Capsule Hotels

Compact rooms, built off-site and slotted into the frame, are the operating idea at citizenM Amsterdam. Every room is the same size and specification, dominated by a wall-to-wall bed and controlled from a single tablet that handles blinds, lighting and temperature.

What the rooms give up, the ground floor takes back. A large living room runs the width of the building, furnished in pieces that invite working, eating and waiting in roughly equal measure, with a self-service bar and a canteen open through the day.

Check-in is done at kiosks, with staff moving through the space rather than standing behind a desk. The location near the Amsterdam Zuid business district suits short, purposeful stays more than long ones.

MyCUBE follows the Japanese capsule format closely: a sleeping unit rather than a room, arranged in tiers along a corridor, with luggage, washing and dressing handled elsewhere in the building.

Each cube is fully enclosed, with its own light, power and ventilation, and sized for one person to sleep and sit up. Shared bathing facilities are kept separate from the sleeping floors, which is what keeps the corridors quiet.

Kagoshima itself frames the stay — the volcano Sakurajima sits directly across the bay, and the ferry terminal, tram lines and the city's hot-spring baths are all within easy reach of the hotel.

This is the compact format handled as apartment rather than capsule. Locke at Broken Wharf occupies a converted riverside office block on the north bank of the Thames, and each studio includes a small kitchen — a hob, a fridge, and enough counter to make the room work for a week rather than a night.

Colour is used heavily and confidently in the public rooms, which offset the efficiency of the studios themselves. A café and a working lounge occupy the ground floor and stay busy through the day.

The address puts St Paul's, the Millennium Bridge and the South Bank within a short walk, and the river path runs directly past the door.