Converted Oil Rig Escape Pods Now Hotel Rooms

Daily Mail: Looking for a weekend retreat that's perfect for an escape? Here's a hotel that's built just for the job.

Holidaymakers are now being offered the chance to stay in an oil rig survival capsule. The bright orange pods have undergone an incredible transformation and are now available to tourists for 60 Euros ($81) a night.

Kitted out with lights, a survival suitcase and sleeping bags and guests can choose between simple hammocks or a normal bed in their pods. Some of the more luxurious designs contain a water boiler and, bizarrely, karaoke sets.

Creator oil rig even fitted one with a James Bond theme - like the one featured in the film The Spy Who Loved Me. The capsule includes several of the films on DVDs, silk sheets on the bed, champagne and a vodka martini bar.

Tourists with a sense of adventure are now clamoring to spend the night in the rooms, which measure just 14ft across. Mr Oudendijk, who lives in the Hague, in the Netherlands, said: 'Since we launched them, the pods have been very popular - they've even saved some relationships.'

The 44-year-old designer stumbled across the pods for sale on the internet while looking for a boat. He explained: 'I was planning to travel over Europe's waters by boat looking for waste to turn in to re-usable objects. I was looking for an enclosed boat for me which could function as a house and a research laboratory. Then I found the survival capsules on the internet and had the idea for the hotels. Each have been adapted differently. Some are simply fitted with a hammock made from a fishing net. But in one I took out the whole engine space and put in a normal bed.'

'They come with lights, survival suitcases, sleeping bags, and some even have a waterboiler and karaoke set depending on the location. Once I had a James Bond meets Barbarella arrangement and the capsule came with Bond DVDs, silk sheets, champagne and a vodka martini bar.'

The capsules are currently available in Scheveningen, in the Hague, and the Verbeke Foundation in Belgium. Two others are also currently being renovated and will soon be deployed to new locations. Mr Oudendijk has stayed in the capsules himself and describes the experience as fun.

He added: 'It's great having your own little survival capsule. I've stayed in one for a month with my girlfriend in Nantes, France, and it was very comfortable.'