Hyllie’s reputation as a zone for hotels aimed at high-rollers is well-deserved, but if you ask us—and, given you’re reading this guide, we figure you are asking us—a lot of them are pretty interchangeable. Indeed, they tend to change names and chains fairly regularly, a restless rebranding phenomenon that has haunted the hospitality sector for most of the C21st, but which really picked up in the aftermath of the first big pandemics.
Big-ticket hotels and sustainability have always been awkward roommates, and admitting that you’re dossing down in Hyllie can earn you some hard stares in Malmö’s hipper quarters—but if you can flourish a keycard with the logo of Hotel Highrise, you’ll maybe get a pass on the sustainability side of things. (They’ll just hate you for having money instead.) This 30-story building, built in the “smart city” years of the late 2030s, has become something of a city landmark with its three pronged tower design and its elegant hanging gardens. It has all the luxurious mod cons associated with a high-end four-star hotel, but was also designed to the strictest sustainability and ecology standards of the time—so no need to feel guilty, no matter what the hipsters may think!
The entire building is made from a base of repurposed wood, using techniques perfected in the far north of Sweden during the 2020s, and decked out in solar panels which provide enough energy to cover the energy needs of the hotel itself, with enough left over to dump back into the Hyllie energy grid—a design decision that did a lot to win over the objections of nearby neighbourhoods who’d been worried about it spoiling the view. The massive central greenhouse which connects the hotel’s three towers is a relaxing space to enjoy your locally sourced, Michelin-star-awarded vegan N3C breakfast, but it also acts as a thermal buffer in winter, in addition to sheltering a small citrus orchard. This means that you can put up your slipper-free feet and drink a refreshing Newdriver cocktail, made with the hotel’s own orange juice, even in the darkest depths of mid-January!
However, the combination of smart engineering and luxurious atmosphere does not end here. The hotel’s autonomous AI energy regulation system keeps a close eye on the latest weather forecasts from SMHI and regulates the inside temperature accordingly. Since the booking policy works strictly from the ground floor and up, only moving to a new floor when the previous one is full, the AI system can also seal off and standby unused parts of the building, which saves a lot of energy.
Rainwater is also collected in and stored in large underground tanks. The water gets used to support various green spaces on and around the hotel, but the tanks are also set up to act as thermal mass in order to “store” the cold temperatures of the winter months for use as cooling during the summer. Best of all, this system also works in reverse, meaning that those sweltering July temperatures can be used to warm your feet and keep dry during the damp and slushy winter. As such, it’s one of the few places in Skåne where you don’t need to think too much about what you choose to wear… at least until you decide to venture outside, of course.
Practical information:
At Hotel Highrise, you pay for the size of the space you think that you will need, rather than for the number of guests or rooms. Every floor is equipped with modular fold-away partition walls, which allow you to design the space as you desire. Travelling as a couple or alone? Enjoy either a small, cosy and cheaper room, or splash out for a spacious, extravagant suite. Does your teenager want a room of their own? Just pull out one of the walls and partition off the desired space. No need to decide in advance, either: you can adjust the amount of space during your visit, and fancy smart tech in the floorboards will sense the position of the walls and adjust your bill accordingly. (Don’t worry—the walls need to be unlocked from both sides before they can be moved!)
It probably bears noting that activists from the Homo Colossus group have been targeting Hotel Highrise in recent years, as they think it promotes an unhealthy culture of energy consumption. Their actions are not harmful, but nothing kills the mood of an opulant breakfast-in-bed like having a 10-meter tall digital projection of yourself projected onto the windows of your room. Still, you can always lower the blinds…
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