Brave new world: Hotels on wheels signify ingenuity

A hotel on wheels on Muthithi road [File, Standard]

Muthithi Road is named after a village in Murang’a County.

It’s going through redevelopment with high-rise commercial buildings replacing former single dwelling homes. 

Not far away, a Chinese built high-rise building is about to be completed, changing the skyline together with the expressway nearby.

On Thursday, something caught my attention on this busy street. It’s a “hotel on wheels” parked on the roadside. It was around 4pm and would have loved to see it around lunch hour.

This is a cool innovation, taking services closer to the people. I found that in Toronto, where such mobile hotels would visit the university at lunch hours then leave after. 

You can shift your “hotel" to say construction sites or where there is heavy traffic and make your money. A kiosk can’t.

Think of a graduation ceremony or any other celebration or mourning. This car hotel shows that innovations need not be complicated.   

Maybe we need to extend this idea to other sectors. We should have mobile barbers, salonists, supermarkets, churches, among others. Noted the mobile billboards that keep shifting? Noted young men and women who carry adverts all the day walking around town, particularly in Westlands?

Such mobile businesses are driven by the need to save time and be more productive. Customers save time while sellers charge a premium for delivery.

For hotels, we love getting food from the source, that’s why open kitchen concept has gained traction.

Some could argue that with delivery and their apps, such mobile hotels are not necessary. Remember we do not just go to hotels to eat, we meet friends and relax too. 

Such mobile hotels could help customers meet while standing. They are also a curiosity, something new giving us another choice. Will try the mobile hotel menu and report back.

The mobile hotel reminds of “factual films" shown in my village every month at the market square. What happened? Can Kenya Film Commission talk? 

While Netflix and YouTube may have taken over, there is something sentimental taking someone for a movie?

The hotel on wheels explains the paradox; we are always short of time despite all the technology around us. Should technology not set us free?