Change Overnight hotel opens to guests from July 2019

Entering hallway, your eyes adjust to the dull lighting and you hear the sounds of the Kolkata streetscape playing.

You have arrived at Change Overnight hotel, an accommodation venture that promises changes both big and small.

Founders Sam Haberle and Tara Howell, of S. Group and Blue Derby Pods Ride, hope their guests will have a sense of anticipation as they take the next step on this sensory path.

"You get to your room, open it and it's all white and there's a big colourful mural, so there's change in the physical hotel as well. It's supposed to be quite a sensory experience," Ms Howell said.

"We hope that almost depicts the change [guests are] having on this world through the hotel. It's supposed to be a positive, happy, light and refreshing hotel room.

"We want to take people physically through change, but also without knowing it, having a change themselves and a change from this world by staying with us," she said.

Change Overnight is an 18-room hotel in Launceston that will open from July 1.

Every night a guest stays at the hotel allows them to give back to one of eight projects, which fulfils Change Overnight's promise of "a better night's sleep".

"The idea is we're a hotel, but the hotel gives back," Mr Haberle said.

These causes include the Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission, an orphanage in Banbasa, India, where one night's stay at Change contributes 210 nutritious breakfasts for the children of the orphanage.

For those guests who are passionate about the environment, one night's stay can protect about 10 square metres of Tasmanian land through the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Alternatively guests can support those needing mental health assistance with one night's stay funding a phone call from a person in need to Beyond Blue.

"We chose the projects because we all care about those things," Ms Howell said.

Designed by S. Group, Change's apartment-style rooms with loft bedrooms will be unabashedly trendy, boasting industrial surfaces, cutting-edge technology and sleek interior design touches, but in this hotel's heart beats a social enterprise.

Guests choose from a studio apartment, one- or two-bedroom apartments or a three-bedroom penthouse.

They can select their own check-in time, state whether they would like to reuse their towels, and then choose a cause they would like to give back to during their stay.

"The rooms all have gorgeous city views, with loft bedrooms in each room, so you have downstairs and walk up to your loft room, which is lovely," Ms Howell said.

"We are treating them like apartment-style rooms as a hotel, so we hope people stay for however long they are in Launceston."

It is not just the look and ideology behind Change Overnight that is about giving back, but the additions too.

"Every little touch point comes back to that theme - our shampoos and conditioners are all Thank You products. Our books all have a global focus," Ms Howell said.

And there's a nod to the island state where the idea came from in there too.

"We also have local elements in the 'pay as you feel' mini bar with gorgeous Tasmanian produce," she said.

"Because the idea is around change overnight, the whole brand is around that as well, and that experience."

Mr Haberle and Ms Howell came up with the idea for Change Overnight in early 2018 while thinking of ways they could make more of a positive impact on the world.

"We both wanted to build a business that would really change people individually and have a really big change on the world," Mr Haberle said.

"Through this venture, we're hoping to open people's eyes up to the positive impact they can have.

"Individually they might start thinking about how they might give more, or they might stay with us again.

"We know the world's problems can't actually be changed overnight, but an individual can make a difference to a cause, one purchase decision at a time. We hope that our guests will continue to make choices that will help change the world long after they check out."

Launceston entrepreneurs Toby Wilkin and Marcel Anstie joined the Change team, and together the four partners are working to bring their vision to life.

They found the ideal location in York House, building on the top floor of the property, above Finance Brokers of Tasmania, and adding another level.

The business model behind the hotel is believed to be a world-first.

"Alongside the uniqueness of the business model, the brand experience for the guest is something we are really excited about," Ms Howell said.

"Naturally our brand, which will thread through the architecture and marketing, is all about change. Imagine intriguing, bold and thought provoking all in one," she said.

The partnership sees the target for Change Overnight as two distinct groups of people: young optimists and the socially aware.

"That young group is someone who wants to experience something new, probably 20-35 and they're wanting something different in their accommodation," Ms Howell said.

"The socially aware will have a high income and they want to give back as part of their stay.

"Both value high quality accommodation," she said.

Ms Howell and Mr Haberle want their newest business to inspire positive change in the world, but also stand up as a thought leader in showing "how you can build a business around a good thing, and not just about profit line".

"For us we have big plans for Change Overnight. We see Launceston as our HQ and would really like to see how we could roll out more like this around other places in Australia, maybe the world one day," Ms Howell said.

And they hope Launceston gets behind being the headquarters for global change.

"I hope they're really encouraging of it and I hope they can see the potential this has as being an amazing business we can hold up as being proud of that started here in Launceston," she said.

"It's really different for Australia. It is different, but sometimes different is good."

Rooms start from $150 for a studio, to just under $600 for the penthouse.

Change Overnight is taking bookings from Saturday, with plans to open for guests by July 1.