Pod hotels are not a new phenomenon. They have been around for many years, but most travelers have never heard of them. The concept started in Japan as “capsule hotels”, that were, and are still being used mainly by traveling businessmen on stopovers. However, pod hotels are becoming more and more popular with vacation and holiday travelers as well, because they are convenient and cost a lot less than regular hotels. They can be found in the United States, Britain, Europe, and Asia, usually conveniently located in, or near to major airports.
The pod hotel concept is just in its infancy in the U.S. and Europe, but is growing by leaps and bounds as more and more business and holiday travelers demand this unique service. Entrepreneurs are responding by creating very small, pod-like hotel rooms that are usually rented by the hour, or number of hours at a fraction of the cost of regular hotel rooms.
Most pod hotel rooms are small, but comfortable and convenient, and they can have all the amenities of a regular hotel room. They can be a good choice for budget-conscious business travelers and vacationers.
Some pod hotels are located at airports such as the ones at Yotel.com, situated in London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
EasyHotels.com have pod hotels in London, Zurich, Basal, and Budapest. QBICHotels.com have pod hotels located in Amsterdam and Antwerp. A New York pod hotel is the PickwickArms.com.
There is a new concept in pod hotels called Metronap Sleep Pods. These space age styled pods are springing up not only on the concourses of airports, but in strategic locations in office buildings. They are perfect for tourists and business travelers, as well as tired people and executives that just want to have a short nap. Even though these sleep pods are situated out in the open, they partially enclose for privacy, but are not claustrophobic. They are also equipped with noise canceling headphones. The rental cost is by the hour and is reasonably priced.
Although this brand new sleeping accommodation is actually a hostel and not technically a pod hotel it is worth mentioning especially if you are traveling with one or two other people. It is called The Jumbo Hostel. There is a very good reason for its name. You see, it is an actual real Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet airplane which has been converted into a twenty-five room hostel. Each room has three beds. The rooms are approximately six square meters (a little larger than six square yards) in size and about three meters high (about nine feet) from the floor to the ceiling. Each of the rooms has a flat screen TV and access to wireless broadband. There is also a luxury suite located in the converted cockpit that has a panoramic view of all the air traffic at the airport.
This Jumbo jet even has a neat caf