Several sleep pod companies compete for airport space
For decades, a thunderstorm or missed connection meant you might have to sleep in the airport, leaving frustrated travellers with a truly tired dilemma: Is the boarding gate chair-curl worth a try, or is it better just to grab some floor?
Some airports are considering a better way to accommodate unlucky passengers while making some money in the process. At least four companies are angling for space inside terminals for a new generation of sleeping spaces dubbed cabins, capsules and even pods. One of them, Minute Suites, has retail sleep locations at airports in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Philadelphia, with a Charlotte, N.C., location opening in December. Washington Dulles airport aims to have a sleep amenity next year.
Meanwhile, a company dubbed izZzleep opened a sleep capsule warren in the Mexico City airport this summer, with rates from $8 per hour to $34 (all figures US) per night. Yotel Ltd., the London-based minihotel operator, operates YotelAir in four European airports, with a Singapore Changi project coming in early 2019.
Yotel also hopes to expand into U.S. airports at some point, as does NapCity Americas, which has acquired U.S. rights to Napcabs, a German-based sleep pod company that operates at the Munich airport. As airports are growing and expanding, a lot of them are definitely exploring passenger amenities, said Stephen Rosenfeld, a Florida entrepreneur who formed NapCity Americas in 2014 to operate a version of the “napcabs” found sprinkled across Europe.
And they’re becoming more open to the idea. Yet “rest” as retail has been slow to migrate to airports, despite their decadesold role as host to exhausted air travellers whose plans were derailed by weather, missing flight crews or malfunctions. Scour some of the world’s key hubs — New York City, Los Angeles, Madrid, Toronto, Zurich — and you’ll find nary a bed available by the hour. The reasons vary, but revenue considerations generally play a large role when it comes to space allotment at major airports. A bar, sit-down restaurant, or McDonald’s will always bring in far more revenue at a busy terminal than an amenity such as a gym or napping pod — and airports generally command a cut of sales.
“One seat in an airport restaurant can generate $20,000 in revenue in a single year,” said Peter Chambers, co-founder of Sleepbox, a Boston-based startup that sells a 45-square-foot cabin for airports, offices and other locations.
The retail sleep sellers also want to be located inside security checkpoints to help minimize customer hassle.
But there are obstacles to the blossoming of this new, personalized hotel industry. Historically, airports have had a symbiotic relationship with nearby lodging that supports crew layovers, convention business-and stranded passengers. Airports may be reluctant to be seen as competing with this ecosystem of accommodations both on the airport grounds and in surrounding areas, said Scott Humphrey, deputy director of the Bozeman Yellowstone airport.
Most retail sleep operators would also want a longer-term lease commitment from airports to realize a proper return, said Jo Berrington, a vice-president at Yotel, where the average YotelAir stay is about seven hours, with a starting price of around 35 euros ($42) for four hours. She said the company’s ideal airport business size is about 60 to 150 cabins. YotelAir, which has outposts in Amsterdam, Paris, and London’s two largest airports, has had discussions with North American airports, but no agreements yet, Berrington said.
Minute Suites says its business is consistent, but that it uses dynamic pricing to adjust for periods of low and high demand. The company evaluates airports with an eye toward international flights and heavy connecting traffic. Rates start at about $32 per hour; an overnight stay at the company’s two DFW Airport locations is about $140, roughly $100 less than a room at the airport’s Hyatt Regency.
“Our business model isn’t just based on delays and cancellations,” said Christopher Glass, a vice-president with Minute Suites, which was formed by two ophthalmologists from Iowa, including the daughter of the late television psychologist Joyce Brothers. “Flight crew members hop in and take a nap. Pilots love it.”
The interior of some pods boast a daybed sofa, pillows and blankets. Minute Suites includes a sound masking system and a unique audio program to help you drift away. Some are even big enough to include a workstation and chair.
The general business model is one of high automation, with a vending-machine approach. Human employees are on duty to clean the cabins once they’re vacated. These pods aren’t just horizontal rubber rooms: They have televisions that morph into workstations, Wi-Fi, mobile phone chargers and plugs. Minute Suites sells almost 150 items to go with your nap, such as toothbrushes — but many do not.