Truck-A-Float, a Hotel in Rockaway
Set adrift in this delightful and inventive accommodation made from automobile parts in Queens, NY
by Jenny Miller
While the end of summer is nearing in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s still time to squeeze in a few more beach weekends. For a delightful overnight in Rockaway, Queens, there is a brand new kind of hotel called Truck-A-Float—a collection of four sleeping pods, each topped with the windowed cap of a truck cab. In all, the experience is akin to camping on the water.
The pods share a communal wooden platform, and each is outfitted with a full-size cot that sleeps two (or three if people are willing to squeeze), a fan, mosquito netting, a cooler, and a wooden flip-down table with coffee provisions stowed inside. Also like camping, bathrooms are a short walk away inside Jamaica Bay’s Marina 59. Guests must bring their own bedding and towels, but pillows are provided. Truck-A-Float is just a few blocks from the A train, and a short drive, subway trip, or bike ride from the food kiosk smorgasbord that is the Rockaway boardwalk.
Founders Matteo Pinto and Carolina Cisneros, Venezuelan architects who run design company ComboColab, envision the hotel as a sort of art installation, which the pods’ whimsical names suggest: guests can choose from Horseshoe, Diamondback, Swan or Barnacle.
Rates begin at $60 during the week and $90 each for Fridays and Saturdays (with a discount for reserving entire weeks or weekends). There’s still some availability in August and September. Crew member Maribel Araujo tells CH she’s booking October now and that “as long as the demand is there, we will let people stay.” Visit Truck-A-Float online for more information or to book a pod.
Images courtesy of ComboColab
