Ikea opened the world’s only Ikea hotel in the Swedish town where the furniture giant was founded. Every single item in the hotel rooms comes from Ikea stores – beds, sheets, chairs, even the trash cans.
The hotel sits in Älmhult, Sweden, the same small town where Ikea started in the 1940s. Walking into a room feels exactly like stepping into one of those perfectly arranged showroom bedrooms at Ikea stores, except you can actually sleep there.
Living Inside a Showroom
The hotel works as a giant try-before-you-buy experience. Guests sleep on Ikea mattresses, sit at Alex desks, and use Fröset chairs in the lobby. If you like something in your room, you can presumably buy it at the massive Ikea store nearby.
Älmhult is basically an Ikea company town. About 17,000 people live there, and many work for the furniture company. The hotel is also the most convenient place to stay near Ikea’s headquarters, which dominates this small Swedish village.
The hotel recently hosted its first journalist visit to Ikea’s secretive prototype lab, where the company designs roughly 2,000 new products every year before they hit store shelves.
What’s Next
Ikea hasn’t announced plans for more hotels, but this one shows how far the company will go to immerse customers in the Ikea experience. For now, furniture fans will have to travel to rural Sweden for the full Ikea sleep experience.
