Sleeping in a Shipping Container – Dash Box Hotel Cyberjaya
As an addition to the wide and wonderful variations of ‘Glamping’ accommodation, sleeping in a shipping container shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
At 20 feet (6.1 m) long by 8 feet (2.44 m) wide this certainly isn’t the tightest hotel room we’ve ever squeezed ourselves into: The Pearl Premium Guest House hotel in Hong Kong gets awarded that accolade 😆.
The Dash Box Hotel is located in Cyberjaya, not far from Kuala Lumpur. According to their own marketing spiel, they offer ‘a fusion of industrial chic and street art’.
The ‘rooms’ though are actually pretty crude conversions from old shipping containers.
Sleeping in a Shipping Container – Dash Box Hotel
Admittedly, Cyber 8 of Cyberjaya is not the place that immediately springs to mind when you’re considering a short break to Kuala Lumpur. In our case, this was one of the handiest budget options available for our 3rd visit to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
Several visits to this place are required if you wish to be considered for the MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) 10-year visa program.
We arrived late in the evening.
Apart from a sleepy receptionist, the place seemed totally deserted. This was fine with us. All we wanted was a decent night’s sleep and an early start the next morning.
After checking in, we were directed to the rear of the complex where our ‘room’ was located.
Sleeping in a Shipping Container – ‘Little Boxes, Little Boxes…’
Locating your Shipping Crate
The hotel’s website pictures don’t really prepare you for your overnight experience. From the outside, the Dash Box Boutique Hotel twin rooms are unmistakably (and unashamedly) shipping crates.
Once inside, you’ll find the interiors are claustrophobically compact, but are still equipped with 2 decent (single) beds. Also included are TV, air conditioning, WIFI, a mini-fridge, a mini-safe, a rack to hang a couple of items and a tiny shower and toilet area.
Don’t get too excited – the apparent ‘window’ on the left isn’t a window
Our 1-Night Sleeping Experience
There are no windows, but the washing area is separated from the sleeping area by a sliding door. If you are a light sleeper (or not dead-tired as in our case) then this type of accommodation is not for you.
Surprisingly, the TV reception wasn’t that bad
The noisy elevated gangways make you feel like your spending the night on an oil rig (or on an actual container ship).
Perhaps our biggest issue is that the containers are not self-standing. They are stacked on top of each other (just like on a ship) with metallic gangways leading to the doors on the upper levels.
Talk about 🎵 little boxes made of ticky tacky 🎵 these little boxes are made of steel. Simply walking around the tiny space inside or outside your container reverberates loudly throughout the whole structure.
Not great if any other guests happen to staying in your section.
The Washroom – Dash Box Hotel Cyberjaya
Sleeping in a Shipping Container – What did it cost us?
Well, apart from the unforgettable trauma (😬) one night in a twin-bed shipping container room at the Dash Box Hotel Cyberjaya cost us RM 141 – including RM 10 tax (total €31).
Since we arrived at 21:30 at night and left at 07:00 the next morning (still effectively night), we weren’t too worried about the accommodation – it was simply a place to sleep, and we actually slept well enough.
Sleeping in a Shipping Container – What they don’t provide is ear-plugs
If we were to stay again though (and had more time) we’d pay a little extra and choose one of their prettier deluxe rooms.
If you enjoyed Sleeping in a Shipping Container (🤔) check out our 13-week Langkawi itinerary. You may also like:
