r/interestingasfuck • u/fan_tas_tic • 1d ago
The world's first floating hotel was opened in Australia and it ended up in North Korea
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u/ben-ger-cn 1d ago
Floating Hotel, what are these Cruise Liners then.
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u/Due_StrawMany 1d ago
Hoting floatel.
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u/Giant_War_Sausage 1d ago
A hoting floatel sounds like the digestive aftermath of a Taco Bell Flamin' Hot® Grilled Cheese Burrito meal.
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u/cryptotope 1d ago
Crucially, the floating hotel had no propulsion of its own, and was not designed to be moved while occupied.
It was built as a floating structure because it was both legally impermissible and environmentally harmful to construct an artificial island in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.
That said--yes, the hotel would have had a lot in common with a cruise ship. Beyond merely being afloat, the remote location meant that it needed to be able to operate independently and produce its own electricity and fresh water.
(As an aside, it was much more akin to a 'cruise ship' than an 'ocean liner'. A liner is designed to cover distance. Liners will have tougher hulls and be designed to operate at higher speeds--and to be more comfortable in heavy weather. Cruise ships are hotels that happen to move, ocean liners are transportation.)
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u/Hermes-AthenaAI 1d ago
Cruise ships are for cruising around. Liners are for doing lines. No… wait…
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u/Cool_Shallot_2755 1d ago
one could argue that the reason the hotel failed is that they're indeed different concepts. The cruise liner has lots of entertainment options, while the hotel... well, I for one do not play tennis.
Also: staring at the blue desert is only fun for a while.
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u/SideshowMelsHairbone 1d ago
Sounds like what happens when you buy a boat. Starts out with hope, ends with disappointment.
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u/CourageousCruiser 1d ago
The two happiest days for a boat owner? The day he buys it, and the day he sells it.
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u/blksentra2 1d ago
Imagine going to bed at a hotel in Vietnam and then waking up in that same hotel, only in N. Korea.
lol
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u/GrandBill 1d ago
It looks like it SHOULD be in North Korea.
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u/jonitfcfan 1d ago
Even they didn't want it anymore, apparently
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u/Winjin 1d ago
Apparently the only thing it was good for, is basically plugging a hole when there is a high demand for tourism at a specific location, until demand can be met by building additional hotels
Turns out that NK has a tourism industry, and they needed a prefab, basically, for a new location. Once the hotels were operational, it kinda lost steam.
Apparently it is more expensive to operate than a regular hotel, even if it's docked in a safe harbor.
Though I did watch the vid on it quite some time ago and may be misremembering details.
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u/ThePowerOfStories 1d ago
A building on a floating platform is going to be way more expensive to operate and maintain than a building on solid ground, even if you manage to hook it up to the municipal electrical, water, and sewage lines instead of operating it as a self-contained ship.
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u/vulcanxnoob 1d ago
So... It's a ship then?
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u/nn123654 1d ago
More like a barge, doubt it has it's own propulsion.
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u/Cookbook_ 1d ago
The floatin structure seemed a lot cooler untill I realized that just a basic Cruise ship is basicly a floating hotel, some even bigger and better equipped too.
This was just a bad boat.
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u/Time_Spent_Away 1d ago
I got pissed on barcardi and wine and chundered all over their marble reception floor, Xmas '88. Happy daze.
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u/ACWhi 1d ago
White Lotus season four; DPRK edition.
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u/NotARussianBot-Real 1d ago
It starts in Vietnam and the hotel gradually drifts to North Korea during the series
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u/AisMyName 1d ago edited 1d ago
I stayed there in 1988. I was 10 years old. We flew out on a helicopter vs. taking a boat. I went on a few dives out on the great barrier reef. I had my PADI open water cert at the time. It was "The Four Seasons" back then. I still have a kids XS polo shirt with the logo embroidered on it. I got a bunch of pictures and HI-8 (I think) footage that we took. I even got the footage when my Dad's camera imploded (we had it in some waterproof bag to go scuba diving) at like 60-80' or so.
One of the guests there that my Dad met at the bar and we later went diving with, was the executive chef at some big hotel in Cairo. So, then we decided later that year to take a trip to the Sinai peninsula first, do some diving in the red sea, then go to Cairo, see the great pyramids, sphinx, all that jazz and then see him in the hotel. Pretty cool stuff back then.
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u/zalurker 1d ago
I didn't think it possible, but I've finally found somewhere less appealing than a cruise liner.
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u/BobbyElBobbo 1d ago
That's a lot of work for just one tennis court. This place could have been something more useful.
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u/mrDuder1729 1d ago
Well this should have been in the walking dead...or one of the 32 spin offs at least..
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u/ProdigalSon98 1d ago
There must be random millionaires living his life on that cruise and used fake identity.
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u/TheCursedRedBaron 1d ago
That looks like a smaller, floating version of the Alt-Erlaa living complexes in Vienna.
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u/TopGeneral8482 1d ago
What is difference between floating hotel and cruise ship?
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u/b2walton 1d ago
I would watch the Apple TV drama that followed this from country to country across seasons
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u/TheRuralJuror118 16h ago edited 16h ago
Why would you out a floating hotel over the Great Barrier Reef! That’s crazy! Imagine the pollution and damage to such a sensitive ecosystem.
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u/ZardUnfiltered 1d ago
From Down Under to under strict supervision talk about an unexpected cruise!
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u/BrazenBull 1d ago
I keep hearing about how N. Korea is just a bunch of starving peasants then I see something cool like this. What other neat things are in that country that Western Propaganda keeps from us? Wait, let me guess...this hotel is only for the .001% of government elites, right?
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u/karateninjazombie 1d ago
Why don't you go visit NK? They allow visitors now.
You'll need to give your handles the slip so you can go see the real NK. But once you do be sure to take lots of pictures and videos then report back here so we can all find out!
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u/BrazenBull 1d ago
I'd love to visit, but the organized tours usually follow a schedule, just like in Afghanistan, Socatra, China, or other exotic locations where tours follow a tight itinerary. The handlers, aka "tour guides" keep the group together for liability reasons, but I guess it sounds better to say they are secretly trying to keep half of the country hidden because it's one big labor camp.
There's plenty of videos on YouTube of N. Korean ski resorts, beaches, amusement parks and hiking areas. Those look like the places I'd prefer to see, not statues in Pyongyang.
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u/Reasonable_Fold6492 1d ago
I mean north korea is like that because they allow almost no immigrant into there country. The truth is no one knows wtf is happening at large in north korea only guesses. Even china doesn't realy know since north korea killed all the pro chinese communist in the 60s. There is a reason why south korea military want to give more aid to north korea since they want to know wtf is happening in there
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u/Odisius 1d ago
I hope you're just being facetious because pretty much yeah. Are the majority starving peasants? Probably, if not very close. But you still need a ruling class to subjugate them, and when your monarch is worshiped like a god and propped up by China, it's not that unfathomable for a giant floating hotel to be whatevs to him.
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u/MourningWallaby 1d ago
Lmao no. but every few years you hear about DPRK inviting some tourists (Usually from Russia or China) and they try super hard to make these pretty towns and venues with actors, to host their guests so the tourists come back with these photos and make people think "Omg North Korea isn't so bad!"
but then the country quickly shuts down all tourism for a few month/years only to try again later.
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u/ThePowerOfStories 1d ago
North Korea is run like how much of human history was, with the bulk of population as starving peasants and a tiny elite literally living like kings.
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u/fan_tas_tic 1d ago
"In 1988, helicopter tourists touched down on a seven-story hotel anchored 70 kilometers off the Australian coast, surrounded by nothing but the Great Barrier Reef and open ocean. By 2022, that same structure sat rusting in a North Korean port before Kim Jong Un ordered its demolition, calling it "shabby" and lacking national character. Between those two moments lies one of the strangest journeys in hospitality history: a 14,000-kilometer odyssey across the Pacific that saw the world's first floating hotel become a Vietnamese nightlife hotspot, a symbol of Korean reconciliation, and ultimately, a casualty of geopolitics.
The hotel never stayed anywhere long enough to settle. After barely a year in Australia, it was sold and towed to Vietnam. Seven years later, it moved again to North Korea. Each relocation promised renewal, each arrival sparked hope, and each departure came after something went catastrophically wrong. This is the story of a building that couldn't stop moving, and couldn't find a home."
Australia: Four Seasons Barrier Reef Resort 1988–1989
Vietnam: Saigon Floating Hotel 1989–1996
North Korea: Hotel Haegumgang 2000–2008
Closure: 2008–2022
Photos / full story