I think we're turning Japanese. Capsule Hotels have been around forever. I stayed in one in the '90s. If you take their nightly rate $24 X 30 days it magically works out to $720 per month. Call it a hotel, sleeping pod whatever you want we are behind the curve on sleeping pod technology. We need to catch up.
Pods as a hotel concept seems like a “unique travel experience” where as pods as a living condition seems more like a city “code smell”
They actually have these type of “pods” at regular hostels in SF. I stayed in one for a couple of weeks once when I was new to the city. The noise, especially people coming in late, the germs (I got sick during my stay), and the lack of privacy is pretty bad. I can’t imagine living in one long term and I’m lucky I don’t have to, but if it’s your only choice (or you’re supremely cheap) then I guess it’s better than the streets.
Now if you double the price, exclude all the poor people, and call it a “cool invite-only hacker house”, that’s an entirely different thing!
Yes I distinctly remember all the drunk salarymen showing up at around 2 in the morning and waking me. I also forgot to open the air vents and woke up gasping for oxygen. On the plus side the hotel had a wonderful bath which was really relaxing after the 12 hour flight.
If the population of a society things "catching up" by making people live in a capsule hotel is a good idea, they're heading towards something very distopian future.
There will always be some level of stratification of wealth, but a society that is unable to provide individual housing for people is in a sad, sad state.
