Swiss ‘zero star hotel’ offers sleepless nights to ponder world’s crises

Guests are invited in their 'half sleep' to consider topics like climate change, war, and humanity's endless quest for perfection and the damage it causes the planet.

Saillon Mayor Charles-Henri Thurre is served by a butler in bed at the anti-idyllic suite of the Null-Stern-Hotel (Zero-Star-Hotel), offering guests a choice between four open-air rooms in reaction to the world current state after the pandemic, by Swiss artists Frank and Patrik Riklin during a photoshoot in Saillon, Switzerland. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

“I couldn’t sleep,” and “my room was too noisy,” may be complaints hoteliers dread from guests, but for the Riklin brothers that is the entire point of their latest ‘zero star hotel’ art installation.

The Swiss concept artists’ hotel room is essentially a double bed on a platform, with two bedside tables and lamps. There are no walls, ceiling or doors to provide any privacy or shelter.

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They have set up their null stern suite – German for zero star – on a roadside next to a petrol station in the village of Saillon, in the southern Swiss canton of Valais.

The intention is to make guests think about the problems in the world, the twin brothers said, and inspire them to act differently.

They’ve created similar beds in idyllic spots, but this is their first ‘anti-idyllic’ site.

The Bayart suite of the Null-Stern-Hotel, offering guests a choice between four open-air rooms in reaction to the world current state after the pandemic, by Swiss artists Frank and Patrik Riklin. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

“Sleep is not the point,” said Frank Riklin. “What’s important is reflecting about the current world situation. Staying here is a statement about the need for urgent changes in society.”

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Guests are invited in their ‘half sleep’ to consider topics like climate change, war, and humanity’s endless quest for perfection and the damage it causes the planet.

“In a nutshell, now is not the time to sleep, we have to react,” said Patrik. “If we continue in the same direction we are today, there might be more anti-idyllic places than idyllic.”

The project, which has been developed with hotelier Daniel Charbonnier, also features three further null stern suites in a more idyllic vineyard and on a picturesque hillside.

The suites, which come with butler service offering drinks and breakfast, will be available form July 1 to Sept. 18. The price for an imperfect night’s sleep: 325 Swiss francs ($337).

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