Move to pull covers off quirky hotel plan

Bid to set up quirky FNQ site

A NEW-STYLE capsule hotel is on the cards for Cairns.

A Lake St property owner has submitted a development application for short-term sleeping pod accommodation.

R A Cairns Chinatown Pty Ltd wants to convert the rear of the building’s ground floor and its first floor into “short-term ‘pod’ accommodation for the travelling public” at 35 Lake St.

VISITORS to Cairns could soon retire to the secluded comfort of a personal sleeping pod with moves afoot to build the city’s first capsule hotel.

The space-age style of accommodation favoured by Tokyo businessmen would be an entirely new concept for Far North Queensland, but one that is gaining popularity elsewhere in Australia and abroad.

The owner of 35 Lake St, RA Cairns Chinatown Pty Ltd, has lodged a development application to convert the rear of the building’s ground floor and its first floor into “short-term ‘pod’ accommodation for the travelling public”.

There would be only nine sleeping pods and a unisex bathroom on the ground floor, along with the reception area and back-of-house facilities.

Level 1 would house another 86 sleeping pods, 44sq m of recreation space, staff toilets and male and female guest bathrooms.

Existing tenants of the building’s ground floor – including three takeaways, a restaurant and a pedestrian arcade – would remain in place.

“Pod accommodation is a style of accommodation developed in Japan that provides secure small rooms, ‘pods’, for basic short-term accommodation for guests who do not require services offered at more conventional hotels,” the report explains.

“The pod is of a modular construction and includes a television, an electronic console, and wireless internet connection.

“The pods are stacked sideby-side, two units high, with steps providing access to the second level pods. The open end of the capsule can be closed with a fibreglass door.”

The minimalist lodgings style was first developed by architect Kisho Kurokawa who designed the Capsule Inn Osaka in 1979.

It has since spread across the world but remains most common in Japan where a “kapuseru hoteru” is most commonly used by men hoping to save money by forgoing the luxuries of more expensive quarters.

They have also gained popularity for men who overimbibe on sake and, loath to face their spouses while stonedrunk, need somewhere to sleep off the effects of the alcohol.

The council is yet to make a decision on the proposal.