Perhaps it was inevitable: the capsule hotel has now reached London. We went and had a peek.
By capsule hotel, you mean...? Those newfangled thing that the Japanese have been doing since, er 1979: one-person, crawl-in sleeping caskets where you can hunker down for the night for a fee that might still leave you with enough money for a balcony ticket to Phantom, and a few dim dum afterwards.
And now London's got them? Yes indeed. Zedwell Hotels recently soft-launched a 'New Era of Urban Hospitality' in the UK, with what it's billing as the largest capsule hotel in the world. To wit, they've stuffed the former Trocadero with 1,000 of the aforementioned sleeping capsules. Or as they're dubbing them, 'cocoons'.
What's the vibe? We peeked our heads in on a Tuesday afternoon to find a low-lit dorm of 100 beds (the biggest dorm of varying sizes), each glowing from within. It called to mind a sci-fi cattery, or perhaps those medbeds that AI Donald Trump was recently wittering on about. Each capsule (marketed as natural oak, which does somewhat steer the mind towards coffins) comes fitted with a single Hypnos mattress, Egyptian cotton bedding, individual ventilation, smart climate control and ambient lighting. And it's slightly bigger than your average adult human. Being the unadventurous souls we are (the lift journey up was claustrophobic enough), we didn't spend the night, although if you're the kind of person who springs bolt upright in the middle of the night a la Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo, this is probably not for you. Things in the dorms have the potential to liven up in the wee small hours of a Saturday, although Zedwell tells us that each pod is fitted with noise reduction, if not entirely soundproof.
Hang on, Zedwell — isn't that...? Zedwell LSQ Ltd and their parent company Criterion Capital are indeed the landlords who've recently had beef with the nearby movie mecca Prince Charles Cinema, with Criterion also — accrording to The Fitzrovia News — refusing to meet with campaigners ahead of the closure of another much-loved local institution, Tottenham Court Road's YMCA. It's fair to say they're not in everyone's good books, but budget-seeking visitors probably won't care.
What's the damage? Capsules start at £30 a night, a steal when you consider other 'budget' hotels in the area charge in the region of £100-£200 per room per night. Although we repeat prices START at £30 per night.
Is anyone actually using the capsule hotel? And how! We were told by the person showing us around during our visit that the hotel almost sold out over its soft launch period in September.
What kind of people are we talking here? Not just the single budget travellers you might expect, but also businesspeople, groups of friends travelling together, and even families (apparently one kid saw this place on TikTok and convinced his parents to stay here. They each had their own capsule, by the way.)
Oh, and where do you go to the toilet? Not in the pod! There are communal bathrooms on each floor — very much in the vain of a hostel.
What's people's verdict? The early feedback is overwhelmingly middling, one reviewer summarising the experience as "Meh". Then again, no one's under any illusions that this is the Savoy, where they almost certainly don't advise you to bring your own padlock.
Is sleeping in a capsule going to become a whole London phenomenon? Quite possibly! We're told another 200-capsule hotel in Soho is already under construction. Let's face it, London real estate is getting more and more expensive, and the average person has less and less disposable income. Let's just hope places like the Prince Charles Cinema can continue to flourish too, otherwise there won't be anything left to stay in the West End for.
All images by Londonist
