Portable hotel erected in centre of Edinburgh for festival season

Snoozebox: The hotel takes just 72 hours to be set up.Snoozebox

A portable hotel will be erected in the middle of Edinburgh for the festival season.

The Snoozebox is a series of portacabins which are driven into place on the back of a lorry and take just 72 hours to turn into a "village".

The owners are bringing the hotel to Scotland for the first time to set up during the festival at the empty Caltongate site between the Royal Mile and Calton Road.

The accommodation will have rooms, a restaurant and bar. The compact rooms will cost £149 a night and sleep two adults and a child.

The hotel has already been set up at Silverstone and Goodwood for the racing and at Windsor for the jubilee.

Susan Moorhouse, of the hotel chain, said: "Snoozebox provides high-quality, safe and affordable accommodation for visitors who want to be at the very heart of the festival activity.

"The concept has enjoyed tremendous success at other high-profile events this year and we are confident our first venture in Scotland, located in such a unique environment, will be a sell-out."

Graham Birse, from the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "The population of Edinburgh doubles during festival time, putting a significant strain on resources. We need to provide our visitors and artists with the best-quality accommodation at the best available price and this seems to be an innovative and effective solution."

The Caltongate site has lain empty for the past decade as the land has changed hands. Planning permission was granted for a hotel, conference centre, offices, shops and new homes but the company who owned the site went under.

Now owned by Artisan Real Estate Investors, they said the portable hotel was a good use of the space while they wait to develop their plans.

Managing director Lukas Nakos said: "Forming part of the very fabric of the city's World Heritage status Old Town, we know that Caltongate is no ordinary site, and our long-term vision is to create a dynamic social and commercial quarter of international appeal which reflects its unique position in the city.

"In the meantime, we want to make full use of its location to add to the vibrancy of the surrounding area and this exciting hotel concept will provide the city with much-needed room space during its busiest month of the year."

The hotel will be in place between August 6 and September 3.

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