![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OTHER-WANDER_110526_1637_v2-306d.jpg\")
\n\t\tCapsule hotels originated in Japan in the 70s, but never caught on in the UK until now (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tCapsule hotels originated in Japan in the 70s, but never caught on in the UK until now (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n
In a new series, Rooms Without Views, our experts spend the night in windowless\u00a0hotel rooms<\/a>\u00a0to see if the price is worth sacrificing\u00a0sunlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can still make out the words \u2018Male Hospital 1912\u2019 over the door of the Edwardian red-brick at 91 Dean Street.<\/p>\n But today, the building<\/a> that once welcomed patients to one of the world\u2019s first sexually transmitted disease clinics offers a rather different kind of hospitality.<\/p>\n Otherwander Soho<\/a> opened this month as London<\/a>\u2019s newest capsule hotel, with 563 pods, all measuring two metres long.<\/p>\n Billed as a bougier take on the classic pod concept, towels, slippers, and a kimono are included in the nightly rate (from \u00a350 per night).<\/p>\n There\u2019s even mini Mo\u00ebts in the vending machine.<\/p>\n But the real USP is the promise of a \u2018seamless, frictionless stay\u2019.<\/p>\n You can enter, use, then leave the building without encountering sunlight or human contact. <\/p>\n Sounds\u2026 dystopian. But could it be the future of budget travel?<\/p>\n \t\t A few hours before check-in, an email arrives with my \u2018Wanderpass\u2019, a QR code designed to open everything during your stay.<\/p>\n And sure enough, standing on Dean Street, I hold it to the reader on the door and I\u2019m in, to a decidedly sterile white room with a huge screen, pulsating with colour.<\/p>\n From the off, this is a downside for me, because I spend every minute worrying that I will either forget my phone, or that it will run out of battery.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tLatest London news\t\t\t<\/p>\n To get the latest news from the capital, visit Metro’s London news hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t Described as a \u2018staffless hotel\u2019, I am surprised, then, to be greeted by three pleasant young staff, one of whom gives me a short spiel about the place.<\/p>\n Briefing complete, I scan my QR code on a row of airport-style e-gates and breeze through to the ground floor, a lobby-cum-work space with tables, benches, and a bookshelf (titles from Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson, a human touch).<\/p>\n Along the back wall are several vending machines where guests can buy everything from shaving foam and toothpaste to playing cards, premixed cocktails, and miniature bottles of Champagne (\u00a320 a pop).<\/p>\n \t\t An app uses facial recognition tech to make sure customers are not underage.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a coffee station and breakfast boxes to set you up for the day. Naturally, at a cost.<\/p>\n Later, I realise I have forgotten my toothbrush, so I nip down for a dental kit. Alas, out of stock.<\/p>\n In the stairwell, warm orange lighting provides a futuristic but admittedly calming feel. <\/p>\n So I am disappointed when I emerge on the second floor to a clinical and soulless grey corridor.<\/p>\n No paintings. No posters. Just\u2026 grey. Nothing human here.<\/p>\n \t\t Upstairs, the hotel features 563 pods or \u2018nests\u2019, as Otherwander optimistically calls them.<\/p>\n The vast majority of these are single-berths, just 90cm wide, while the rest are doubles (140cm wide).<\/p>\n The pods are stacked on top of the other, with three narrow steps to the second tier and half-doors that lock when you pull them behind you.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t recommend it for anyone with accessibility issues or, indeed, a bad back.<\/p>\n After unlocking number 2613 with my trusty QR, I am impressed by the touches that do genuinely elevate this place above the rest.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t There are clothes hooks, slippers and two kinds of charging sockets (USB and C).<\/p>\n Beside my two pillows, a duvet and a stiff black kimono bagged in fabric (not plastic). On the wall, a panel with choices for LED lighting.<\/p>\n At 5\u20194, I can easily kneel without banging my head, but I wouldn\u2019t fancy sharing my double with another person.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not claustrophobic, though, it\u2019s not so bad.<\/p>\n \t\t Despite being in the heart of Soho, I sleep soundly. Without natural light or a change in temperature to wake me up, I snooze through to my alarm.<\/p>\n The communal bathrooms are bright and spacious, the showers excellent by the standards of this type of hotel.<\/p>\n Though if you\u2019re going to have Moet in the vending machines, it seems a miss not to have conditioner (only shampoo and body soap is provided).<\/p>\n Applying skincare in the morning, I get chatting to a 30-something up for work from Cornwall<\/a>.<\/p>\n She moved there during the pandemic, she tells me, but kept her job in the city. \u2018I can just about do it a few nights a month, in places like this.\u2019<\/p>\n When I tell her about my toothbrush, she gives me a floss stick and a mint.<\/p>\n Otherwander may be banking on the appeal of a \u2018fully digital\u2026frictionless stay\u2019. <\/p>\n Call me a luddite, but the human touch will always be the best part.<\/p>\n Alice Murphy was a guest of Otherwander Soho, but don\u2019t expect us to sugarcoat anything \u2013 our reviews are 100% independent.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OTHER-WANDER_110526_0164_v2_alt-5d2a.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe location at 91 Dean Street used to be a hospital (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OTHER-WANDER_110526_0697_v2-85d7.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe ground floor has tables, benches and vending machines (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-16-at-12.02.28-449b.jpeg\")
\n\t\tA human touch (Picture: Alice Murphy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OTHER-WANDER_110526_3253_v2-ad8e.jpg\")
\n\t\tUpstairs there are 563 \u2018nests\u2019, stacked on top of each other (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OTHER-WANDER_110526_3860_v2-ae43.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe inside view\u2026 (Picture: Otherwander)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-16-at-12.02.28-1-e309.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\u2026and out (Picture: Alice Murphy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-16-at-12.02.29-45c0.jpeg\")
\n\t\tI\u2019m 5\u20194, for context (Picture: Alice Murphy)<\/p>\n
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