Cheap hotel rooms for travelers
Back in 1998, Louise and I stayed in the Hotel Matic on Guadeloupe. The cost back then was US$44 a night, but you could rent a room for less. There was no clerk on site; you used your credit card to book your room at a kiosk outside that looked like an ATM machine. (You can see it beside the big red door in the top photo on the page.)
Hotel keepers are catching up to this trend with even smaller rooms than we had at the Hotel Matic, sometimes under a hundred square feet for a double. (“You have to go outside to change your mind.”) Some do not include a bath - you share one among rooms. Current prices are three, four, and five times what we paid in 1998, but the locations are primo: New York City, Amsterdam, Zurich, London, for example. Fodor’s site lists a few around the world (as of 2007).
In Japan, capsule hotels have been around awhile, and they provide no floor space at all. Photos of the halls look like a rows and columns of lockers at the morgue.
If you’re stranded and/or need a cheap (relatively) place to sleep (check on soundproofing, though), google pod hotels and capsule hotels and see if one turns up in your location.
3 months ago