A&O Hotels and Hostels are now in Denmark. The new, four-storey property with 6,144m² of floor space at Tagensvej 135–137 is budget, design accommodation for the next generation of A&O. A&O stands for affordable accommodation, even in cities with a high cost of living.
Construction of the A&O Copenhagen Nørrebro was completed within eight months and there is a long-term lease in place with AP Pension that will last 30 years.
The construction investments including furnishings and fittings has so far amounted to 5.5 million euros. The hotel offers 684 beds across 168 rooms, predominantly in the 4-bed and 6-bed family room category and double rooms.
“In Copenhagen, we have concentrated more on building family rooms with a double bed and one or two bunk beds, in order to respond more flexibly to our target groups. In this way, we can cover the increased demand for shared rooms for groups during the week, and at weekends, the rooms are used by individual travellers, such as couples and families,” explains Phillip Winter, Chief Marketing Officer of the A&O Hotel Group.
The building will be used both by the chain and for student accommodation. Therefore, the hotel will offer a ‘Students-Only’ area for the young academics with a quiet zone and high-speed Wi-Fi. The location and infrastructure The A&O is located in the north-west of the city in the student district of Nørrebro, close to the Bispebjerg station, only 20 minutes away from Copenhagen’s Central Station by tram.
The neighbourhood of Nørrebro has a rich café and club culture, perfect for young travellers from all over the world who want to get to know an authentic side of Copenhagen, shaped by multiculturalism.
As a new innovation, the rooms were constructed in a modular way, i.e with wooden function boards that integrate all of the electronics and cables for easy installation. We used only quality materials in the new furniture colour scheme in ‘Fineline Créme’ (formerly birch), as well as vintage-look flooring in ‘Welsh Pale Oak’ (instead of cherry), and installed sound-proof doors. The room locks use code cards and are already geared to the future of the hotel industry: ‘opening doors by smartphone’.
There will be more detailed information about the launch provided in the coming weeks. Every shared family room is equipped with so-called ‘privacy boards’ on the bunk beds to give the guests more privacy. The board comes with an LED reading light, a tablet holder and two USB ports, as standard. The headboards on the double beds are set up just like the privacy boards, in a typical urban style, and have integrated LED reading lights. In the rooms, conventional seating will be replaced by stools in orange and mandarin.
The hotel is set up according to the ‘A&O: next generation’ concept, and therefore reflects the chain’s new design scheme. The flooring is coated with epoxy resin and is therefore particularly resilient, and cast using the industrial ‘New York Floor’ design, an innovative 3D floor coating technology. The waiting area offers seating islands as couch elements; the reading corners have orange sofas, and the lounge area with self-service coffee also has comfy armchairs. For the first time, the furnishings and lighting are all in the colours orange, raspberry, pistachio, and carbon; this scheme is applied throughout both the lobby and the well-lit breakfast area. Furthermore, there are facings throughout the hotel at the reception desk, the bar, and the breakfast buffet, with a striped design and city scenes. The breakfast room is equipped with both island bar tables and raised bar tables for a more open look, and the area is lit with oversized designer ‘Donut’ hanging lamps in the four colour schemes.
