Index / Card 02
Sleeping pods and compact cabins, built around a bed and very little else.
This is a capsule hotel in the strict sense: stacked sleeping pods with a curtain, a light, a power socket and not much else. It takes women guests only.
Akihabara Station is a few minutes away on foot. Lockers hold luggage, a shared lounge and bathrooms do the rest. Capsules are cleared in the middle of the day for cleaning, so plan to be out. Simple, safe, well run.
Built for the gap between flights. CapsuleTransit sits at klia2, Kuala Lumpur's low-cost terminal, and sells its pods in blocks of hours rather than nights.
Each unit is a single sleeping capsule. Showers, lockers and a small lounge are shared. Few travellers stay long. Most check in tired, sleep, wash and walk back to the gate, which is exactly the job it was designed to do.
Strictly speaking, Pod 51 is a compact-room hotel rather than a capsule hotel. It earns a place for the same reason capsules exist: a small, well-planned space at a lower cost in an expensive city.
The building dates from 1930 and stands on East 51st Street, near the United Nations. Some rooms have bunk beds, some share bathrooms down the hall. A rooftop terrace and a busy ground floor make up for the square footage.