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Modern And Minimalistic: Indian Railways' First 'Pod Hotel' Comes Up At Mumbai Central Station
Writer: Tashafi Nazir
For most people, journalism sounds hectic and chaotic. For her, it's a passion she has been chasing for years. With an extensive media background, Tashafi believes in putting efforts on presenting a simple incident in the most interesting way.
Maharashtra, 18 Nov 2021 8:07 AM GMT
Editor : Palak Agrawal |
Palak a journalism graduate believes in simplifying the complicated and writing about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. She calls herself a " hodophile" or in layman words- a person who loves to travel.
Creatives : Tashafi Nazir
For most people, journalism sounds hectic and chaotic. For her, it's a passion she has been chasing for years. With an extensive media background, Tashafi believes in putting efforts on presenting a simple incident in the most interesting way.
A pod hotel features a large number of small, bed-sized rooms known as capsules. These hotels provide affordable, basic, overnight accommodation for guests who do not require or cannot afford larger, more expensive rooms offered by conventional hotels.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), in collaboration with the Indian Railways, on Wednesday, November 17, introduced its first pod hotel. Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines, Raosaheb Danve inaugurated the unique facility at Mumbai Central railway station.
First developed in Japan, a pod hotel features a large number of small, bed-sized rooms known as capsules. These hotels provide affordable, basic, overnight accommodation for guests who do not require or cannot afford larger, more expensive rooms offered by conventional hotels, The Indian Express reported.
Spread over approximately 3,000 square feet with a mezzanine floor, the pod hotel is reportedly located on the first floor of the station building at Mumbai Central and has 48 capsules which are rooms spacious enough to accommodate a single person, and is categorised into classic pods, private pods and separate pods for women and the differently-abled.
The pod hotel comprises of 30 classic pods, seven ladies only, ten private pods and one for differently-abled passengers.
What Is This Concept?
A pod hotel in fact, is a very effective social space. They are compact, equipped with cosy design, competitively priced and have attractive features. The beauty of the area is the 'absence of excess'. These are the distinctive qualities that make the capsule hotel an essential social institution.
Free Wi-Fi, shower rooms, a luggage room, toiletries, washrooms in common areas are some of the other facilities available to pod renters. In contrast, inside the pod, the guest can avail facilities like TV, mirror, small locker, adjustable air conditioner and air filter vents, mobile charging, reading lights in addition to interior light, smoke detectors, DND Indicators etc.
While the classic pods and ladies-exclusive pods will comfortably accomodate one guest, the private pod will also have a private area within the room, whereas the room for differently-abled will easily fit two guests with space for free movement of wheelchair, Mint reported.
Pricing Deets
This unique facility will be a game-changer in the way commuters travel by trains especially in a densely populated country like India.
The concept will best suit frequent travellers, single travellers, back packers, study groups and corporate executives etc. The tariff for this property might vary depending on the needs, however, the cost to rent the pod has been fixed at around Rs. 999/- for 12 hours onwards per individual and up to Rs. 1999/- for 24 hours and so.
IRCTC has awarded the contract to M/s Urban Pod Pvt Ltd to set up, operate, and manage the pod concept retiring rooms for nine years through an open- tender basis.
As per a Hindustan Times report, in December 2018, IRCTC had then planned to construct the hotel. The Indian Railways has stated that it will construct similar pod hotels at various other stations in Mumbai if the one at Mumbai Central station is successful.
The country's first pod hotel, developed by a private firm, came up in Andheri four years back in 2017 but it is not functional anymore.
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