Yotels are far, far more comfortable than morgues. And check-in and check-out times are more flexible. You can stay in them from four hours to 24.

Yotels are also far more spacious than filing cabinet drawers and much better than elongated cat boxes. Pet carriers rarely come equipped with easy connectivity, flat screen TV, ‘techno’ wall, monsoon shower and relaxed mood lighting. As well as towels, complimentary ear plugs, bodywash and shower caps or room service 24/7.

Including a pizza delivery service.

Airport hotels can be very handy for early morning departures and late night arrivals. Or both. But you tend to end up waiting around in the freezing cold at the wrong bus stop for the courtesy shuttle bus which, because of the airport one-way system, takes half an hour to get to your ‘airport perimeter hotel’ when it could have taken you five minutes  to walk or paid £10 to find for you.

The landside Yotels at Gatwick (South Terminal ) and Heathrow (Terminal 4) are inside the airports’ terminals so jetlagged stopover passengers or those on early morning sparrow fart flights only need to muster the energy to climb into a lift or get on an escalator to get a good night’s sleep. You can do it with your eyes closed. You don’t have to spend a layover in a bucket seat.

Air standard cabin

Yotel was created by Dragon in UK BBC2’s Dragons’ Den  and ‘Yo!’ founder  Simon Woodroffe and CEO Gerard Greene. They saw a niche market. Luxury in a smart space. With Middle East funding and working with aircraft cabin designers, Priestman Goode, they radically upgraded the capsule/pod/cheap and therefore very uncomfortable transit hotel template. By providing cosy, only slightly claustrophic, but very convenient first class/business class facilities at an affordable price.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol has an airside Yotel. Seven more Yotels are planned at Paris Charles de Gaulle (2016) and Singapore’s Changi Airport (2018). Five new city hotels are under construction in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Singapore Orchard Road, Miami, San Francisco and Dubai. New York’s Yotel opened in 2011. Only two blocks from Times Square, it has the largest outdoor hotel terrace in Manhattan.

Air standard cabin

The first Japanese capsule hotel opened in Osaka in 1979. The Gatwick Yotel, between ‘WH Smith’ and ‘Costa’, opened in 2007. Breakfast is a green apple, a fruit and almond health bar, a yoghurt, two warm croissants and some Fairtrade orange juice. A porridge pot with golden syrup is also available. It’s all you need.

The Heathrow Yotel is landside on the mezzanine level, only minutes from departure and arrival gates. GM Yiorgos Peroutses and his attentive staff look after everyone. And make sure they don’t wake up looking like they have slept the night in a bucket seat. Or in a mortuary.

It is all about easy connectivity.

Prices start from £32 for a standard cabin for four hours and go up to around £85 for a premium cabin overnight. You can book or check in and out at any time 24/7. Book online at www.yotel.com.

Air premium cabin