According to read a recent article in Business Traveller magazine, tiny sleeping spaces have been big in Japan for decades, with salarymen bedding down in 3 sqm “capsule hotels” that look more like stacks of washing machines.
However, now they are becoming mainstream. Japanese group Nine Hours recently opened a property at Tokyo Narita airport with 129 units priced from about £9 an hour.
The concept has also started to take off in the West. Yotel offers cabins from 7 sqm at Heathrow, Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol airports; Bloc arrived in Gatwick a year ago with rooms from 9.5 sqm; Munich airport offers 4 sqm Napcab pods; while the new GoSleep capsules at Helsinki airport are even cosier, at one metre high by two metres long.
In London, the first Hub by Premier Inn property opened in November near Covent Garden. Rooms are 11.4 sqm and cost from £79, with high-spec, high-tech fixtures and fittings. The company has bought another seven sites in the capital, plus three in Edinburgh.
Subscribers can read the full feature on 21 Travel Trends in the April edition of Business Traveller.