Capsule Hotels — 4

The Prime Pod is a capsule hotel in Tokyo where each guest gets an enclosed module with a bed, a light and a panel that closes. Washing, sitting and luggage rooms are shared.

The hotel occupies floors of a city building rather than a house of its own. The modules are built in rows as one fitted structure with corridors between them, and a shared floor holds showers, basins and a quiet room with seating.

It sits in a dense part of central Tokyo, minutes from a station, with restaurants and convenience stores at street level. The entrance is reached from the pavement by lift.

It suits a short stay, an early departure or a late arrival, at any time of year. Blossom weeks and the autumn colour weeks fill quickly, as do the days around national holidays.

A pod is a closed berth and not a room: there is no lockable door and no space to stand. Floors are usually separated by gender, and luggage is stored away from the pod.

CityHub is a hotel in Amsterdam built from closed sleeping units called hubs. Each hub holds a double bed and storage, and a bar, showers and a common room serve the whole floor.

The building is a converted city structure fitted out with rows of identical units, lit from within and set along wide corridors. The units are the interior: there are no conventional bedroom walls, and the shared bar takes the ground floor.

It stands west of the old centre near the Ten Katemarkt, in a residential district with a street market and small restaurants. Trams reach the canals and the museums in minutes.

Spring and early autumn are mild, and the city is easiest to cross by bicycle. Winter is dark and wet, which makes the shared bar the room that people actually use.

A hub is insulated against sound but not soundproof, and the showers and toilets are shared. Arrival is handled by the guest at a terminal, and the desk is not staffed around the clock.

Sleep 'n fly is a set of closed sleeping cabins inside Dubai International Airport, past passport control. Cabins are taken by the hour or overnight, and showers are available separately from them.

It is not a building of its own but a fitted structure inside a terminal, built as rows of timber cabins with solid panels and doors. Each cabin holds a bed and a light, and the whole block sits within the public concourse.

It stands airside in the transit area, so guests reach it without entering the country. Gates, shops and food counters are a short walk in either direction along the concourse.

It works when a connection is long, an arrival lands at night or a flight is delayed. Summer heat outside makes leaving the terminal less appealing between June and September.

The cabins sit inside a working terminal, so announcements and concourse noise carry. Access depends on staying airside, and luggage checked through to a later flight cannot be collected.

Aerotel is a transit hotel inside Singapore Changi Airport with closed cabins for one or more guests. Rooms are taken in blocks of hours, and a small outdoor pool and showers are shared.

It occupies a floor within the terminal rather than a separate building. Cabins are fitted units along internal corridors with no outside windows, while the shared area holds the pool, a lounge and washing rooms under the terminal roof.

It sits airside between the gates, reached from the concourse by lift or escalator. Gardens, food halls and the other floors of the terminal are within a few minutes on foot.

It suits long connections in any season, as the terminal holds one temperature all year. The pool is usable in the evening, and the airport is fullest around regional school holidays.

The cabins have no daylight, and time is easy to lose track of inside a terminal. Stays are sold in fixed blocks, and moving between terminals adds a train ride to the walk.