Providing a welcoming space to refresh body and mind, Sleeep – Hong Kong’s first capsule hotel – redefines accommodation in a shared-space environment.
“I would like people to take a leap of faith and try this space out. To come out and say, ‘wow, it’s actually okay’,” says Jun Rivers, co-founder of Sleeep. “Sharing a space is a great experience. You don’t have the full price of a single room but you get the best quality sleep you’ve ever had.”
Setting foot inside Sleeep, your eyes quickly refocus due to the immediate darkness. Pockets of dimmed LED lights in the vacant capsules allow you to decipher the layout of the 367-metre-square hi-tech dormitory.
Co-founder Alex Kot says Sleeep focuses on the important things, with none of the frills. “We want to prove that more is not necessarily good. Less is good. We focus on the essential qualities. Travellers come in, have a good sleep and a shower. You take out the canteen, restaurants, and all the rest.”
Kot and Rivers were born and raised in Hong Kong. The idea for Sleeep came from a competition organised by Harvard University, which sought proposals to address overpopulation in urban settings. Their entry focused on limited space. Building on that experience, they established Sleeep in 2014.
They observed current trends in Hong Kong, where people were longer working hours, and spending an increasing amount of time commuting. “We realised that these were the same factors that contributed to the popularity of capsule hotels in Tokyo. And we thought then that this is a problem to solve,” Rivers says.
Getting a licence was a major hurdle, though, because the capsule hotel concept was a novelty in the city. It took two years before city officials granted approval.
Rivers says they had to keep coming up with solutions to placate official concerns.
“There came a point where they realised that we really wanted it,” said Rivers. “There was no cutting corners. We had shown our determination and our sincerity. They eventually gave us the licence.”
Sleeep targets locals and young travellers who like design and technology. Guests can book their berths – known as SLPers – at a specific time of day for a nap or for an overnight stay.
Sleeep says it cannot support 4am check-ins at the moment, as there is no staff onsite at that hour. Only a virtual XO (experience officer)– an online support service system – is available during the graveyard shift in the event of any problems.
“We are considering changing that because we’re seeing more and more people wanting to check in at 6 am. People who pull an all-nighter might need a nap before they present a project that they’ve just worked on,” he says.
For Kot, having a good night sleep is a personal necessity as he suffers from sleep apnea. Proper diagnosis led him to use a CPAP machine to help with his nocturnal breathing, resulting in better sleep and more energy during the day.
Sleeep’s busiest time is the napping period from noon to 2 pm when guests like to sleep off their lunch. The hotel plans to have “Sleepy Hour” – its own version of happy hour – between 3 pm to 6 pm in the near future.
And in the long run, Sleeep hopes to expand in other locations, particularly transit facilities.
“If we expand to transportation hubs like airports, we will have to update the system to immediate booking. But our system is ready to be tweaked,” Kot says.
In June, Sleeep won an urban-planning competition organised by Hong Kong Seek Road, a non-profit organisation that is tackling the city’s housing problem.
The desire to own an apartment has driven many people in Hong Kong to work longer hours, work harder, thus affecting their overall well-being – a trend Rivers has noticed among his friends. He says it doesn’t have to be like that.
“I ask them: ‘Why are you working so hard? For what?’ If you can take some time off, recharge your body and mind, and have a secluded haven for self-reflection, I believe that, over time, you’ll have a more purposeful life,” he says.
This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as Time capsules.
