Tiny room hotel may be coming to San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An ultra-modern, futuristic looking, new micro hotel may be coming to San Francisco. The hotel itself isn't tiny, but the rooms are.

The development property is the Grant building at Market and 7th Street. It's been boarded up since 2011, after a failed attempt by the former owner to turn it into a night club and hostel.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Synapse Capital has purchased the grant and will work with Yotel, a London-based company, to convert the 110-year-old tower into a futuristic micro-hotel.

Yotel has just one other property like this in the country, located in New York's Time Square.

Some people have compared the rooms to capsule hotels you might find in Japan. ABC7 News showed pictures of the Yotel in New York to frequent travelers at San Francisco International Airport to see what they think.

Traveler Michaku Yamori said, "Wow. That is actually very high end for a capsule hotel."

Traveler Shin Tsruta said, "Oh that's a capsule hotel? Japanese capsule hotels are more small."

The big selling point of Japanese capsule hotels is how inexpensive they are. But the planned Yotel rooms are not that small and they won't be so cheap.

Claudia Renert, who was traveling to Tokyo, said, "If it's economical it'd be great for younger people traveling. I think it would be fun to stay in one, a new experience and if the price is right, why not?"

The ultra-modern property in New York has 170-square foot rooms going for about $170 a night and up. It is likely prices will be slightly less in San Francisco.