Trans.INFO reached out to Theisen to get his thoughts on the footage of the container accommodation shot in Qatar in recent days.
Views of one of the World Cup fan villages in Doha, Qatar.
A stay at Al Emadi costs over $200 per night 📸 pic.twitter.com/yh6QfIpcBZ
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 9, 2022
As the co-founder of Roatel, which operates several permanent container accommodation location points across Germany, Theisen knows what is required to create shipping container accommodation that meets consumers’ expectations. Pretty much all of Roatel’s 8 sites enjoy ratings of 8+ on Booking.com, and the company has plans to build more.
The area of each Roatel room in Germany is 7.5 square metres, and the inner height of the containers is 2.50m. The €49 rooms are also equipped with a 90 x 200 cm bed, a toilet, a shower, a bench with a table, a shelf, air conditioning & heating, a wardrobe and electric window blinds. WiFi and satellite TV with many international channels on a large screen is available free of charge too.
Given Theisen’s knowledge of container accommodation, what does he make of what appears to be on offer to fans in Qatar?
The Roatel co-founder told Trans.INFO that he was familiar with the units and that the price per night is reasonable given the occasion:
“We know these residential units and they are certainly well suited for the purpose temporarily. Regarding the price, 200 USD is also reasonable, after all, this is one of the biggest events in the world. I’ve lived in Dubai myself, so I know how difficult the climatic conditions are. Now that autumn is here, the temperatures in Qatar are bearable, but in the summer it won’t be very comfortable in these units.”
That said, Theisen explained that for regulatory reasons, the container accomodation in Qatar cannot be compared to what Roatel provides:
“However, this solution cannot be compared at all with our Roatels. We have to comply with many building regulations, noise protection, soundproofing, fire protection etc. We also need a building permit. The Roatels are built to look new even 10 years from now. Our construction costs are therefore at least as high as for a conventional construction,” Theisen told Trans.INFO.