The concept of Pod hotels is still unexplored in India. We sought out the definition on this new concept of capsule living becoming prominent in the hospitality industry. A few leaders in this segment from India and abroad talk about the concept’s viability.
Anupriya Bishnoi
WOM is a member of Brown Hotels, Tel Aviv-based hospitality group known for its diverse portfolio of design-led, boutique hotels.
WOM Co-Founders, Lihi Gerstner and Din Gerstner, while explaining the concept of POD hotels, says, “In the East, capsule and pod hotels have been around for over 50 years, this is not a trend. In the West, these minimal accommodations have slowly started to pop up in modern, dense and expensive cities as a cheaper solution for low-mid price hotel accommodations. We are sure it is only a matter of time until these micro solutions will take over the West as well.”
WOM Allenby is the first location of the new brand of pod-style hotels and is located a block away from Tel Aviv’s beach promenade. The hotel offers 40 pod rooms in both single and double-occupancy arrangements. WOM is a new hybrid accommodation.
Talking about the evolution of the hospitality sector, the co-founders say, “Cities are becoming more and more expensive and space is very limited, but on the other hand, low cost flights reach almost everywhere these days, creating more possibilities for tourists to travel more frequently. We see the hotel sector moving towards cheaper and smaller accommodations as a cost-effective solution, like low cost flights. The new generation of travellers are focused on experiencing the city and not on spending a large amount of their vacation budget on accommodations.”
Challenges
“The challenges change at various stages to hotel development. In the beginning, a major feat of ours was developing the construction and building methods of the pod module and determining the best solutions for sound proofing, acoustics, ventilation, etc. Since this is a new accommodation type that was not yet accepted in Israel, it was a challenge to explain the new concept to the different municipalities in Israel to obtain the permits to create a pod hotel. Today, our next challenge for us will be to further expand in Israel and Europe.”
The co-founders also said that they are planning to open another location in Tel Aviv this winter and expand to Jerusalem by early 2020; and are working on expanding to Europe by the end of next year.
Each pod is outfitted with a comfy bed, Egyptian cotton sheets, desk, a sink, A/C, TV screen and sound system, storage space and a private safety deposit box. Every two to three rooms share a single-occupancy bathroom in the hotel’s hallway that is cleaned in between each use. Guests of the new pod-style hotel will be treated to a seamless experience via the WOM app (iPhone + Android) where they can check in/check out, control their room’s facilities (light sound, WiFi, TV & communication), share group and activity chats with fellow travellers, communicate with hotel staff and book city tours directly from their phone.
SEN inc., unveils luxury capsule hotel brand, Hotel Zen Tokyo.
The seven-story building has 78 rooms total with some rooms dedicated to female-only sections. There are five types of rooms, each varying in bed size and floor surface area. The hotel also comes with over 300 square meters (or 3230 square feet) of communal space, including a work / study lounge and a stylish bar lounge that provides solely Japan-born liquor, sake and wine.
Taro Kagami, CEO, SEN inc, says, “We’re a design capsule hotel, where each capsule – double the size of a normal capsule in Japan – is designed as a traditional Japanese teahouse having five room categories. Talking about the growth of the hotel sector globally, she says, “Travel industry in Japan is growing rapidly and we expect the hotel sector to grow and diversify as demand grows even more.”
There are a lot of misconceptions around the model. “They are not given on an hourly basis. They are by nights and we render long stay options to the guests as well since many of our guests stay for multiple nights.” Talking about the top source markets, “Japan, East Asian countries, United States, and Europe,” are our top markets. However, we get guests from India as well.”
Unwind @ urbanpod
Urbanpod @Andheri SEEPZ, Mumbai is the first-of-its-kind Pod Hotel in India and indulges the discerning travelers with a ‘SMART’ stay-option. Hiren Gandhi, Co-founder, Urbanpod, explains what makes this concept tick among the Indian audience…
Explaining the basics, Gandhi said, Urbanpod is all about providing value for money accommodation keeping high quality of hygiene and service in mind. He explains, “Pioneering the concept of ‘SMART’ Hotels, Urbanpod defines a new segment of GenNext, futuristic, smart-accommodation and shared-living to the new-age travellers (both business & leisure) at a humble cost without compromising on the comfort, quality and feel. It offers good-value (value-for-money) without compromising on comfort, safety, quality and feel while offering a unique experience. (We may also stress on the hygiene & cleanliness aspect here which may not be easy to find in 3-4 star.”
Explaining the viability of this concept in India, Gandhi says, “We have completed two years and we have served more than 21,000 guests. It’s a clear indicator that the concept is being accepted by the customers. We are getting multiple enquiry about Urbanpod franchisee model from other part of India and surrounding countries. In the coming few years, there will be few more POD concept hotels in India, and there has to be someone to take risk and challenge to take a lead.”
Unlike other countries, POD hotel remains an alien concept in India. However, this is not what Gandhi believes in According to him, Indians, who have travelled the world, have seen such concepts and look for value for money units in India. “Once the reach of such facilities increases, it will automatically get accepted in India. Currently we have only one outlet and there are a few more units like ours but limited to metros. Once these spreads, use of such facilities will also go up. Hence, acceptability will also go up. We are the initial concept developers in the market and have the responsibility to educate the customer about the concept. Customers will realise the price vs. benefit of such facilities and hence use such facilities more often,” he adds.
