Pod Hotels: Not Just For Japanese Salarymen Anymore

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  11.09.07 | 7:57 AM ET

podhotel

In Japan, pod hotels are old news. The first one, Capsule Inn Osaka, opened in 1977. Writes Karen Burshstein in a National Post story: “With more than a passing resemblance to the drawers in a morgue, it was a weird but nifty addition to Japan’s space-starved cityscapes.” Now, though, the concept has spread, and mini-hotel rooms are popping up in London, New York, Amsterdam, Vancouver and elsewhere. They range from the garish yet economical (the low-cost and bright orange easyHotels,) for instance, to trendy and high-tech (like Dutch company Qbic‘s LCD TV screens and changeable color schemes that match your mood, pictured) and many are available for only a few hours at a time, neatly filling the gap between a red-eye landing and the start of a long day of museum or gallery hopping.

I have to admit, my late-night landing routine has usually involved finding a quiet corner of the arrivals lounge to stretch out in—I have had sound sleeps on airport floors on three continents—but Burshstein’s round-up has my curiosity piqued. I’d always planned to try out a capsule hotel when I made it to Japan, but with so many newer, closer options, why wait?

Tags: Architecture, Hotels, Travel 2.0, Asia, Japan, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is the senior editor of World Hum. She is an associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and her writing has also appeared in Reader's Digest Canada, NationalGeographic.com, the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen and WestJet's Up! Magazine, among other publications. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


1 Comment for Pod Hotels: Not Just For Japanese Salarymen Anymore

Emily 11.09.07 | 10:58 AM ET

Is it sad that I’ve been dreaming of a stay in a pod since I was about 10?  I love the littleness, and how compact it is in a way that isn’t done in the home.

Although, how much more practical would it be to have a Cubi for those years of University where you essentially live in a room?

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