Canada's first pod hotel to open in Whistler, B.C.
Pods will fill the void between hostel and hotel, says founder
Construction is underway in Whistler, B.C. for what's being touted as Canada's first pod hotel.
The $10-million Pangea Pod Hotel will contain 88 self-contained "sleeping pods" — in a model that is similar to Tokyo's famous capsule hotels.
Russell Kling, the co-founder of the hotel with his wife Jelena, said the hotel will fill the void between hostels and hotels.
"It's for those people who are done with those hostel years, sleeping in a dorm, but can't quite afford a really expensive hotel room," he said.
He came up with the idea while travelling for three years.
"My wife and I would ask people to join us in this exciting new place and they'd see the cost of the hotel or the hostel and say no," he said.
"And after the third or fourth time that happened, it just started becoming really obvious there was a need for something different."
Each pod features a memory foam double mattress, LED lighting, a mirror, charging ports, and a fan for ventilation and noise.
A lockable cabinet, hangers and storage are off to one side whereas ski equipment is kept in a separate lockable space outside the pod.
Two pods are stacked together, and travellers in the upper pod can use the footsteps and leather straps to get into their pod. Each of the pods only have enough room in them to sit up.
Bathroom amenities are separated into distinct showers, toilets and sinks, vanity and changing rooms, Kling added, to prevent line-ups.
But the hotel still retains what Kling calls "some of the best aspects of hostels" — a common space to eat and hang out.
The hotel is slated to open in April 2018, and Kling said the cost of a night in a pod will be somewhere in between a what a hostel and a room in Whistler village go for.
