Pod Hotels: A Cheap Stop for Travelers
Following the lead of pared-down, budget airline services like Jet Blue and EasyJet, a new budget hotel model is emerging. The ‘pod hotel’ offers tiny rooms for rent by the hour or night. Typically, pod rooms measure fewer than one hundred square feet and either a commuter-train-sized restroom or a shared, standard bath.
The pod trend emerged from Japan where weary businessmen stranded in a city overnight have rented inexpensive sleeping cubicles. Most Western pod hotels are more luxurious than the windowless Japanese cubicle style. No-frills European EasyHotels, owned by EasyJet, are probably the next step up. In the middle of the pod spectrum—such as the Pod Hotel in midtown Manhattan—all rooms have windows, flat-screen TVs, an iPod deck, and free Wi-fi. At the height of pod luxury, the soon-to-open citizenM hotel at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport will feature designer linens and furniture and king-sized beds. Other pod hotels like the Qbic Hotel and Yotel feature mood lighting and even room service!
While no-frills pods can rent for as little as $35 a night, fancier ones like the new citizenM will start at over $100 per night. Although targeted at business travelers requiring a quick nap or young backpackers, pod hotel clientele hail from all walks of life.
Though pod hotels seem natural for Europeans accustomed to smaller quarters, the future of pods in the US is still being debated, according to the Wall Street Journal:
Some European-based operators who've opened pod-style hotels in the past year or two say they plan to expand stateside soon. But many in the U.S. hotel industry remain skeptical that the trend will spread beyond the novelty. ‘The question of customer acceptance still needs to be answered,’ says Jan Freitag, a vice-president with Smith Travel Research. For business travelers, the idea of being able to get some work done in the privacy of a hotel room is an important selling point, which can be a problem in a small-scale pod. And most vacationers, he says, want to be able to spend some time in their rooms relaxing.
Can the lure of low prices draw Americans from spacious hotel rooms? And, assuming that it takes less energy to power and clean and maintain a pod-sized room, will eco-conscious Americans take notice of ‘pods’ as well?
Image: Rain Rannu (Flickr)
Julia Marter
in Leisure
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