PackJetRoam

Japan is the home of pod hotels, being one of the most densely populated countries in the world, every inch of land is highly valuable hence the mini apartments that you may often come across when watching Youtube videos about properties in Japan, but more specifically the ones within the big city.

While traditional pod hotels are staked up on 2 levels usually with a long tube style just enough to fit 1 person, and definitely not enough space to move around or to stand, more premium pod hotels out there decided to reinvent the wheel, some may offer a larger space with sitting area or a desk, the one I am about to experience features some high tech gadgets and definitely one of the more premium pod rooms out there, in addition to a larger space which is something I appreciate, while I am not generally claustrophobic, the tight spaces and inability to move much might end up giving me a very bad experience.

Located in the heart of Shibuya, The Millennials features the luxury end of pod hotel lodging, called Smartpods, in a 3 metre square space per room, each featuring a standalone cubicle with a privacy slider. Inside the room comes with a full body mirror and clothing hanger space. The bed is 120cm in width, situated up high to provide additional storage space below to store your belongings along with a small safe. The bed base is electronically movable, turning the bed into a sofa like state, not only that but the retraction will give an additional floor space for you to move about such as changing but it is not that generous and as a slim person myself I find it to be on the tighter end so keep your expectation low. Given each unit is from floor to ceiling, this allows a freer movement within the pod and the additional space that it creates will make the experience better but be aware that it is still a pod hotel so there’s no sound insulation for us light sleepers it could present an issue, and other guests may not be as conscious about their noise level.

As for the tech side of things, as mentioned the bed itself is electronically controlled via their in house smartphone allowing you to transform it between bed mode and sofa mode, plus everything inside your pod from the lighting, TV and alarm. In the theater pods, the projector is beamed directly to the privacy screen, creating a 80” screen eliminating the need for additional TV or screens which makes the room feel more clustered and tighter than it already is.

Their toilet area is also filled with tech, while normal Japanese toilets may seem to be high tech, these toilets are much better and higher tech than any other ones I have come across throughout my trip around Japan. They are kept relatively clean throughout my stay as well, the bathroom is in a separate area but they are kept fairly clean. While on my first night they had earplugs available for us to take, the second night they have removed them from the counter, although it was still possible to collect them by the reception. They also left the fan running from the 2nd to 3rd day that I was there, I wasn’t sure for what particular reason they left it there, given there’s air conditioning and extraction fan in the room, it just made the bathroom a lot colder than necessary, speaking of temperature, I find the air conditioning around the pods to be on the colder side as well, a fan is also available inside each pod for those who wants additional ventilation and conditioning but I have shut them off given it’s kept too cold to my liking.

For the common areas, they feature a lounge which is available for guests visiting or double as a co-working space and kitchen, or a dedicated co-working space is also available with private booths if required, there are monitors, stands, blankets and other items available for common use within the workspace area, most are free but some items are chargeable.

Happy hour is between 5:30pm to 6:30pm where you can get free unlimited beer along with 2 choices of snacks, for breakfast you will have to pay 800 yen per night. If you would like to cook your own meal, their communal kitchen is also available 24/7 so you can cook up a feast if you manage to get groceries and have time dedicated to it.

The positives of The Millennials are definitely their location, minutes walk from the central Shibuya shopping strip, relatively clean facilities with the bonus of accessing their co-working space, however I did spot a cockroach roaming outside my room which may present some pest control issues that they did not address. The negatives for me personally are the noise, secondly would be the temperature which I wish they would have kept it warmer and let people open the ventilation in their pod if they wanted to keep it cooler. This is my first pod hotel experience and as much as it is cheaper to stay in comparison to a traditional hotel, do bear in mind it’s not that much cheaper in terms of costs given the location and size of the pod, I would probably avoid it unless it is a 1 night stay and I needed to crash somewhere for a transit.

Watch my Tokyo video 👇