An airport respite, by the square foot

Sick of airports and with five hours to kill before my flight back to Boston, I desperately wanted refuge from the chaos and commercialism at London Heathrow.

So I walked past the Hilton at Terminal 4, where rooms cost $260 a night, and headed for Yotel, where travelers can stay in their own “cabins” for as little as four hours for about $40.

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AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong

Layover blues? Some airports now have Yotel rooms, where for around $40 you can sleep/eat/relax in a private room with a bathroom and room service.

IF YOU GO ...

A premium Yotel room has Wi-Fi, cable, and cabin service.
Yotel Heathrow Airport
Terminal 4.
About $40 for 4 hours.
Yotel London Gatwick Airport
South terminal (arrivals).
About $40 for 4 hours.
Yotel Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
Secure transit area, second floor of Lounge 2, close to Pier D.
About $45 for 4 hours.

www.yotel.com

011-44-207-100-1100
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Yotel is equal parts Japanese capsule hotel, cruise ship, and first class British Airways, offering frenzied travelers a place to shower, nap, or relax. Since debuting at London’s Gatwick Airport last year, Yotel opened sites at Heathrow and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

Yotel has three types of rooms, each equipped with a bed, bathroom, flat-panel TV, and free Internet. The spaces are sufficient but tiny. Claustrophobics beware: Standard cabins are about 70 square feet and premium and twin cabins with bunk beds are just over 100 square feet.

Check-in is easy at ATM-like kiosks that confirm reservations and issue cabin key cards and a receipt with a Wi-Fi access code. A call button on the kiosk will alert a cabin crew member if there is a problem. Usually, the one or two Yotel employees double as reception, concierge, room service, and general technicians.

For the most part, Yotel makes a cheap room feel like a hip stay. Upon entering Yotel, guests are bathed in purple mood lighting. Enya-esque music plays, and beds in the premium cabins convert into couches. The bathrooms have overhead rain showers and sage and seaweed body wash. A glass wall separates the bathroom from the bedroom.

Customers can order food from a cabin service menu, including Singapore noodles, salmon and haddock fishcake, and cheesecake. I had brought my own spread of baguette, Stilton cheese, and olives from Harrods department store. But when I looked for a table - which is supposed to fold down from the wall - I found a sign saying it was being repaired. Apparently, the original tables were too heavy and broke off the wall.

So I put the cheese and bread on the pristine white sheets and ordered a beer to wash down my meal. A Yotel employee was instantly on the other end of the intercom system and a Grolsch lager arrived in less than two minutes. (In the guestbook, Yotel says it supplies the crew with specially designed New Balance sneakers so they can hurry to meet guests’ needs.) With a cold beer on my bedside table, I brushed the crumbs off the bed, made room for my laptop, and turned on the television.

For all the touches of luxury (organic mattresses, lilac pillows, beds with iPod attachments), Yotel came up short on other basics. The Wi-Fi didn’t work and the promised 60 cable channels turned out to be 23. There was a decent selection of more than 20 movies on demand, including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Hancock,” and “Iron Man.” Each movie was nearly $9, so I was satisfied with flipping between the BBC, “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” and “Dawson’s Creek.” The interactive guide allows guests to program wake-up alarms through the television, so you can wake up to music, radio, or the TV.

The beds have outlets, personal lighting, and dimming controls. Cabins are sound-proofed, but when I turned off the TV for a brief nap, I could hear nearby cabin doors open and close. It’s no worse than staying in a hotel room near the elevator, and signs in the hallways and rooms urge guests to keep the noise down.

Yotel, which receives investment support from Kuwait-based IFA Hotels & Resorts, says it is looking to expand to other big airports, including in the United States. The company is looking to extend the Yotel concept to city centers where space is at a premium. There is no maximum stay but Yotel recommends that no more than two adults stay in a cabin (not that you’d want to cram more than two into 70 square feet).

Yotel’s chief executive, Gerard Greene, describes it as the “iPod of the hotel industry.” Sleek and compact it is, though not a room you linger in for days. There are no closets, only a full-length mirror and one coat hanger. But for harried travelers facing delays, cancellations, and layovers, Yotel offers a rarity: peace and quiet in the middle of an airport.