Minecraft hotel to open near London as gaming-themed travel goes up a level

Minecraft fans will soon be able to check into the game’s block-built universe

Poinews.com – A new hotel inspired by Minecraft is planned for Chessington World of Adventures near London, offering visitors the unusual prospect of spending the night amid the familiar creatures, landscapes and visual style of the global gaming phenomenon. The Minecraft World Hotel is due to open in 2027 as part of Chessington’s wider Minecraft World development.

The project reflects a growing shift in travel and hospitality: game worlds that once existed only on screens are increasingly being recreated as places to visit, dine in and sleep in. For families and dedicated players, the appeal is not simply accommodation with a themed mural, but an environment designed to make a digital setting feel tangible.

A 69-room stay in the Overworld

The hotel will have 69 Minecraft-themed rooms, divided into 20 higher-end rooms and 49 standard options. Its design is intended to translate the game’s distinctive square forms, textures, objects and colour palette into a real-life setting.

Guests entering the building will encounter an interpretation of the Overworld, Minecraft’s main game environment. Reception is set to feature block-shaped trees and animals, while the hotel’s lifts will take inspiration from Nether portals. Elsewhere, corridors are planned to resemble mine shafts, extending the theme beyond the bedrooms and public spaces.

The scheme also includes an immersive restaurant, a potion bar and interactive features. Minecraft’s well-known creatures and biomes — the varied regions that shape the game’s environment — will form part of the experience, giving the hotel a fully themed identity rather than treating the game as a decorative add-on.

“We’ve thought about every detail, from the scale of the blocks to how to bring the creatures and biomes to life in the real world,” said Filip Keatly Thoms, Creative Director of Minecraft Parks and Experiences at Mojang Studios.

“Our goal is to create an authentic Minecraft experience and allow visitors to experience the game in a completely new way.”

A roller coaster through the Nether

Hotel guests will be next door to Minecraft World, Chessington World of Adventures’ planned new themed land. One of its main attractions will be Escape the Nether, described as the world’s first Minecraft roller coaster. The ride is expected to combine indoor and outdoor sections, drawing on the hostile, lava-filled dimension that players can access in the game.

Minecraft World will also include family-focused rides, places to eat, themed retail and other immersive elements based on the game. Together with the hotel, the expansion turns a day at a theme park into a longer stay built around the Minecraft universe.

The concept is notable because Minecraft is especially suited to physical recreation. Its landscapes are made from recognisable cube-like blocks, while its animals, monsters, tools and structures have a visual language familiar to players of many ages. Reproducing those elements at human scale gives visitors something that is immediately identifiable even before they enter a ride or room.

Gaming hotels are becoming a broader travel trend

Chessington’s development joins a wider wave of gaming-themed hospitality, where major entertainment brands are being used to shape hotel rooms and entire overnight experiences. The trend now goes beyond convention trips and occasional game-related events, with resorts finding new ways to make fictional worlds part of a holiday itinerary.

In Japan, MIMARU runs Pokémon-themed rooms across 10 hotels in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. These spaces incorporate Pokémon characters into their interiors and extend the theme to details including kitchens and bathrooms.

The idea has recently taken an even more literal form in Hokkaido, where a hotel shaped like a Poké Ball has opened through a Pokémon Sleep collaboration. The three-metre-wide pod sits beside a lake and is designed around the fantasy of resting inside a real Poké Ball.

Spain also has a gaming-centred accommodation option at Magic World Resort in Oropesa del Mar. Its Magic Games Hotel offers rooms with a gaming focus, alongside consoles, virtual- and augmented-reality spaces, competitions and a video game museum.

From screen-based entertainment to shared experiences

Gaming-themed stays can offer something conventional hotels cannot easily replicate: a setting that connects accommodation with a guest’s existing attachment to a fictional world. The model also works naturally for families, as children may recognise characters and locations while adults can take part in the same shared experience.

For Chessington, the Minecraft World Hotel will create a new reason for visitors to extend their trip beyond a single day. Its themed rooms, restaurant and bar are designed to keep the story going after the theme park closes, while Escape the Nether and the surrounding land will provide a daytime counterpart.

An exact opening date for the 2027 hotel has not yet been announced. When it does open, the development will place the UK alongside Japan and Spain in a growing category of destinations where gaming is no longer confined to a controller, a console or a screen.