An American entrepreneur is offering accommodation with great views to those on a very tight budget.
Self-study:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 students.
1 How much do you have to pay to stay the night at a taxi cab?
2 What two kinds of vehicles are offered as hotels?
3 How far is Times Square?
4 How are these 'hotels' popularly known?
5 What happens if a guest needs the toilet?
Travelling to New York City can be an expensive business but a new venture aims to cut the cost of accommodation dramatically. For (1) less than $40 the night budget travellers can enjoy million dollar views of Manhattan from the back of a taxi cab. Entrepreneur Jonathan Powelly started offering (2) vans and New York taxi cabs as overnight rentals on the Airbnb website in April. Each of the vehicles has been converted to accommodate a large bed, a fan and not much.
I think it's just an adventure. No one's ever done it before. It's different, it's safe, you have a view of just the beautiful Manhattan right here and it's convenient. You're only one stop from Grand Central Station. (3) You're only 2, 3 stops from Times Square, less than 10 minutes, and I think the people that do it are just the type that want to try something different. It's really fun, it's really comfortable and not many people can say that they purposely slept in a taxi.
The (4) so-called rolling rooms have already attracted plenty of attention from tourists seeking a central location without the big city price tags.
I think it's really exciting because, first, the view is awesome and second we don't have that much money for our normal hotel in Manhattan and so this is a really nice opportunity for us.
Guests may enjoy the views but they're reminded that the rooms don't have all the comforts of a Manhattan hotel. Powelly has helpfully made a list of all (5) the restaurants in the area that allow his guests to use the bathroom.
