Shipping container hotel lets you try out tiny living

Whether it’s tiny homes or camper vans, alternative dwellings are all the rage. But in a sea of unique living spaces, nothing says upcycled downsizing quite like the shipping container.

More than any other tiny house, shipping containers are a blank slate; we’ve seen a downtrodden container transformed into urban farms, off-the-grid getaways, and even all-in-one pools. Made using the thousands of surplus containers that sit on docks around the world, shipping container homes offer durability and an eco-friendly alternative in a compact space.

On the heels of companies starting to offer sleek, customizable shipping container homes for purchase, a new trend has emerged: the shipping container hotel.

In Round Top, Texas, for example, Flophouze Hotel offers six shipping containers available for nightly rentals. With rates starting at $175 per night, each unit boasts a living room, kitchen, bedroom with luxury Matteo linens, and a private bath.

All the materials used to repurpose the containers aim to show upcycling in action, from the containers themselves to the reclaimed lumber from a distillery in Kentucky. The windows were salvaged from a school in Philadelphia, the cabinet bases came from a laboratory in Brooklyn, and even the counter tops are old bowling alley floors from Texas.

The shipping container decor comes from Recycling the Past, a sister company that specializes in architectural salvage and reclaimed antiques. The result is something that resembles “shipping container chic”—a blend of Western flair, vintage styling, and hipster wood accents.

Courtesy of Imad B. @caludegero

Flophouze foregoes flashy TVs and instead provides record players and handpicked vinyl collections. The living rooms are stacked with books, and while you have plenty of privacy in the shipping container, there are shared amenities like any other good hotel. The nightly rate includes access to fire pits, hammocks, complimentary coffee and tea, and even electric vehicle charging stations.

The hotel has also just recently partnered with Modpools, maker of shipping containers turned into pools. Guests can stay a free night at FlopHouze if they order a Modpool and test drive the pool on property during their stay. FlopHouze can also work with clients to build their own shipping container home.

Whether or not you’re interested in trying a Modpool, FlopHouze is one way to test out a shipping container home before you buy—and it makes for quite the unique hotel stay. Head over here for more.

Courtesy of FlopHouze

Courtesy of FlopHouze

Courtesy of FlopHouze

Courtesy of FlopHouze

Courtesy of FlopHouze

Courtesy of FlopHouze