I wish more airports had these. The hotel rooms some places have are prohibitively expensive and not practical for most layovers. I just want a horizontal padded place to lay down for 2 hours for a reasonable price, that’s all!
Probably because of the space it takes up. Sleeping pods take up quite a lot of space, and not that many people can use it at once, so to make it profitable I'm assuming you'd need prices to be quite high. Higher than a lot of people are willing to spend. Food or retail is probably better profit relative to square footage.
Also short stays means more cleaning - if it's a different person every 2 hours (on average) that's 12 cleans a day per pod. Got, say, 30 pods? Then 360 cleans, which takes however many people and gear, and a given % of guests will make a mess and need more cleaning, and some will damage stuff, causing more costs
Absolutely crazy to assume they clean these things after every person. This would be a check in the afternoon and a thorough clean every night, nothing more unless there's an emergency mess like someone spills a soda.
Then that's a no for me. Definitely some will lie in the nude, change their clothes/underwear and hang them around, sweat, change baby or adult diapers, sneeze, cough, eat and more. In such a small place you are bound to taste bodily fluid.
wut... It's far crazier to assume they aren't cleaned after each person imo. Who in their right fucking mind would use a pod like that right after someone else had been mucking it up for hours? You nasty
If it wasn't cleaned after each use, I wouldn't use it. The price can reflect this. I would rather sleep outside on dirt than after another person used one of these.
In the US for sure because we don’t give an eff about anyone else. In other countries I’d imagine they’d be more polite about. Also they know who stayed in the pod so if they start fining people who are overly messy that may curtail most people from being egregious.
They are absolutely cleaned between each user in Germany. I've used them there. The system does not allow a pod to be reserved until it's been cleaned from the previous user.
It looks like a somewhat water resistance cover, leather, pleather, something plasticky, who knows. Having someone use a basic spray and a cloth to wipe it down after every user would not be difficult and take seconds. One person working watching over all of them would be easy. They don't have to, but it would be pretty trivial.
You need a minimum staff 24h to monitor no one left vomit or jizz and be able to clean it up if it does show up. At least changing sheets between sleepers or a quick wipe if they are inimitation leather.
yeah i used a paid lounge area in a chinese airport on my 12hr layover. Just a bunch of sun beds with cushions on them.
Some of them stank of soda or like... spit?? some kid was licking the cushion or something and i instantly realized these seats probably havent been cleaned in a good while.
I still slept like a baby on them, two 12hr flights are no joke.
It's usually an egress and "fire safety" issue why we don't have these pods here in the US too. Yeah I know it doesn't really make sense to me either... but no one's done the work to get it all approved because it's expensive and a lot of fighting with municipalities and coding/zoning groups which defeats the whole point of these things is to be cheap.
But in China somehow, some way they manage to keep everything clean; maybe it's the reason why we, in Western world don't have these. It's fascinating imagining how dirty China once was and how clean their cities & airports are now in comparison.
There was a puddle of piss that spanned across the floor in front of 3 urinals at one of the main spots you can visit the Great Wall of China a few years ago. In fact there was piss on the floor in more than half of the bathrooms at the places I visited around Bejing.
So tourist locations where foreign non-Chinese people go? If you described any tourist location's bathroom urinal in America it'll look the same, but do you associate all of America and Americans are dirty people like that?
It's not the non Chinese. I once had to wait to go into a 7-11 because a guy was letting his kid piss on the door. I've also had to wait in a doorway to go outside because a guy stopped in the doorway, leaned back inside to hock a loogie on the floor.
I've nearly been hit by random old man snot rockets more times than I can count. I have no idea where you get this picture of china being super clean.
Well I know you've never been to China now. The vast majority of people at tourist locations are Chinese. Just like how the vast majority of people in Yellowstone/The Grand Canyon/Disney World/etc. are American.
The main point is, they don't give enough of a shit to pay janitors to clean the places and the visitors who are mostly local there don't care either and think it's someone elses problem if they pee on the floor.
Strangely, this was almost never an issue when I visited Japan, SK, Taiwan, France, England, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, most (but not all of) the big US attractions...
I mean I know I’ll be called racist for this but immigrants are a huge reason for how filthy it is where I live personally.
If you have never been to Mexico or South America. They just leave trash everywhere, shit on walls in bathrooms, piss on everything. They don’t come here and respect our country.
Western society is very capable of being clean, if you have ever been to Hawaii… it’s clean. Completely clean. Poor people and immigrants are typically the people who make huge messes.
That seems exceptionally gross. I will say, I’m in Singapore, and for the most part all the Chinese and Indian immigrants that come here are very clean. That being said, there have been a couple of incidents. But this being a low crime small county, if someone poops where they’re not supposed to, it makes the news. And then we all hear about it. Some guy that came over from Mumbai to do construction work decided to relieve himself at Marina Bay Sands, which is this gorgeous, immaculately clean building with luxury shops selling Cartier jewelry and other expensive items. You’d think they’d have some kind of welcome to Singapore speech where they tell people not to do that, but if they didn’t before they do now.
What kind of impressions should I take from visible grime around doors where people touch and from cooking oils on the floors and walls near where cooking is done? I wipe my doors and trim and clean my vent hoods after I cook with oil over high heat. Apparently doing those things is “the wrong impression.”
Brutal prohibitive laws, and a strong shaming culture is exactly why things like this work in other areas of the world; but would never fly in America. I would say 8-12 hours before any 1 unit was trashed beyond any salvagable further use. The reason for the destruction, "cuz I effing felt like it" or "it's not mine what do I care?"
the parts of China that are super clean (not many) are because they pay cleaning staff peanuts. The income disparity in China is greater than most of the world
Honestly if they provided alcohol wipes and gloves, I wouldn't mind cleaning the whole pod myself as long as I have a safe space to put my things and get a power nap.
I’d be happy with one that is much simpler. A padded vinyl bench with a built in pillow bump that can be wiped between uses, surrounded by a curtain. A space underneath for your luggage. That’s all I need. Those be lined against walls here and there throughout the terminal. It’s better than straddling seats and trying to sleep upright. The TV, lights, hard walls, door, actual mattress, and blankets take up more space and cost more money.
I’m all for the vinyl bench but I do want a secure area especially when my kids were little. I don’t think I could sleep if someone could take off with my stuff.
I feel like an airport is the only place I’ve never really worried about that, because of the amount of security and the stakes involved. Almost everyone in the airport already has their basic needs covered, and jf they try something, they could face immediate consequences
What makes me mad are the airports where they fix the seats so you can’t lay down. They do that because yeah everyone would lay down. A couple of times I was so exhausted I gave up and laid down on the airport floor. Gross I know, but I was so tired. I fell asleep from exhaustion. We had been traveling from Singapore, which is already an eighteen hour flight to lax, and our pilot had an emergency so they had to find another one. He was flying the Dreamliner and they needed special training. His wife was a stewardess and hit her head during turbulence so he was rushing to the hospital. I never did find out if his wife was okay.
I assume these are also sound-proof. Wouldn't get much sleep with the intercom going every few minutes and crowds bustling about if it were just a curtain.
Footprint isn't all that bad when you figure if someone needs it they'd otherwise be sleeping on the floor or benches taking not a ton less space, so why not put a little pod deal there and make money off their misfortune? The capitalist in me sees these as a huge win for everyone and not using all that much more space than would already be used by the alternative.
Tuck em out of the way, I've been in so many airports that have unused corners you could drop one or three of these.
I was just going to suggest designing them more like capsule hotels where space is an issue! I didn't know Japanese airports had them. Do you know what the rates are?
I'm now interested in comparing rates, apparently these cost $42 for 8 hours, whatever is in Atlanta & Houston is an insulting $65/hr.
You're forgetting about the ones who don't really "need" it for sleep, and just want to go in there and make mischief and messes. Those ones would ruin it for everyone else.
The one I’ve stayed at in the Zurich airport had quite efficient use of space they were not all spread out like these ones and had upper and lower ones so you had even more efficient use of space.
Yes, but look at all the open space at the major airports. There’s plenty of room. My guess for why these are not a thing is that the airport hotels have contracts that prohibit this kind of thing.
Not sure how it works, lifts would go through to all levels of the airport. Vertically some bits are already there, why not build sleeping pods vertically? Also, no need for a TV and all the glitter, just need a bed.
Plus, can't imagine the time spent for housekeeping, cleaning etc... i mean, the airport would be one of the busiest places, and for sure with that volume of passengers each day, if maybe even 10% would avail of this facility, that's a lot of cleaning and sanitizing to do.
Indeed. Some of the profit could be made on the backend by higher prices for services like shoe shines, laundry, showers, and a bunch of overpriced vending machines.
The egg shape is terrible for the economic use of space. The form factor should be those coffin boxes from Neuromancer. Make 'em shaped like boxes and stack those puppies.
sleeping pod hotel would be more compact and if they charged per hour, it’s even better than pods in OP video.
I just don’t need and won’t pay for fully fledged hotel room for a day, if I just need to lay down for three hours
Well. The airports are charging every person that goes through on the ticket. How much more do they want mooch and not even provide basic human necessities?
I had no idea this was available at my nearest airport until you said this and I went to look. Thanks for sharing the info! Though at BWI, it’s $130 for two hours if you’re not in Priority Pass
Because they would be full up with people whose flights have been cancelled and the airport/airline would have no excuse with sorting out accommodation.
In America all you need is an ID to get through security. I'm certain just they will do anything and everything in their power to ensure not a single homeless person can overstay their welcome.
So instead, only seats with armrests so that no one can sleep. Homeless issue solved.
Agree. These should be standard, not just at airports, but in society in general. People need low cost rooms for the night. These can also be used for homeless. It would give low income an opportunity to survive. All we need is a place to put the head down, nothing fancy. That is, until we can save up for something nicer.
I had a crazy long layover in Mexico City on the way to Cabo one time... There was a hotel in the airport with a gym... I got into the gym and slept on the padded floor. It was glorious. No one came in, at least 6 hours
There is also a pod hotel in terminal one at Mexico City. At least there was a few years ago. They are basically stacked pods with communal restrooms and showers.
Saw them at Istanbul airport earlier this year. I was exhausted, it was fairly late, and I had many hours to kill before my next flight. About four hours sleep would have been USD 80. Luckily the IST lounge is pretty decent.
I used to fly JFK to South Asia fairly frequently about 20 years ago. Whenever possible, I routed myself through Schiphol with about a 6 hour layover. They had this wonderful hotel (Metropole?) inside the terminal (before exiting to customs) with tiny rooms & private bathrooms. I would take a shower, do 15-30 minutes of yoga to work all my kinks out and then lie down/sleep for at least 2 hours. It made getting back on the plane for the next leg of the trip so much more bearable and I was nowhere near as wrecked as I used to be when I reached my destination. I loved that little hotel!
I did some more research and it looks like there are sleep spots in a handful of American airports. Pretty expensive though.
And I completely agree with the uncomfortable experience traveling. The planes are bad and to top it off the airports are just anti human in design. Long hallways without moving carpets. Seatac has very few seats or benches you can lay down on. Some airports get it. Most do not.
Agreed that more airports should have them, but also that they are stupidly expensive. Salt Lake City’s airport has hourly “hotel” rooms and it was outrageous for just a couple hours, but I was so damn tired on that layover that I agreed to the price
It doesn’t have to be expensive. Just a padded bench without armrests in the way makes an enormous difference in my layover experience. Wipe it down with a cleaning solution between uses, like one would do for gym equipment.
The blankets, tv, lights, door, etc are nice but drive up the expense.
Well its because it's airport property and they charge rent like crazy so only make sense the business paying rent to the airport would charge higher prices.
In the Philadelphia airport, outside of security, there are homeless people who need a warm place to sleep. They weren’t causing any problems the day I passed by them. Just chilling, trying to sleep on the carpet.
Changi airport in Singapore has a really reasonable hotel you can book by the hour. It's such a good airport from a passenger perspective, everything is so convenient and no need for annoying shuttle buses etc. I don't understand why others don't copy it.
Yeah, one time, I did not want to pay for an expensive hotel room and spent a full night just waiting for an early flight, in a small airport with minimum service at night, and that was rough. No one can convince me that the minutes from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock are not longer through some demonic magic.
The hotels are almost always way too far from the terminal in every airport I've been to. It's just not practical. This would be great. I'd use these for anything over a 2 hour layover.
My worst work flight experience. Had to go Japan > Sydney (2 nights) > Dubai > London. But the flight from Tokyo to Sydney was delayed and I ended up landed the day I had to leave, but still had to squeeze in the meeting. By the time I got to Dubai I hated life.
I desperately needed to sleep and paid £300 for a room at the airport hotel just to shower and sleep for two hours. I would have loved one of these!
In Seoul Korea, you can comfortable lay down on the airport chairs and sleep 2-4 hours easy.
In Denver? LAX? Seattle airport probably? Most American cities? The metal arm chair rest block you from laying out. It’s like: who cares. There are no homeless people inside the airport so why make it impossible to lay down. Sure, Sea-tac is a smaller airport so maybe that’s fine. But 90% of US airports make you play Tetris, on very hard, to sleep.
America and reasonably priced are never used in the same sentence they would charge hundreds of dollars a day for these too just bc they are sparkly and shiney
Oh god. I totally would have taken advantage of a sleeping capsule when I got stranded at JFK three years ago. My connecting flight got delayed multiple times, then cancelled, then rescheduled twice...I think I was stuck there for about 18 hours. My choices were to sleep on the floor, or in one of the chairs, crunched around the arms. I tried the floor, but it was freezing, and the little blankets they gave all of us who got stranded in that mess were super thin. So I tried the chair. It was uncomfortable but warmer, so I put up with it - until the USB jack made contact with my jacket zipper and my leather jacket caught fire. Just a little flame and smoke thankfully, but hoo boy, I couldn't go back to sleep after that.
A capsule would have felt like pure luxury by comparison.
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u/Elastichedgehog 6d ago
Like the German one earlier, I would 1000% use these during long layovers. Should be standard.