Close Window

The first capsule-style Yotel had a timely opening in late June at Gatwick Airport. Many of its first guests needed a place to stay in London because of security delays caused by the terrorist attack on the Glasgow airport. Stranded travelers, of course, are part of the marketing niche the chain hopes to fill. Yotel seems to be part of a trend towards ever-smaller but functional rooms that in some cases, at least, include some luxury touches.

   “While executive class plane seats are getting bigger, hotel rooms, it seems, are getting smaller,” says CNN, which had a somewhat negative view of the trend in saying it expected to see more travelers “crammed” into small rooms. Prior to Yotel, easy Hotel opened four outlets in London. Another is due to open in Basel in October.
   “The hotels will be found in the center of international cities, targeting short-stay customers. The earlier you book, the less you pay and periods of high demand will cost more than less popular periods,” says the Web site. Rates are as low as $50.
   The rooms that measure 60 to 80 square feet are not exactly amenity-rich. The smallest rooms are windowless. One towel is provided per person. Extra towels cost more. What the rooms don’t have is even more striking: no telephone, no restaurant, no mini-bar, no pool, no closet, no hairdryers and no elevator. The chain’s Web site says it offers a “safe, clean room at the best possible price.” The idea is that customers will accept less space for a better price at city center locations.
   “A very basic hotel for people on a tight budget who want to stay in a central London location for 1 or 2 nights,” says hotel reviewer Laura Porter in About.com: London for Visitors. That’s not a complaint. She goes on to say: “The rooms are kept very clean and provide the necessities you would need for a short stay - a bed, a hook for your clothes, a small wet room, and a toilet.”
   “easyHotel.com is set to realize its plans of becoming one of Europe’s leading ‘super budget’ hotel operators with the signing of a Master Franchise Agreement with i.gen hotels, which will see them open 10 budget hotels across Germany over the next four years,” the company says in a press release. Easy has ambitious plans but there’s also no shortage of small, single properties that are not part of chains.
   Art-school graduate Andreas Strauss created a “sleep pipe” for outdoor living in a park next to the Danube River in Ottensheim, Austria. The copy, pipe-like accommodation is just big enough for a double bed, a storage shelf and a lamp.
   “Forget luxury tents and designer pods. The newest trend in alternative hotel accommodations is a combination of the two -- a compact, minimally decorated space set in the great outdoors,” recently wrote The New York Times. There are three “pipes” open from May through December. They do have windows. They’re near public toilets and showers. Guests are asked to pay what they can.
   Another entrepreneur who came up with his concept while dreaming of tree houses built two wooden spheres on Vancouver Island in British Columbia that allow visitors to literally hang out for the night in a forest. Each of the spheres has electricity and dangles by three ropes tethered to three trees. One room is called Eve. It’s a nine-foot diameter yellow cedar sphere with two windows and a double bed. “She sleeps one comfortably or a cozy couple,” says founder Tom Chudleigh. ”Two large people would find it too small.” The spheres have power connections and are heated with small electric devices. “When you are settled in and the wind blows, it results in a slow, gentle rocking motion,” Churleigh says. He says his double spheres are a “wonderful getaway for activities such as healing, meditation, photography, canopy research, leisure and game watching.” The spheres are located on a private property close to a park with natural swimming holes and an underground cave network. The price is $150 a night.
   The former Pickwick Arms at 230 E. 51st Street in New York City is now the first Pod Hotel. “The hotel features rates that start at $89, guest blogs, an outdoor garden deck bar, a concierge specializing in free and cheap things to do around the city, and more,” says Kara Schnabel, who handles public relations for the hotel. The Pod offers very up-to-date technological amenities with free Wi-Fi, wireless mini-bars, iPod docking stations and personal LCD-screen televisions. Why those amenities? “The socializing sensibilities of the hotel’s target audience -- 20-to-35-year-olds -- and the intelligent use of space drove the Pod concept,” answers Schnabel.
   Yotel’s founder Simon Woodroffe, who was behind the UK’s successful Yo! Sushi restaurant chain, says he was inspired after being upgraded to business class on an airplane. “I thought it would be great to make small capsule rooms for hotels,” he says.
   Yotel CEO Gerard Greene said the new trend was a wake-up call for the hotel industry.“We have been bold enough to take steps that no other has taken before, allowing us to offer luxury accommodation at an affordable price,” he says. The chain’s rooms can sleep two. There is a premium and standard room. Both have bathrooms and room to store small bags and suitcases. While the rooms seem small, they are also amenity-rich, which Woodroffe says was intended. The rooms have Wi-Fi and flat screen TV’s with 60 stations. And how about room service? Twenty-four hours of it is available for light meals and drinks, or beer and wine.
   One amenity in the premium cabins is an extra 30 square feet (the standard rooms are 75 square feet). The rooms can be rented out on a four-hour basis. Rates in US currency for that time frame range from $50 to $160. An economy class is also planned at future Yotels which will not have private bathrooms. A second Yotel is due to open in the future at Heathrow Airport. Perhaps it all proves you can squeeze a lot of living into a very small space.

David Wilkening is a writer specializing in travel and business-real estate writing. His work has appeared in dozens of publications and dot coms. He never met a trip he didn't like. He is a former newspaperman who worked in Chicago, Detroit, Orlando and Washington, DC, where he was a writer and editor covering a wide variety of subjects ranging from politics to feature stories.