Hotel Cabins in London

With its concept of luxury in the smallest of spaces, the Yotel makes a case for a new kind of lodging. Trendy and reasonable in price, the hotel is a new venture under the Yol lifestyle flag, the success story of which began with a sushi restaurant chain in London. The 10 m2 units (which contain a bathroom) are a cross between a ship’s cabin and a space in a Japanese capsule hotel, although they are much more comfortable than the tiny sleeping cells in the latter. The unusual concept for the prototyp is by the London designers Priestman Goode. The Yotel cabins are well-equipped spaces for withdrawal, providing a flat-screen TV and internet access as well as an individual shower in each unit. To save space, shelves and a clothes rail are housed in recesses in the wall lining, and there is a pull-down writing table. Cream coloured surfaces, soft, indirect lighting, leather upholstery and wood cladding all underline the high quality of the finishings. The cabins are laid out back to back, and there are no external windows. The introverted structure allows sites to be used that would not normally be suited for hotels, such as unattractive residual inner-city areas, traffic nodes and airport buildings. Screened off visually and aurally from the outside world, the cabins are oriented to the internal corridors via a window-like element. Large mirrors and the glazed wall of the shower space help to extend the room dimensions visually. The first two developments will be taken into operation in the spring. They are situated in terminals in Heathrow and Gatwick Airports and contain 40 and 50 cabins respectively. These two Yotels are aimed first and foremost at airline passengers. The units can be booked for four-hour periods, allowing their use to be individually coordinated with flight times. For four hours in a standard cabin one pays roughly ? 38. The Yotel is not a low-cost hotel, but it offers at a reasonable price what passengers often seek but do not find, namely privacy and proximity to the terminal.