Capsule Hotels

The Capsule Hotel occupies an existing city building rather than a purpose-built block, which is normal for the format in Australia. Each guest gets a sealed berth with a mattress, a reading light, power and a screen or blind to close. Luggage lives in a locker, not in the berth. Bathrooms and showers are shared, and a common room takes on everything a hotel room would normally hold.

Trains, light rail and buses are within a few minutes on foot, so the format works for arrivals at odd hours. The trade is space for position: you sleep in the centre of the city for far less floor area than a room would need. It suits a night between flights, a night after a show, or a solo trip where the budget belongs to the city rather than the bed. Bring earplugs.

The Pod Sydney is the other capsule operation in the centre of Sydney. Guests sleep in enclosed pods stacked in rows, each with a light, a socket and a screen that pulls across. Showers and bathrooms sit along the floor, and lockers take the luggage. A common area handles eating, charging and everything else that a room would otherwise absorb.

The location puts stations, ferries and the main shopping streets inside a walk. Because guests come and go at all hours, the building runs quietly rather than socially, which is the difference between this and a hostel dorm. If you have not slept in a capsule before, the surprise is how enclosed it feels once the screen is shut, and how thin the wall to the corridor is once the lights go out.