Up Close With Abu Dhabi Airport's Futuristic Sleeping Pods
Skift Take
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- At Terminal 3 in Abu Dhabi Airport, walking down the long long corridor.
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- You start seeing ads for the sleeping pods, plastered all over.
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- Then right by Gate 31, is the location of GoSleep Sleeping Pods.
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- Manned by, as everything else at Abu Dhabi Airport, a genial Filipino expat.
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- Slightly pricey, at $12 an hour, though compared to airport hotels, not bad.
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- There at 10 of them for now, and will go up to 35, if demand goes up.
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- The strange oval shape, up close. Finnish design, so very design forward.
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- But very wide, and a bit like those lie flat massage chairs you see at airport spas.
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- It has a TV screen and card scanner, to start your session. Below the seat, you can store your hand luggage too.
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- As you can see, wide enough for any body size for short duration. It also comes with alarm clock so you don't miss your flight, and a power outlet to charge devices.
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- The mechanism for shades that roll up from the back, as the bed goes flat. They can be rolled down fully or partially.
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- The roller mechanism at the back that makes these beds flat.
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- And even though didn't have a pic that night of anyone using these pods, here's what they would look like if they were being used. The perforated shades can be closed fully or partially.
Even as airport hotels continue modernizing at major hubs around the world, mini-hotels and sleeping pods are making inroads inside airports terminals as well. Yotel has outlets at Heathrow, Gatwick, and Schiphol, Delhi Airport has one, too, and they're all akin to Japan's efficient capsule hotels.
Recently Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) launched an egg shaped sleeping pod -- Finnish-designed, of course -- called GoSleep, and the service is now in its fourth month of operation. I was passing through AUH last night, and managed to sneak in for a closer look.
GoSleep has 10 sleeping pods right by gate 31 at Terminal 3. According to the employees I spoke to at the airport they've yet to see much use. Regardless, the airport plans to expand these to 35 pods. After the initial launch phase, they will have Internet access built in, which seems like an overkill considering AUH already has free Wi-Fi throughout.
Though I did not actually buy the service for the hour as my connecting time was short, I managed to sneak in up close and took enough photos to get a better sense of these. Those are above, and below, a generic video of the pods fully decked out.
Photo Caption: There at 10 of them for now, and will go up to 35, if demand goes up.
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