Capsule hotel brand Yotel will be opening a property in Tokyo in 2024, which will come with a Yobot concierge and motorised SmartBeds. Jenny Southan reports
Located in Ginza, the Yotel Tokyo will have 244 rooms with motorised SmartBeds that can be converted into sofas, as well as one of the company’s signature robotic concierges, Yobot.
The Yobot made it’s debut at the Yotel New York about ten years ago, where it got a job as a luggage porter (it took the form of a robotic arm that was located behind a glass window). Sibling Yobot droids have also been known to run errands such as delivering papers and extra towels to guest rooms.
The Yotel Tokyo will additionally have “high energy” public areas where guests can eat, drink, work and play, as well as a 24/7 fitness centre, a Grab-and-Go cafe where guests can take away locally sourced food and drink options, meeting space and an outdoor terrace.
The hotel will also feature “fully integrated technologies enabling a complete touchless guest experience from reservation up to check-out”.
Hubert Viriot, CEO of Yotel, says: “Japan’s focus on technology and innovation has been an important source of inspiration for Yotel ever since our inception. We are immensely proud and excited to announce our first hotel in Tokyo.
“A flagship for our group, Yotel Tokyo will also be a steppingstone to roll out our brand across Japan, a market of strategic importance for Yotel.”
Yotel Tokyo is part of the brand’s wider strategy to expand across key cities in Japan including Sapporo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. The group is also working on opportunities to roll out YotelAir – the group’s transit hotel concept – at key gateway airports and train stations.
From Globetrender’s perspective, it’s amazing that it has taken this long for Yotel to arrive in Japan, as it’s the country that invented the capsule hotel concept for sleep-deprived “salarymen” who needed a power nap.
Last month, Yotel opened a dual-branded property in Miami with 453 hotel rooms and apartment-style “pads”. The 31-storey Yotel and Yotelpad development brings together accommodation options for both short- and long-term stays. So far, the brand has one other Yotelpad property in Park City, in Utah.