on a ship,” he says.

Finally, I meet Apolstolos Trantsidis from Greece and Miho Hirano from Japan, who are eating breakfast in the marquee with their four-year-old son Appollon. “He was enjoying it very much,” says Ms Hirano.

So how was my night? I have to say it was excellent. Big, comfy, clean bed, soft, soft sheets and lots of space to strew the contents of my handbag. A bit of rattling as some late-night guests climbed the gantry but really very peaceful.

After a ton of coffee, some yoghurt and fruit I saunter back to the office with a song in my heart.

“You look incredibly… well…rested,” said one of my colleagues

And I am.