The First Ever Tiny House Hotel

A lot of people dream about one day downsizing and living in a tiny house. From the Instagram posts to the tour videos, there seems to be a lot going for them, with many owners promoting the calm and free time that comes with the lessened financial burden of living in a smaller space. They seem to solve a lot of problems on the surface, but it’s a solution that doesn’t work for everyone. Some folks need more space, It depends on a lot of factors from your own personal needs to the needs of your family, which can make gauging whether or not to take the plunge difficult. For this reason, many tiny home dwellers suggest that giving it a trial run in the form of a short term rental might be a good way to answer this question before making a long term commitment. Until somewhat recently, this was difficult to do.

Kol Peterson started the Caravan tiny house hotel in 2013 to solve this problem. His goal was to not just provide much needed accommodations in the neighbourhood, but also give a growing community of tiny house enthusiasts the chance to taste of what it’s like to live in a smaller space. It was a need that he himself knew intimately.

Kol lives with his wife in an accessory dwelling unit that they built and designed. By building their home as an additional structure on to an existing property with conventional sized home, they were able to build their home on a permanent foundation, unlike a typical tiny house on wheels. Between their current home and previous experiences living in small spaces like converted garages and yurts, they’re very comfortable with the lifestyle and know some of the hurdles that people go through when trying to transition.It was with this experience that they started seeing the potential of an empty repo lot near where they lived, what they would eventually turn into Caravan.

The hotel is made up of 6 different tiny houses positioned in a circle around a shared outdoor patio space. The layout acts as an urban design example that tries to emulate what a tiny house community might look like, although there are no permanent residents on the property. All of the tiny houses are unique in design and layout, built by different companies and individuals all around the Pacific Northwest. The goal, as Kol puts it is to “feature the most interesting, diverse, beautiful tiny houses we can get our hands on here.”

It is this variety and layout that sets Caravan apart from what is often available on websites like Airbnb. While renting out a single tiny house on someone else's property might give you a good idea of that specific layout, Caravan allows visitors to fine tune their experience to their specific needs by choosing which house to stay in.

Some of the houses in the hotel are themed. Tandem, which has two beds for sleeping four people, incorporates different bicycle hardware throughout the space as structural art pieces, while Caboose takes on the shape of it’s train-car namesake. 

Pacifica, which was built by Abel Zyl of Zyl Vardos takes on the challenge of being one of the first ADA compliant tiny houses. It has a stored wheel chair ramp that can be easily accessed for guests that might need it. Skyline utilizes a unique design in which the space over the trailer tongue is used as a triangular bathroom, maximizing on the space available. It also happenes to be built entirely out of various recycled and reclaimed materials. From appearance, features, to size, each house in the hotel is a completely unique work of art. 

While Kol doesn’t see everyone giving up full sized houses for the tiny alternative permanently, he does see it as an opportunity for people to really reconsider what they need. Downsizing to a tiny home on wheels might be a stretch for many, but downsizing to even a slightly smaller home can have a significant financial and environmental impact. If everyone took the time to reconsider their lifestyle and make even just subtle changes, it would make a huge difference. It is this idea that he hopes Caravan is able to drive home through the experience that it is able to provide.

Watch the full video here