Goodbye mini bar, hello mini room

[warrens]

The coming year will see the launch of Yotel, a new chain of budget hotels which, although not quite as diminutive as Japan's capsule hotels, will see business travelers crammed into 10-square-meter cabins.

"I ... thought it would be great to make small capsule rooms for hotels," he told London's Observer newspaper. Two Yotels are expected to open in the summer at London's main airports. A 40-cabin hotel will open first in Heathrow Terminal 4 followed by a 50-cabin facility at Gatwick's South Terminal.

Costing roughly 70 dollars a night (but also bookable for four-hour periods), the rooms are aimed at passengers waiting for connections or those who want to sleep or work before a meeting.

Each soundproof cabin will contain a sofa that converts into a double bed, a pull down desk, closet space, adjustable mood lighting, a shower, wireless Internet, an iPod connection and a flat-screen TV.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/12/28/budget.hotel/index.html

This is a pretty cool idea. For those times when you're traveling and just need a place to sleep and unwind, this would be great. They also have room service.