The largest hotel in the Pod Hotels chain of mini-room
properties has opened in midtown Manhattan.
The Pod Times Square, located on the border of the Hell's
Kitchen neighborhood (about two blocks west of Times Square proper), features a
glass elevator with a shaft that has murals painted by Brooklyn artist JM Rizzi
and a 60-foot-high glass vestibule at the hotel's entrance. Operated by Major
Food Group, the hotel's Tiki Bar is adjacent to the property's third-floor
lobby. An outlet of the Italian casual restaurant Parma is located on the
ground floor.
The 710-room hotel's standard rooms are 110 square feet. The
hotel also has 45 "Pod Pads" ranging from 600 square feet to 800
square feet, rooms meant to appeal to extended-stay guests. The 28-floor hotel has
a top-floor lounge with views of Manhattan's West Side and the Hudson River.
Pod Hotels parent BD Hotels opened its first Pod hotel on
Manhattan's East 51st Street in 2007, and has since added properties in
Manhattan's Murray Hill district as well as Brooklyn and Washington, D.C. The
company is slated to expand to Los Angeles next year.