After almost a year of COVID-induced isolation, many of us would be happy to go somewhere, anywhere that isn't home. But with many hotels closed to tourists and local Airbnbs following strict pandemic protocols, options are limited.
Nature abhorring a vacuum, a new mobile hotel service opened in Los Angeles this week. Called Cabana, it's similar to a camper van only with more luxurious amenities, including a full bathroom, queen-sized mattress topped with proper bedding, smart TV, coffee maker, and optional kitchen.
"What we did was make a list of everything you would find in a hotel room and found a home for it in the van," Cabana founder and CEO Scott Kubly said.
Designed for locals who want to get out of town and bring their hotel room with them, as well as travelers coming to the sprawl of L.A. who want to visit a handful of neighborhoods without switching hotels, Cabana is operating a fleet of 10 converted Ford Transits.
The idea is that a Ford Transit van has a more car-like driving experience than more traditional RVs, which are large, difficult to park, and use diesel fuel. The Cabana vans, Kubly said, have tall roofs but are only slightly longer than an SUV, so they are easier to maneuver. They are also fueled with gas.
Cabana is based in Seattle, where it started operations in May 2020 with a fleet of 10 Cabana vans. It launched in L.A. on Wednesday – also with 10 vans that are located in Culver City and West Hollywood.
Cabana plans to add two vans a week and will have 20 in L.A. by mid-March. By the end of the year, it plans to expand the service to another seven cities, with San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Denver among its target markets.
Kubly came up with the idea for Cabana while traveling for work. Working in government relations for the on-demand scooter company, Lime, he spent more than 200 nights in hotels in a single year. It was during one of those trips, to Australia and New Zealand, that “I desperately wanted to get out of town and explore,” Kubly said, “but that option was too hard for me to figure out on the fly.”
If only he could have brought his hotel room with him. A Cabana van, he said, “you can put it at the end of a trailhead, put in on a beach. You can take a hotel room and put it exactly where you want it.”
Reserved, unlocked, and returned through an app, Cabana starts at $209 per night, including insurance, cleaning, and booking fees, but not taxes. The rate includes 200 miles for the first 24 hours and 100 miles for each following night. It’s $30 per night extra to add a kitchen, which is built into a slideout under the bed and accessible from the back end of the van.
Kubly calls Cabana a mobile hotel, rather than a camper van, because it’s a way to provide access to the same outdoorsy experiences without compromising on amenities.
“When I think about a camper van, I think about roughing it a little. Maybe the bed isn’t as comfortable as the one at home. Maybe you’re staying in a sleeping bag,” Kubly said. “When I think about getting a hotel, it’s a comfortable bed, a warm shower, a level of comfort.”
The ability to take that hotel room experience with you, he added, is something that will last even after the pandemic.
“People are discovering a new travel style and enjoying it and want to to do more of it,” he said. “Once COVID is in our memories and people get back to flying, they will want to stay in the city and get out of the city, and they need a place to stay. That's going to be us.”