Microluxe hotel - Melbourne, Australia

It can’t have escaped anyone’s attention that the traditional hotel model is fast giving way to an intriguing new hybrid that is part hostel, part B+B, part club, part old-fashioned hotel, and – as Microluxe is showing us – part retail space.

Melbourne-based Studio Edwards has converted a small apartment in a fairly uninspiring residential block into an admirably compact bolthole in Melbourne’s buzzy Fitzroy neighbourhood.

Available for short stay rentals, the space is literally transformative. The entry unexpectedly morphs into a marble lined bathroom. A gold-mirrored wall pulls down into a queen-sized bed, and then folds back up into an art installation. A steel pivot door leads into a bijou courtyard.

Just about everything in the space – from the Created by Boys sheets, memory foam mattress and LC3 two-seater sofa to the Beoplay A9 speaker  and Nablusi olive oil soap – is available for sale which should satisfy the aspirational urge just fine.

Of course, this particular hybrid of sleep and shop space is not new, but rarely has it been done with this degree of finesse. Already, the enterprising folks behind Microluxe are plotting to open another three, one by the Victorian coast, and two in Melbourne’s inner city precincts.