A DIY hotel
After securing financial assistance from friends and family, Tung set about planning how he was going to use his funds. He decided to eschew anything not directly related to accommodation, to limit the outlay on each room to no more than NT$500,000, and to budget a healthy portion of his funds to getting cutting-edge artists to help design the interiors. The resulting hotel has a lobby and corridors reminiscent of London’s Soho, with one-of-a-kind wooden furniture pieces that were all custom made for the hotel from carefully selected materials.
“The great thing about using an old cinema is that you get a big, high-ceilinged area to work with, and once we got all the old walls knocked out, it felt like having a totally blank canvas to work with,” says Tung. Making use of that space, Tung converted the former box office on the sixth floor into the lobby, with the 50 guest rooms split across the fifth and 10th floors.
Making use of a long-standing building, though, meant not only working with the structure as it stood, but also having to negotiate with the other occupants.
Still dismayed by the memory, Tung recalls how the first-floor common area was grotesque, covered in cigarette butts and chewed-up betel nuts and stinking to high heaven. His exhortations to the owners and customers of the tea house and cabaret club also using the building went unheeded, and so he got to work setting the first-floor entrance and the elevators in order himself. Such a good job was done on getting everything spick and span that everyone seems to have tried to keep it that way since.
With its unique aesthetic and reasonable prices, SWIIO Hotel finally opened its doors in early 2012, relying on online bookings from abroad and good word of mouth to kickstart business.
“I was lucky to get into the business when I did, and to find like-minded and willing business partners,” says Tung, whose next step is to build SWIIO into a brand and franchise. Later he hopes to expand into dining, and even offer services like massages. With the recreational tourism market booming in Taiwan, the prospects are tremendous.
amba’s comfortable, brightly-lit common areas with Wi-Fi Internet access are full of surprising little details. Anyone is welcome to take a look around the hotel, or even make these their own mobile offices.