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Yotel: The comfy capsule hotel

I’m fascinated by japanese culture, and especially by some of the things Japanese people are willing to put themselves through. One thing that I find amazing is the idea of sleeping tubes, or capsule hotels. Thing is, although I think it’s interesting, I’m not sure I would like to actually try it out.

So what if there was a kind of half-way house? A capsule hotel that still offered comfort and privacy? Luckily, there are some :)

Enter… Yotel. Part of the Yo! group (owners of Yo! Sushi and the Yo! Bar), Yotel offers small accommodation for reasonable prices in places where people really just want somewhere to sleep. The two in the UK at the moment are at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, both near to the terminals so that weary travellers can just crash until their flight.

So what’s on offer? Safe to say it’s more than just a block of sleeping tubes. The standard capsule contains a single bed, with 20inch TV at the foot on which you can watch telly or surf the internet, power points, a work desk, luggage space, and a bathroom including “monsoon” shower. The Yotel blurb assures me that there’s as much in these 7 square metre rooms as you would find in most 4-star hotels! To be honest, I was sold when I saw that there’s a free wi-fi connection for all guests, password protected using the password you receive on your checkin slip.

Premium capsules are available too, with a floorspace of 10 square metres, offering much the same facilities as the standard capsule, but with the added coolness of a double bed that converts into a couch at the touch of a button! All very Star-Trek! Accessible capsules are also available for those requiring easy access or using wheelchairs.

From the pics on their website, it look as if the rooms are all done out in a white colour scheme, that makes it look very clean and futuristic. I’m not too sure how the white will stand up to the daily traffic of travellers, but it certainly looks good in the promotional material.

Cost-wise, I tried booking a standard and a premium capsule from 7 o’clock in the evening until 10 o’clock the next morning. The standard came out at £56 (UK Pounds), while the Premium came out at £82 (both bookings were at the Gatwick Yotel). Given their close proximity to such major travel hubs, and for London, the prices don’t seem too bad.

So, it looks like Yotel is a reasonably priced, unusual place to stay if you simply need somewhere to crash. You can even book a capsule for as short a time as 4 hours if you really only need to rest for a short while. I’m kind of hoping that next time I’m in London I’ll be able to stay over in one of these. Looks good to me; what do you think?

(PS - if you have been in one of the more traditional capsule hotels, I’d love to hear how you found that too)

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