Pod Hotels Owner Is Thinking Small to Grow Big
Photo Caption: A guest room at the new Pod Hotel BK in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The micro-hotel brand is expanding this year. Pod Hotels
Skift Take
Boutique hotelier Richard Born is betting big on micro-hotels — and he isn't alone these days. Will most hotels going forward take the same approach? Or will hotel guests eventually tire of tiny rooms?
BD Hotels co-founder Richard Born is very busy these days. While the boutique hotel company he started with Ira Drukier is perhaps best-known for its luxury and upscale properties, including The Mercer Hotel, Hotel Elysee, The Jane, and the Greenwich Hotel, BD Hotels is now focusing on growing its first brand, Pod Hotels.
"It's the first thing we've ever done two of," Born said. "I sensed the demand to repeat ourselves after we opened the first Pod in 2007."
The hotels are known primarily for the diminutive sizes of their rooms and thus the name, Pod Hotels. Rooms at the original East 51st Street location in New York City start at just 72 square feet, and at the East 39th Street location, they begin at 90 square feet.
"These aren't small rooms that are cheap," Born said. "The materials we use are very high-end and we've designed the rooms in a meaningfully important way. You're sacrificing space, not quality. There's a niche in the marketplace of people who want high quality
