Tiny, basic hotel rooms—almost a 'bed in a box'—can be a convenient overnight just before or after a long flight, but now the micro-lodging idea seems to be spreading to longer-term vacation stays.
New offerings from the Hilton and Premier Inn brand families and an expansion of Japan's 'capsule apartment' idea highlight the trend, which focuses on small sleeping spaces linked to social spaces such as coffee bars where travelers or groups can congregate.
The trend is clearly aimed at budget-minded travelers who aren't looking for much in a room—Hilton's new Motto brand is specifically based on hostel models—but who want to stay in areas where hotel rooms are often prohibitively priced.
Which is not to say that Motto or its competitors are necessarily cheap; local management will be able to price Motto sites to meet local need, and to vary amenities to match, although in-room features will generally be minimal.
Premier Inn's new Zip brand, which plans on rooms half the size of Premier's standard offering, aims for a real budget price of about $25 or so a night. To keep the costs down, Zip properties will be on the edges of major towns and cities, while Motto will include some central spaces.
In Japan, meanwhile, where 'capsule hotels' and 'capsule apartments' have been a fixture in its crowded cities, it's now possible to rent a capsule apartment for a month. For travelers on longer trips, that offers a big plus over by-the-night rates, or the hassle of arranging a long-term rental through the usual processes. The rent is roughly $1000 for the month, way below the cost of hotel rooms for that length of time.
Photo: Zip room
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