Not long ago, press releases promoted a newly opened Yotel, a low-cost Japanese-style “capsule hotel” located at GatwickAirport in the UK. Developed by the creative and adaptive Japanese in late seventies, this style of hotel accommodation did not become popular outside of Japan, although Elizabeth Williams, a spokeswoman for Yotel in London, sees a marketing niche, along with unexpected flight delays and cancellations, to be filled.

In Japan, a capsule hotel is the best choice if you are looking for a cheap place to spend the night. Usually, there is a capsule hotel near a train station, chiefly for businessmen who miss the last train home and don’t want to pay the high fare for a long taxi ride home.

A typical capsule hotel is composed of two main sections; a public lounge area with sofa chairs, vending machines and TV, and the other is a private space where the sleeping rooms (capsules) are arranged. The actual sleeping room is a capsule unit made of reinforced plastic or fibreglass and reduced in size approximately to 2m by 1m by 1.25m, affording room to sleep and little more. The capsules are grouped and stacked, two units high. In each capsule, there is a mattress, pillows, a light, small television, alarm clock radio, and a control panel to control everything. Privacy is maintained by a thin screen at the open end of the capsule that can be pulled down to close the capsule from the outside world. Most capsule hotels also boast a bath area, sauna, restaurant and a bar. Japanese capsule hotels vary in size. Some of them hold only about 50 capsules. There are others that can accommodate up to 700 guests.

The UK entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe took the concept of capsule hotels from Asia and developed it into an appealing idea for the European market. The Yotel, opened in June this year, offers small-scale luxury, where a Japanese capsule hotel is combined with a British Airways first-class cabin.

46 cabins were launched inside the airport’s south terminal, where travellers are offered two types of cabins, premium and standard (6.97 m²), each of which can accommodate two and are larger than the Japanese capsules. Both types have bathrooms, room for small bags and suitcases and to hang a suit, Wi-Fi, flat screen TVs with 60 stations, radios and even 24-hour room service for light meals and drinks, including beer and wine.

The eight premium cabins are more spacious (extra 2.79 m²), and feature a couch that can become a double bed if required. Also, economy class cabins are planned at future Yotels; these will not have private bathrooms.

A standard cabin costs £25 for four hours ($50 at $2 to the pound) and £55 overnight. A premium cabin costs £40 for four hours and £80 overnight.

Budget hotel concept has already proved a success in London when the easyHotel was launched in 2005; but while easyHotel cuts costs by taking away frills, Yotels will squeeze high-end amenities into rooms.

Other potential Yotel sites include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bucharest, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Madrid, Paris and Rome. Also, another Yotel is expected at Heathrow this year.