Now Now NoHo is a capsule-style hotel in New York, complete with women-only floors and artist-designed rooms, plus Game Boys, iPads and vintage cameras for guests to rent during their stay. Olivia Palamountain reports

Now Now NoHo, located on the Bowery in downtown Manhattan, has converted a historic 1917 lodging house into 32 sq ft private cabins with shared bathroom facilities.

Each cabin features a 74-inch single bed with storage above and below, plus a desk, vanity mirror and locking door. Ceilings remain partially open with acoustic baffle grids to allow air circulation between rooms, whilst shared bathrooms down corridors include lockable individual shower and toilet compartments.

The hotel offers a women-only floor requiring keycard access, designated for women, non-binary and gender non-conforming guests seeking additional comfort. Ground-floor accessible rooms are available for mobility-impaired guests in the building that lacks lift access to upper floors.Ten larger "Now or Never" rooms spanning 54 sq ft feature artwork by local artists including Alyss Odle, Daniela Araya, Ella Barnes, Lori McMichael, Paul Wackers, Sohyun Lim and Zach Blumner, who use room walls as canvases for custom installations.Guest amenities include custom Wright mattresses, Garniet-Thiebaut linens, Brooklinen bathrobes and Grown Alchemist bath products. Rooms feature wireless charging docks, sound machines, safes and sleep kits with earplugs and eye masks. The hotel offers fun rentals including Fuji cameras, Nintendo Game Boys and Apple iPads.
The hotel operates a membership programme (priced at US$99 per month or an annual payment of US$999), which includes one complimentary night per month plus 25% discounts on additional stays, early check-in privileges and retail shop discounts. Annual members receive complimentary bathrobes and slippers valued at US$103.
Now Now NoHo positions itself between traditional hostels and boutique hotels, offering private rooms with locking doors whilst maintaining shared facilities and communal spaces. The approach addresses growing solo travel demand in expensive cities where conventional hotel accommodation often requires significant premiums for single occupancy.
Manhattan's accommodation shortage and high property costs have driven experimentation with alternative lodging formats, particularly targeting younger travellers and digital nomads seeking affordable city centre locations. Capsule hotels, common in Japan and parts of Asia, have gained traction in Western cities as solutions for space-constrained urban markets.