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Coffin Hotels Opening Near You
An anonymous reader writes "Britain will soon see the launch of a chain of automated, short-term hotels for travelers and businesspeople." From the article: "Each soundproof cabin will contain a sofa that converts into a double bed, a pull down desk, closet space, adjustable mood lighting, a shower, wireless Internet, an iPod connection and a flat-screen TV. Check-in and check-out will be automated, but food and drinks will be available."
A lot of people in the business world are dead inside
You insensitive clod!
What about my Creative Zen?
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Each soundproof cabin will contain a sofa that converts into a double bed, a pull down desk, closet space, adjustable mood lighting, a shower, wireless Internet, an iPod connection and a flat-screen TV
That's huge compared to what they have in Japan. In Japan, they have what are called capsule hotels", which is basically like the sleeping tubes in the movie the 5th element.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
To Case:
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
"It's not like I'm using," Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. "It's like my body's developed this massive drug deficiency." It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
What's an Ipod connection? And what does it do? Say it's to enable people to fill up their mp3 player with new music, why isn't it just a USB port? If it's so you can hear your music, why isn't just a jack stick?
This smells like some smart marketing suit yelling out requirements "we need this...and that!... and an Ipod connection!"
"Sound proof and bookable for 4 hour periods...."
Sounds like the perfect resource for hookers and hitmen!
Am I the only one who could care less how weird and uncomfortable these things are so long as it's cool and futuristic looking? I am such a slave to my geekness.
I know a certain count from the Balkans that won't mind sleeping in this hotel.
The concept of a small room does appeal to me though. Assuming it was well designed and contains all the amenities, I'd have no problem with it. But the price must be substantially cheaper than a regular room to reflect the higher number of people they're cramming into the same space.
Given the fact that in general, British public areas are usually filthy in terms of grime and litter, I don't think this is going to work.
How do you know who slept in one of these "pods" before you, or what state you'll find one in ?
Some of the B&B's I've stayed in here have been downright nasty, as well as some hotels and hostels.
We can't even keep our hospitals clean.
Also, everything gets vandalised here, even the windows on the trains have graffiti scratched onto them.
I can imagine "parties" occuring in these pods, where 4 or 5 kids crowd into them, drink themselves into a coma and vomit all over the place - don't think it could happen ? - heh, try living here.
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
Whould you really want to sleep in the same room you just took a dump in?
After a night of partying, many college students are already quite comfortable with this idea.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
There really isn't a downside. Anyone who has traveled much knows you rarely spend much time in the room other than sleeping so large rooms are mostly wasted. If you are staying for more than a few days you pick up a traditional room. They are being put in airports for a reason. People don't stay more than a day or two around an airport and traditionally airport hotels are extremely expense. I'd absolutely go that route if I got stuck with an overnight layover. Beats dropping a couple of hundred for a place to crash.
I don't like confined spaces.
Expect to see a lot of these places springing up by 2012. And dont expect them to be cheap.
I'm living near london now but very happy that I will be in another country by 2012. London will be hell on earth. Good luck to the locals!
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
Capsule - err, Coffin as its British translation seems to go - when the room is 10 square meters? Oh hey - I do live in an apartment of 1 living room, 2 bedrooms, and 3 capsules. Err, coffin sized bed rooms. And my room (shared) is a coffin size too? If that was a news of opening finally a real Japanese sized capsule hotel, it would score as geek news, but I don't see its geek newsworthness for the sake of it containing the word iPod.
I think that this would hit a great niche for me in terms of non-business travel if they had one of these in London proper (or any other city I'd like to visit, London being a personal favorite). I *don't* need a really fluffy hotel room, but the last "quaint" place I stayed in was not that nice. So somewhere between "super-budget" and "luxury" I could see people going for a small room but with the right features. Something $100/night in London that didn't suck would probably go over very well.
"Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
"...business travelers crammed into 10-square-meter cabins."
They make it seem like 10 square metres is very little. I live in a 1-room, 15 square metre apartment, and I have plenty of space for all my furniture. There's even enough room for a small kitchen in the corner.
Sheesh... Lousy pampered business-men...
*Grumble, grumble*
Eat the rich.
Having these hotels in hub airports would probably make them pretty popular with those who miss connections or have cancelled flights. This fall, I was going through Detroit, and they cancelled my connection with the next one in 8 hrs. Exhausted, and with a toddler in tow (who desperately needed a nap), I gladly plunked down $220 for 7 hrs in a Westin (most expensive nap ever). I would have loved to have had a $70 capsule hotel as an option.
Tfa mentions that the lack of natural light is perceived as a problem. Most of the time when you are in a hotel room, it's dark outside. What you get is the light from surrounding buildings. Sometimes the view out the window is seriously ugly.
Natural light could be provided by a light pipe; a quick google shows that those are commercially available. A decent sized lcd monitor covered with sheers would give you the same effect as a window.
I've travelled a lot and 90% of the time, the view out my hotel room window hasn't been that great. Most of the time I'm in the room with the curtains closed and the window doesn't matter anyway.
The lack of natural light shouldn't be a big deal.
I do
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
You can (usually) get a "normal" hotel in London from one of the budget chains for around the $70 mark (depending on area). The last time I checked "easyHotel" (http://www.easyhotel.com/), who pioneered the reduced-cost hotel concept, their prices were typically higher (up to $80 per night) than I could get in a number of conventional hotels that offered more space and a higher level of service. Accor (the French chain that operates Motel 6, Ibis, Novotel et al) already operates the Formule 1 brand (http://www.hotelformule1.com/) which provides automated checkin and basic rooms from around $50 in (the environs of) London and don't vary their prices according to demand the way easyHotel do.
The only thing that seems to distinguish the Yotel is "designer" styling - and it will be interesting to see how this stands up to the wear and tear of a small space with high occupancy levels...
Still, if they manage to deliver a hotel which meets the three basic requirements of a hotel - cleanliness, a working shower and a room quiet enough to sleep in - they'll be doing better than the majority of establishments out there!
I would like to see flights with capsules.
Since I'm over 2m tall, the seats are extremely uncomfortable.
If I could opt for a coffin and an unfolded nap, I would almost certainly do so.
Then weight distribution would be easy for the airlines.
Of course there's safety issues, "someone please think of the children."
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... though the price is a little high for what you get.
:)
I recently took a motorcycling vacation through the UK, and honestly finding places to stay was a little tougher than it is in the US. Here you can be sure of finding a budget hotel easily and quickly. Most of the time, to find somewhere to stay in the UK you've got to be either (a) near a big city or (b) near a tourist trap. That becomes a problem because typically the hotels are more expensive in these areas.
Had this sort of thing been available, then the two nights I spent in London out of my two weeks I probably would have stayed there. It seems like just the sort of thing I needed; small, convenient and the price is not too high. My experience of hotels in England seems typically much higher than I'm used to. While traveling (not for business) I'm usually more than happy with a $40 per night Red Roof Inn.
Having said that, I did end up staying at a hostel in Cardiff that was a lot cheaper than this (and almost stayed at a hostel in Brighton except for finding a great deal on a hotel room down the street). If you don't mind the "communal living" stuff and can live with the odor of weed in the lounge then this is a great option, especially if you're touring on a motorbike or just generally trying to keep the budget low.
Back on topic, I would definitely use hotels like this when traveling. Usually all I need is a single night, and I don't intend on spending a huge amount of time in the room itself. I find the wireless Internet and stuff a little useless though... if this is really a room just to sleep and then go do stuff then why do you need a reason to stick around the little room?? When I was touring, if I wanted to use the Internet I normally didn't use the Hotel Internet connection and instead found a nearby Internet cafe. More sociable, and usually pretty cheap. Plus, I got some good (and bad) tea and coffee out of it
Has anyone else noticed these look a lot like prefabricated cruise ship cabins? They too run about 3 meters on a side and contain a functional, if spartan, bathroom. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if these are just a bunch of prefab cubes stuck in a building by crane, then plastered in. At least they don't automatically come with a roommate, like crew quarters...
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
I'd love to see airports, train stations, and maybe a few other places have short term rentable units even smaller.
Imagine a space 9 feet long, 3 feet high, and 3 feet deep. At one end, a 2 foot wide by 2 foot deep table on which could be placed a carry on bag. An electrical outlet could be available for charging laptops and such. The other 7 feet in length (2.13 meters) would be a padded, easily cleanable surface. Set in the wall at the back would be two one time use cleaning rags, a one time use pillow, and a cheap sheet & blanket. Well filtered airflow with a CO and CO2 alarm built in would be a requirement of course.
You put in a credit card, it snaps a picture of the unit and then it opens. You are agreeing to a contract that says:
1. If its not clean, you have 1 minute to decide that and reject the unit.
2. You agree to use it for $x/hour.
3. You agree to a $50 fee if you do not leave it clean.
Assuming it opens, and is clean, you take the first of the two cleaning rags and wipe it down. Toss the rag, and pull out the sheet and blanket, the one time pillow and you've got a bed. Plug in the laptop to charge, pull the door closed behind you and sleep. Both you and the laptop get a couple of hours rest and recharging.
On leaving, you toss the sheets and pillow away, wipe down the bed with the other rag, take your stuff and leave. When you close the door another picture is taken of the "finished" state of the unit in case you've left a mess. A short cleaning cycle runs using fresh air, UV light, and who knows what else. The unit is ready for the next person.
Given most of these places have enough height to them, you could easily stack two.
In an airport, having them in the secure part of the terminal combined with good strong wall makes the security threat pretty minimal.
There are many times in airports I'd have been willing to pay $30 or more for a few hours that way.
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Your haiku skills need practice, grasshoppah. Fixt: iPod connection? I have a Creative Zen, Insensitive clod!
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
Accor [...] already operates the Formule 1 brand (http://www.hotelformule1.com/)
Does it smell like a hotel for mules?
Lots of reasons it turns out: