Cramped, Cheap Hotel Rooms Suddenly "Chic"

You could have all this for just $89 a night!

New, boutique hotels around the city offering small quarters at cheap prices have become the trendiest places to day, according to the Times. Hotels like Jane and Pod are offering "presidential suites" from 50 to 100 square feet for as low as $89 a night, which averages to $2,670 a month for a West Village address at Jane. Regular Peter Griesar said, "The price is right, the neighborhood’s great, and who spends time in a hotel room in New York anyway?"

The trend will soon get a boost when British chain Yotel makes its way to the city next year, offering by-the-hour cabins of 170 square feet. Simon Woodroffe said, "very, very rich people stay in reasonably small spaces on luxury yachts, and very, very rich people travel in extremely small spaces on Learjets," and doesn't see why they wouldn't do the same in a hotel. Many offer small bunks with shared bathrooms, and are capitalizing on the stylish-but-cramped lifestyle every New Yorker lives with to draw outsiders who want to feel like locals. “This is attractive to a very large market,” said Tisch dean of Hospitality Lalia Rach. "They want to live the destination, not live the hotel." How long until Real Estate agents start touting three-to-a-room apartments as "authentic"?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on May 1, 2010 3:50 PM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

If I had about $20 million, I'd pick up an unused warehouse and cram it full of Japanese-style fiberglass berths to create NYC's first capsule hotel. Charge the same rates as hostels, but by being more densely packed, it could make much more money. Could probably pack 5000 capsules in a decent warehouse. At $40 a night, that's up to $200,000 per night for full occupancy. Just make sure there are enough shower stalls, sinks and toilets and hire staff who wouldn't hate their jobs. Don't get me started on the old man at the Bowery Whitehouse. The guy was so incredibly rude that he's the kind who gives New Yorkers a bad name.

really!?!?

The Japanese capsule concept doesn't work in NYC because building code requires a window in order to be a legal hotel room.

The Bowery Whitehouse, and many others, are grandfathered in, but do not comply with the current code.

ides_of_march

The rooms at the Jane hotel are meant to be like sailors cabins as back in the day, that's who stayed in them.

Kojak

I've stayed in tiny hotel rooms before, but I NEED my own bathroom. Unless its a Hostel, no can do.

Hotel prices are inflated here anyway for what you get, and service sucks shit.

rcltrh

Nice to see tenaments making a comeback. How long before they have chamber pots by the beds where they can dump them out the windows in the morning. No thanks. I'll take a Sheraton or Hilton any time. I don't know too many rich people who want to share a bathroom down the hall with several other people.