Why capsule hotels are taking global cities by storm

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

It may sound like an oxymoron, but the biggest capsule hotel in the world has just opened in central London. The Zedwell, in Piccadilly Circus, offers 1,000 sound-proofed, windowless ‘cocoons’, with prices from as little as £30 a night. A raft of other hotels drawing on the same low-space, low-cost concept is set to arrive in the capital in the coming years, serving as the catalyst — insiders believe — for a global proliferation. Novel, affordable, convenient and fun, the appeal of the capsule hotel is surprisingly broad — except for the claustrophobic.

What’s a capsule hotel?

Under the strictest definition, it’s a hotel in which all areas and facilities are communal, with the exception of sealable pods that are little b