New Micro Hotels Offer Budget-Friendly Options

Think skinnying down for the new year is restricted only to the waistline? Think again. Microhotels offer up smaller spaces for smaller budgets — and let’s face it, how much time do you really spend hanging out in a room anyway? Save some green and check out:

Hoxton

Shoebox rooms at the new Hoxton in Portland, Oregon, opened in November, are just 113 square feet with twin beds built for one. Snug rooms are 116 square feet, and Cosys start to range in the average American hotel category at 200 square feet. The design-forward hotel is Hoxton’s first on the West Coast after a U.S. debut in September in Williamsburg, New York. The shtick is breakfast bags and free international WiFi calls at each property (the first are overseas in Paris, London and Amsterdam), and cool lobby spaces that feature cushy chairs and couches.

Pilgrm

Think of it as so compact there can only be one vowel at the Pilgrm in London, where bunk rooms with — you guessed it — a set of bunk beds average only 75 square feet. Small rooms have a double bed with parquet floors, reclaimed radiators and average just 108 square feet. Medium has 129 square feet with double beds for a little bit more breathing room. All room categories in the coveted Paddington area include WiFi, hairdryers, filtered water and tea and coffee; all but bunks have TVs (or “tellies”).

Chic hotel bunk beds © Radiokafka | Dreamstime.com

Hilton

Hilton got in on the mass-market micro game with the Tru brand, its first location in Oklahoma City. Others followed in Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and beyond into early 2019, with large open lounges with areas for guests to work (desks with free WiFi); play games (board games and foosball); and dine, with a mini market serving snacks and drinks (adult beverages, too). The brand says rooms are smaller, but designed more efficiently than other hotels with “open closets.”

Pod Hotels

Though not quite as small as the moniker would suggest, some of the Pod 51 hotel rooms in the Big Apple are so diminutive even to include a shared bathroom. The bunk pod has a private TV for each of the twin beds — winner gets the top! — but it’s all college dorm style all the time when it comes to the loo. The locations are pretty clutch; however, and include the heart of Manhattan, Times Square, and Washington, D.C.

Yotel

Yotel first made a splash with 75-square-foot, bunk-bed rooms at airports (Amsterdam Schipol International, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and London Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport), inspired by first-class lie-flat beds. Then the brand branched out further on land with New York, Boston and Singapore, offering up rooms called “cabins” that skimp on some frills but still feature great locations and trendy on-site dining. Premium queens feature 152 square feet with two sleeping options: double or a triple with one bunk bed stashed over the heads of those in the queen-sized bed (same square footage). Premium economy, indeed.

Arlo

Arlo SoHo and NoMad are set to welcome another sibling, Arlo Midtown, in 2019 for more chicly designed small spaces. Expect custom-designed furniture to squeeze into an average room size of 150 square feet, along with free WiFi, a mini fridge and rooms that have views of the city skyline.