We've all had that sinking feeling when you check into a cheap hotel and the room is just as bland, cramped and characterless as you expected it to be. But the face of budget accommodation is set for a makeover, thanks to a new competition by architecture newspaper BD.

Having identified a lack of design innovation in shoestring hotels - one of the fastest-growing sectors in the UK tourism industry - BD invited designers to develop a concept that would make a tiny space (14 square metres) feel generous and luxurious. Its shortlisted entries, seen below, feature a series of ingenious ideas to make small space beautiful, from interactive screen "windows" to floating beds, sunken baths (revealed via stage set technology) and even retro capsule pods that can travel around the country.

Find out more on the face of future hotel design below...

The Chic One

Ninian McQueen

Reversing the trend of low-ceiling hotel rooms, the design proposes a small floor space and more generous headroom. A fold out bed and wet screen can both be hidden away to create a bigger space.

The Retro One

Project Orange

PO Cabin is an extension of a prototype room for a hotel in Shoreditch with a concrete room and built-in bed constructed from reclaimed floorboards. Materials are purposely distressed and enhanced with quirky furnishings including a flight-case mini bar and a steamer trunk.

The Elegant One

G1 Architecture

A concept developed around three Es: elegance experience and economy with a simple adaptable room that allows the visitor to change the layout to suit them.

The Mobile One

Ian Springford Architects

Myplace combines crowd sourcing with social media to create a system that allows guests to choose the place and time for the transportable hotel room. The pre fabricated pods can be stacked and transported on a flatbed truck.

The Interactive One

Michael Trentham Architects

Hotel Obscura deals with the idea of a windowless room by introducing large interactive screens showing real time views of the visitor’s choice which can also be used to access the internet and entertainment systems.

The One With A View

VW & BS

A Room as a View is the simplest hotel room possible, a blank canvas to be personalised by texture and local style constructed. 90% of the space is created using a common modular structure while the remaining 10% is left to local designer.

The Rubik's One

Coupdeville Architects

The Configurator uses simple moving parts to create a series of different arrangements to make the most of the limited floor space. A sunken bath is covered by the sliding bed, designed along the lines of a stage set.

The Veiled One

CTHM

A prefabricated box made of an engineered wood with grooves for movable elements that allow visitors to move floor to ceiling curtains around and change the space as it suits them.

The Sensual One

De Matos Ryan

Make a Room removes all the usual walls that separate work, sleep, relax and wash spaces with wet and dry and soft and hard areas and comfortable but durable materials.

The Giant Bed One

Andrew Mulroy Architects

A minimal width bathroom allows for a 2m wide bed that can be used as a lounge area and an open floor space at the heart of the room.

The Floating One

Nicos Yiatros & Konstantinos Zaverdinos

The Infinity Room has a floating bed to give the room a sense of airiness and light while floor to ceiling windows bring the city into the room and an overspill takes the room out to the city.

The Social Media One

Bright Space Architects

Plugin and Play features two pods, one for sleeping and showering and one for ‘play’. The pods interlock to create flexible rooms and the interior of the ‘play’ pod is customisable via the online check-in system and social media.

Which budget hotel room floats your boat? Or do you have your own design concept in mind? Let us know in the comments section below

Want to find out more? Visit Bdonline for the full story