Index / Capsule Hotels

Capsule Hotels

Three compact hotels in Seoul, London and Singapore. The rooms are small by design; the thinking behind them is not.

3 entries
  • No. 01Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

    citizenM Seoul Namdaemun

    Close to Namdaemun Market and Seoul Station, this is citizenM's compact-room format in Korea. Each room is small and given over almost entirely to a wall-to-wall bed pushed up against a large window.

    One tablet runs the lights, blinds, temperature and television. Check-in happens at kiosks and takes a minute or two. Downstairs the building opens into a big, furnished living room with a canteen and bar, and that is where guests spend their waking hours. Rooms are for sleep. The rest of the house handles everything else.

    • Near Namdaemun Market
    • Kiosk check-in
    • Tablet-controlled rooms
    • Shared living room
  • No. 02Shoreditch, London, England

    YOTEL London Shoreditch

    YOTEL calls its rooms cabins, and the word is earned. The design borrows from aircraft interiors: every centimetre is planned, storage tucks out of sight, and the mood lighting can be shifted to suit the hour.

    Many cabins have a motorised SmartBed that folds up into a sofa for the day. Kiosks handle check-in. The shared floor, which the brand calls Komyuniti, works as lounge, workspace and café at once. Beyond the door, Shoreditch offers galleries, markets and late kitchens within a short walk.

    • Cabins
    • SmartBeds
    • Komyuniti lounge
    • Kiosk check-in
  • No. 03Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

    ST Signature Tanjong Pagar

    Space in central Singapore is expensive. ST Signature answers with rooms built around the bed and very little else. The Tanjong Pagar branch sits in an old shophouse quarter on the edge of the business district.

    Rooms are pod-like and pared back. The group is known for selling stays in fixed blocks of hours as well as by the night, which suits people between flights or meetings. Hawker centres and the lanes of Chinatown are close by, so the small room rarely has to do much work.

    • Tanjong Pagar
    • Pod-style rooms
    • Stays by the block
    • Near the CBD