URL: www.habbohotel.com
Company: Sulake Labs
Public Launch Date: January 2001
Cost: Free access but guest room furni & Habbo Club membership must be purchased
System Requirements: Web browser with Macromedia Shockwave Player plugin

View the Habbo Hotel Screen Shot Gallery
Habbo Hotel is a virtual world for teens, created by a company in Finland called Sulake Labs. This busy site uses a hotel metaphor as its theme complete with a “lobby” gateway and private “guest rooms.” The hotels are often so busy it can take a few tries to get into the main rooms, but there are always a plenty of guest rooms to choose from as well.

Guest rooms can be decorated with furniture (or “furni” as Habbos call it) purchased with “Habbo credits.” Habbo credits can be purchased with several types of RL currency (UK Pounds sterling, euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars, and Australian dollars) in a wide variety of ways (credit card, mobile phone, prepaid stored value cards). Furni may set you back a few credits, but access to the world itself is free and relatively easy to navigate. Cool new additions to the Habbo catalogue include pets and pet accessories.

The main URL (www.habbohotel.com) points to the U.S. version of Habbo Hotel, but Habbo is an international phenomenon with several other versions of the Hotel for residents of 16 countries, including the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and Sweden.