Skip to main content

These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 each

* NapCity started out smalling private pods travelers could rent to take a rest in airports. * The company pivoted to selling the pod as private, contactless spaces because of the coronavirus pandemic. * They're customizable, and start at $50,000. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Since March of 2020, millions of people around the world have been forced to figure out how to work from home, from improvised office space to quick childcare solutions. NapCity makes tiny pods mostly used in airports, where travelers can take a quick nap on a layover. The COVID-19 pandemic completely upended the travel industry, and the company has pivoted to selling what president Stephen Rosenfeld calls "private space as a service." With travel way down, and many international routes closed, Rosenfeld is pitching his Napcabs as hotels, offices, wellness centers, and anything else that can fit in 50 square feet.  Features that were good for convenience before, like touchless check in and online payments, are now key safety features in high demand. Rosenfeld predicts that more companies will be looking for ways to use tiny spaces like Napcabs. In the past few months, the Internet has been flooded with tiny backyard office designs, so there may be room for more growth in the tiny space industry. Look inside a Napcab here.  SEE ALSO: This 15-sided, 86-square-foot tiny home is designed to be the perfect backyard office for $28,000 — see inside Napcabs started as a convenient option for getting some rest during a layover at an airport. In airports, the 43 square foot pods offered a small area of privacy. They've already been implemented at the Munich and Berlin-Tegel airports, and are coming soon to Frankfurt. They can be reserved online by the hour from about $12 to $18 per hour. The company was also working towards installing Napcabs in airports and hotel chains in the US before COVID-19 hit. Since March, the coronavirus has drastically changed how and when people travel. Now, the company is pivoting to "automated private space as a service model," according to NapCity Americas president Stephen Rosenfeld. The pod comes in a few different versions and can be customized to different situations. If the company creates a partnership with a hotel chain, Napcabs could be rented out as smaller, less expensive hotel stays. The pods could use the same mattress, sheets, and pillows as standard rooms. With experience from Napcabs in airports, check-in and check out could be quick and contactless. The pods can be equipped with secure, touchless payments, facial recognition, and biometrics. The interior and exteriors can both be customized. Some buyers are even interested in franchise options, Rosenfeld told Business Insider. A standard Napcab costs $50,000 with assembly, while the slightly larger ADA compliant pod is $60,000. The design is modular, so single or multi-units sales are both possible. Rosenfeld predicts more industries will continue to turn to private space options like NapCity. "From workspace companies to wellness centers we have the only 'private space in any space' amenity that people want in a world of chaos," Rosenfeld told Business Insider.
https://bit.ly/2XhaBLh

Popular posts from this blog

PayPal parts with top advertising executive after shifting its marketing strategy during the pandemic

* PayPal's chief creative officer Steve Simpson, its top advertising executive, left the company after about a year. * The move came after PayPal shifted its marketing strategy during the coronavirus pandemic, placing less emphasis on the brand and more on catering to small businesses, said a source with direct knowledge of the marketing operation. * Simpson's departure followed that of CMO and former Apple executive Allison Johnson in May. Both "decided to leave PayPal" as the company streamlines its global marketing functions, according to a PayPal spokeswoman. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. PayPal's highest-ranking ad executive Steve Simpson left earlier this month after just over a year as part of a restructuring of its global marketing business. Simpson, who was chief creative officer, was hired to make high-minded ad campaigns to help PayPal stand out from competitors like Square, Stripe, and Apple Pay. But this strategy chan
Read more

Neighbor, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that wants to be the Airbnb of self-storage, has started partnering with landlords to turn empty offices into spaces for people's stuff

* The Airbnb of self-storage, Neighbor, has seen a surge in demand as a result of the pandemic, according to CEO and cofounder Joseph Woodbury.  * The company announced a partnership Tuesday with landlord and operator Bridgeton Holdings to fill vacant office space with self-storage in San Francisco and eventually across the country.  * This comes as the office market has taken a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The coronavirus has accelerated the trend of using under-utilized real estate for other purposes, like turning retail storefronts and parking lots into distribution hubs for e-commerce fulfillment and redeveloping malls into communities by adding residential units. One area of commercial real estate that's in high demand is self-storage. The average spend on construction of new facilities per year jumped to $5 billion in 2018 from $1 billion in 2015. With the coronavirus prompting moves, a likely trigger f
Read more

The machines USPS is removing from distribution centers can sort more than 36,000 pieces of mail per hour. Here's how they work.

* The United States Postal Service has been deactivating mail-sorting machines around the US ahead of the surge expected from mail-in voting this fall, reports say. * Each machine can sort up to 36,000 pieces of mail per hour.  * The machines sort letters, postcards, and other mail by bar code.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Mail-sorting machines used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) have been dismantled and removed from distribution centers around the country, according to postal workers. They told Motherboard that at least 19 machines were removed without explanation. An internal USPS letter from June included a plan to remove hundreds of more mail-sorting machines this year. Postal Workers Union members and some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns about changes to the USPS under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor who started his position this summer. President Trump has attacked the USPS and claimed that voting
Read more