The concept of capsule hotels is not very old, providing travelers with little more space than their bed to spend the night.
Established in 1979, the world’s first capsule hotel was opened in Osaka, Japan. At night, it looked like a morgue, where row after row of small capsule-like rooms were available for passengers to sleep.
Most of the occupants of this capsule hotel were office workers who did not have time to return home late at night and return to the office in the morning. These people used to spend the night here and leave for the office again in the morning.
As the popularity of hotels with these capsule rooms grew, tourists began to adopt them as a model of Japanese culture.
The rise in hotel room rents in recent years due to rising real estate prices has fueled the concept of capsule hotels. Available at much lower prices than traditional hotels, these small rooms provide travelers with more privacy than hostels and more comfortable accommodations than camping.
Most of these capsules are for just one person and are ideal given the growing trend of solo travel. In addition, some of these hotels are exclusively reserved for one gender, which also gives a sense of added security to those staying there.
By 2031, the market value of global capsule hotels is expected to reach 327 million dollars.
Several interesting hybrid hotels are emerging to keep up with this trend and attract new customers.
From capsules made of sewer pipes in the Colombian desert to pods built into bookshelves, all promise to deliver unique experiences worthy of social media sharing.
With the passage of time, the concept of capsule hotels is being innovated. Here’s a look at eight of the most unusual capsule hotels.
Nine Hours Hotel
Nine Hours has 13 hotels across Japan. An unusual byproduct of these hotel chains is sleep data.
Guests stopping at Shinagawa Station (which is reserved for men only) can receive a nine-hour ‘Sleep Scan’ service.
The service uses sensors to monitor everything from breathing to facial expressions of guests staying there while they sleep to generate a detailed report on their sleep.
Apart from tracking passengers’ heart rate while they sleep, the report also identifies sleep deprivation and monitors their snoring. While capsule hotels are preferred by the majority of residents to stay on a budget, Nine Hours is interested in how well its guests sleep.
All Nine Hours hotel capsules are white in color. It would not be wrong to say that these rows of gold pods look like part of a science fiction movie set.
The hotel’s name Nine Hours reflects its cost-cutting concept where instead of renting a room for a full day, travelers can rent a room for just nine hours, with seven hours to sleep and two to shower. There are hours. Just need to take a nap? There is also space available on an hourly basis.
Glass houses suspended in the sky
Spending the night in a glass capsule suspended from a cliff may not be everyone’s idea of a comfortable stay, but for adventure-seekers, there’s no better place than this hotel in Peru, which offers sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and valley. You look incredible.
The only way to reach the Sky Lodges is a vertical climb of about 400 meters, but you don’t need to have mountaineering experience to do this. Descending from the lodges is relatively easy and quick due to the presence of zip lines.
Each capsule also has a private bathroom so that going to the toilet at night won’t prove fatal for you.
In the morning you can enjoy the view of the sunrise while sipping tea on your private deck.
A colorful oasis in the desert
Tubo Hotel is located just 10 minutes away from Colombia’s second largest desert, the Tataqua. This desert is famous for its clean and starry sky.
Composed of small, colorful, air-conditioned rooms, the hotel presents a picture of a welcoming oasis.
It also has a shared swimming pool.
Concrete sewer pipes have been used to construct the 37 capsules of Tubo Hotel. Each capsule provides enough space for a double bed.
About half of the rooms have shared bathrooms.
But the room rates are quite low while every room has a shady garden, bar and restaurant on its doorstep.
Hotel manager Amber Quintana says the modern and colorful space offers a unique experience to its customers.
‘It has everything you need to relax in the natural environment of fresh air and plants.’
Floating boat-like pods in the jungle
According to Tom Chudleigh, owner of Free Spirit Spheres on Canada’s Vancouver Island, staying in his pods will make you feel like you’re floating in a boat among sleeping birds.
They introduced their first pod 25 years ago with the aim of promoting eco-friendly tourism and preserving Canada’s pristine forests.
There are currently three pods of Free Spirit Spheres. Made from the bark of the Sitka Spruce tree, Pod ‘Erin’ is a pod with a bright but strong shell. It has a dining area, sink and a small double bed inside.
The remaining two pods ‘Melody’ and ‘Luna’ are made of fiberglass. They also have all the same facilities as in Erin. The only difference is that both these pods have full-size double beds that can also be closed.
Each pod has a ladder wrapped around the entry tree, and can be rented in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees.
Because of the shape of these pods, everything from furniture to bronze door handles has had to be made separately by Chowdali.
A hotel in Singapore that smells like wildflowers
Inside a ‘Brutalist’ architecture building in Singapore’s Chinatown is a surprisingly tranquil space that opened in 2021.
The walls of the KINN capsule are painted in soothing peach tones and the wooden sleeping chambers are furnished with white bedding.
The smell of this place is also quite different from its urban location. The air here is filled with the fragrance of wild flowers.
KINN has a total of 72 capsules spread across seven rooms and enclosed with blackout blinds.
Capsule hostel, bookstore and community library
In 2019, a traditional farmhouse in eastern China’s Zhejiang province was converted and reopened as an award-winning capsule hostel, bookstore and community library.
It has small bed-sized compartments hidden between bookshelves made of local bamboo that can sleep up to 20 people.
The small landings of these capsules are connected by zigzag stairs reminiscent of the paths of the nearby Tonglu forests.
It’s hard to know what’s more dramatic: the building’s floor-to-ceiling transparent panels that illuminate it like a cathedral at night, or the lush mountain scenery that peeks through them.
Hotel rooms with built in wardrobes
In one of Amsterdam’s most posh areas, ‘Oud Zayed’, people pay to sleep in wardrobes.
‘The Bed City Hotel’ keeps alive the tradition of the 17th century Dutch bed city (box bed) when people slept in beds hidden in closets for a comfortable night’s sleep.
The hotel’s ground floor has yellow wallpaper, while the first floor has red gingham curtains on the Bed City windows and a small wooden staircase leads to the capsule above.
You can relax in the hotel’s small garden terrace or visit the Rembrandt House Museum, half an hour’s walk away, where several historic box beds are preserved.
A sense of comfort
Located in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, the Hotel Resol Pushtel has a special aroma that permeates its atmosphere.
The scent, which includes notes of orange, chamomile and neroli, is said to provide a ‘sense of comforting relaxation’.
At bedtime, there is only a curtain between you and the passengers sleeping next to you.
In terms of cleanliness, even many good hotels cannot compete with it.
Guests are also provided with free hair brushes, slippers and iron. The ‘edo era’ style gives a traditional touch to the modern lines of the hotel.
Senso Ji, the city’s oldest Buddhist temple, is a five-minute walk away. Also nearby is the red-tinted ‘Nakamise Dori Street’ with its colorful shops.
