Entry 01
citizenM Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands
citizenM built its first hotel beside Schiphol in 2008 using prefabricated room modules trucked to site and stacked, which is why every room is the same size and every room works. The formula has not changed much since: a wall-to-wall bed, a tablet that runs the blinds, the lighting and the television, a shower and a lavatory in two glass cylinders, and almost no floor area wasted on anything else. What the rooms give up is returned downstairs, where the lobby runs as a long open living room with Vitra furniture, a self-service bar and a stack of books nobody checks on. It is compact accommodation without any of the austerity the word usually implies.
In brief. Prefabricated modular rooms of a single size; tablet-controlled fittings; multiple Amsterdam locations including Schiphol and the city centre.
Entry 02
The Z Hotel Piccadilly
London, United Kingdom
Off Piccadilly Circus, on a side street where land costs what it costs, The Z Hotel takes the sensible view that a room in central London is mostly a place to sleep. Rooms are small and openly described as such, some with a window and some without, each with a proper bed, a wet room and a wall-mounted screen. The trade is location: you are minutes from Soho, the theatres and the Tube, at a size and a price that reflect the square footage rather than the postcode. Wine and cheese are put out in the lounge in the early evening, which is the chain's one flourish and it has kept it for years.
In brief. Central Soho-edge location; compact rooms, some without windows; complimentary evening cheese and wine in the lounge.
Entry 03
Pod Bangkok
Bangkok, Thailand
Pod hotels in Bangkok work the way the city works — efficiently, close to the Skytrain, and without much ceremony. The sleeping unit is the point: an enclosed berth with its own light, socket and curtain, arranged in banks along a corridor, with lockers, showers and a shared lounge handling everything the berth cannot. Air conditioning runs constantly, which matters more here than the design does. Travellers use these places as a base between flights or between provinces, and the format has settled into something predictable in the good sense: you know what you are getting and what it costs.
In brief. Enclosed sleeping berths with individual lighting and power; shared bathrooms and lockers; sited for Skytrain and airport-link access.