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New Microhotels Fight Airbnb With 65 Square Foot Rooms (nytimes.com)
HughPickens.com writes: Amy Zipkin writes in the [New York Times] that a growing number of so-called microhotels are taking a smaller-is-better approach to fight Airbnb, offering rooms in New York City for about $100 a night. The catch? Some rooms measure 65 square feet and offer a shared bathroom. "Disruptions from short-term rentals are creating a whole new supply channel," says Scott Berman. The micro concept first gained traction in Europe with brands like CitizenM and Yotel at airports and in urban centers. Now the model is expanding. Yotel, which has a property in Manhattan, plans to open others in San Francisco, Boston, Miami and Brooklyn, as well as London, Geneva and Singapore. Pod expects to open another hotel in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn and Washington. "We are focused on the millennial-minded consumer, with an emphasis on style, attitude and design at an economical value," says Vicki Poulos. But some travelers don't necessarily agree that the comfort level equals that of regular hotels. "At first, it is entirely novel," says Diana Edelman. "But then reality hits that it is nearly impossible to open a suitcase in the room without hitting your head on the bed's 'roof' or that you are showering next to the toilet and sink."
Showering next to the toilet and sink? Er, is there something wrong with that?
Finally a chance to sleep in a tiny cubicle without the MTA getting all up in your face about loitering...
I've stayed at CitiezenM in Times Square. Damn nice hotel for the price.
If I'm visiting New York City I'm not there to hang out in the hotel room. All I need is a _clean_ room, soft king bed (I'm tall and my wife likes her space ;-) and a _clean_ bathroom. CitizenM covers this perfectly.
However, I would personally never stay somewhere with a shared bathroom! That's a bit _too_ "European" for my tastes :-)
See, the perfect business opportunity is capsule living for the never ending spinning door of employment known as H1B. For them, they work, live cheaply in a capsule, send money overseas, and go home with work experience and start a business --- all on the backs of middle class Murica. FUCK YA!!!
Life is not for the lazy.
I understand that college kids and the young may not care about this sort of thing, it's go cheap or don't go at all. But this is an absolutely terrible idea, that if it catches on, will make business travel even more shitty than it already it for people in most typical bottom dollar employers. Already some of these places have a $25/day restriction on food (McDonalds basically) . It's better not to compete with Airbnb, and let the kids do as kids do and focus on the captive audience that is already paying premium because it can afford it, but doesn't want to afford it.
Luxury room sizes - about the same as the size of a normal hotel room in central Paris or London.
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I am all for more options. And I definitely can see how a small and affordable hotel room fills a particular niche. But I don't see how this would be direct competition with AirBNB.
When I travel, I book AirBNB because I want an apartment rather than a hotel room. I don't necessarily need the amenities that traditional hotels offer (i.e. front-desk, swimming pool and on-site restaurant), but I do want a multi-room apartment; the ability to use the kitchen; convenient location downtown and close to public transportation; in-unit washer/dryer; included WiFi networking; affordable long-term rental; ...
I can find some of these conveniences in hotels, but only after searching a lot and usually for quite a high premium. AirBNB (or its various copy-cats) really don't have much competition from traditional hotels.
a LOT of cities have laws against tiny hotel rooms and apartments. Are they also factoring in the costs of legal fees fighting these stupid laws put on the books?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
$100 in NYC is cheap these days? I spent a lot of time in NYC hotels about 15yrs ago, it got you a nice hotel room, obviously with a bathroom
I am done with hotels. Cheap hotels are too shitty, expensive hotels waste my money on shit I don't want. $100 a night is still too much. If you just want to stay somewhere cheap and are alone, or possibly just two people (which, for a room this small, you are) get a conversion van. Done. $0 per night. Yes, you can figure out how to boondock in one even in NYC. Even if it is illegal...
And I'll just cut you off right here with your asinine suggestions, in order to remind you just how stupid they are.
Unfortunately, there is always someone who will pay for anything. If there was something $10 less than a 65x65 room, then there to some people the 65x65 room looks like a frivolous luxury expense. Chasing these consumers will always be a race to the bottom. This is why there have always been health and safety regulations. Now with Ubers and Air BnBs able to work around the regulations, there is nothing to stop from hitting the bottom.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
You do realize that a 65x65 room is a rather different thing than a 65 square foot room, right? Just checking.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Yeah, not sure where I got 65x65 from.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
... at a hostile price
This would make a good (affordable) Silicon Valley apartment. The 610 sq. ft. place I rented back in 2005 for $700/month now goes for $2100/month. If I were a recent college graduate starting out in Silicon Valley, a very small apartment similar to these hotel rooms would be a great way to start saving to get into something I could own.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
This is what we call, the race to the bottom.
I just booked a hotel in the middle of Downtown Seattle for $175/night and it is a full 800sqft multi-room suite.
Oh, snap. At that price did they still make you stay in Seattle?
You judge cities based on the hotel rooms? You do realize there's a whole world of culture and excitement in most major cities you visit outside of the hotel room?
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
If there was something $10 less than a 65x65 room, then there to some people the 65x65 room looks like a frivolous luxury expense. ... This is why there have always been health and safety regulations. Now with Ubers and Air BnBs able to work around the regulations, there is nothing to stop from hitting the bottom.
Despite the attempt to link this it to Air BnB (clickbait), this is simply a micro-hotel as any other. The shared bathroom may or may not be to your tastes, but ~8x8 (65sq ft) is a potentially reasonable cheap option if you don't plan to do anything but sleep.
I have rented something similar (hourly basis) in London to get some sleep at 4am in the airport and it worked for me.
I agree with your sentiment, but your sentiment is about unregulated Uber and Air BnB. This article is (presumably) about a regulated special-purpose hotel that is completely unrelated to Air BnB type service.
The room is not 65' by 65', it's 65 Square feet. Which means 10' x 6'6", or a shade better than an average prison cell. You want to pay $100.00 USD to sit in jail for a night? good grief, no thanks!
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
The point is, these kinds of arrangements are not used in areas where the economy is doing well. It is only because so many people are scraping by, combined with rising prices of regular hotel rooms, why this is a viable business. It is just another sign of the depletion of the middle class.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Nothing wrong with what they're offering. As someone who stayed in a Chungking guesthouse in Hong Kong for $20 a night, 65 square feet would have been luxury!
A bed and a door that locks is all a lot of people need.
That's probably not meant to be in units of "foot".
Whenever we traveled in Europe, Airbnb rates were quite comparable to hotel rates. In some cases even higher. Only advantage? Finding a quaint little cottage in the middle of nowhere.
I think its just like another hotel chain entering the area. If your area does not have 100% hotel utilization in peak season, its going to drive down prices a bit. Just like a new hotel opening will.
Its not an "airbnb" thingy
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I travel for business and I travel alone. I don't need a room bigger than you would find in a sleeper car in a train. But the shared bathroom? That sounds like the MBA technique where they deliberately make you miserable in some unnecessary way so that you will upgrade. Airlines have mastered this. They could make the seats with a tiny bit of extra leg room for just a few dollars more per flight. But they won't because they want you to upgrade for a zillion dollars more. The same with the executive lounges, etc. They make the normal waiting areas cold, noisy and uncomfortable so that you will want to go into the executive areas.
But here is my ideal hotel experience. I book my room on a phone. Then when I get to the hotel I use my phone or CC to get into the tiny tiny room that it says is mine. No humans, no wasted extras such as desks, ironing boards, etc.
If there are any features that I would like it would be stunning noise proofing.
One thing that I have long thought would be possible would be that instead of hotels that were huge buildings full of hotel rooms, there would be these little rooms tucked into nooks and crannies throughout the city. Then the management company would send maids out to clean the rooms scattered around. A restaurant would have a few in an old storage room. An office building would have a few dozen on a floor that wasn't used anymore, etc. For me there is little advantage to having a room that is surrounded by 400 other rooms. Being in the office building that I am doing a contract in would be far better.