Throughout COVID-19, countless were the days I daydreamed of a thoroughly equipped, indulgent hotel suite. I wasn't the only one, I am sure. But as I look back at those uncannily monotonous months, where most weeks blended in with the previous one, and the one before that, I realize why that was the case: for nearly two years, my whole life had been reduced to the four walls of my shared rental in London. What I was after, then, wasn't — forgive the overused expression — a 'home away from home', but a place that felt nothing like it; a fantasy world, with never-ending beds, crisply fresh linens, soothing sunken baths, and evocative decor, along with an extravagant breakfast buffet to rejoice at and pick from.
Five years fast-forward and a few trips down the line, and travelers are back demanding a cozy, familiar, and relatable setting from their holiday stays, seeking destinations that nail the balance between laid-back comfort and sophistication. But what if I told you that one of the best New York design hotels, and one of the most recently inaugurated ones, too, Now Now NoHo, manages to score high on all of the above (and beyond) while welcoming travelers in 32-sqft 'sleeper cabin'-style rooms?
To habitués of The Mark Hotel and its namesake 10,000-sqft and 15-room penthouse, one of the Big Apple's most expansive vacation homes, this will sound ludicrous. For Islyn Studio's Ashley Wilkins, on the other hand, the interior designer who brought Now Now NoHo to completion, "the spatial constraints became an opportunity for intimacy and immersion".
"Designing cabins that are that small demanded creative problem-solving on every level, but that challenge was also the most exciting part of the project," she tells me in an email exchange. Rather than preventing the studio from expressing themselves as they would in larger environments, "it forced us to innovate, distill, and choreograph movement and flow with surgical precision," the founder adds.
Launched on April 1, the 180-micro-room stay couldn't have landed at a better time. Part of the Dovetail + Co award-winning portfolio, Now Now NoHo arrives at a moment when solo explorations are at an all-time high, as we anticipated would happen in our Travel Trends 2025 report earlier this year.
The quirky-chic Lower Manhattan answer to the booming capsule hotels of Tokyo, where guests sleep in Space Age-y, 'pod'-like bedrooms at a fraction of the price of more generous accommodations, as far as attention to detail goes, the bold New Yorkese hotspot has nothing to envy from the finest Japanese getaways.
But capsule hotels and all things Japanese style decor, it turns out, aren't the only ones to be trending: at the time of writing, a very quick look at Now Now NoHo's search volume reveals that some 4,400 internet surfers look it up monthly, with a spiking interest of — you read it right — +47,186% registered over the last 12 months.
Ashley, who first connected with Dovetail + Co's founder and CEO, Phil Hospod, through a mutual friend in 2019, and shares his ambition to drive hospitality forward through storytelling, considers the triumphant comeback of solo travel a symptom of the contemporary era.
"In a world saturated by overstimulation, there's a growing desire to unplug, reconnect, and move through space with intention," she explains. Within that framework, "train and solo travel represent a kind of modern-day pilgrimage — freedom, self-discovery, and nostalgia wrapped into one." It is a longing Islyn Studio made even more tangible by crafting Now Now NoHo as "both a physical and emotional journey".
Informed by the Golden Age of rail travel, the adventures and tightly grandiose volumes that shaped people's experiences of it, every corner of the hotel is envisioned "to echo that feeling of being in transit — between places, between versions of yourself, and between strangers who might just become friends," Ashley says.
Despite their humble dimensions, every room at Now Now NoHo are thoroughly engineered "sanctuaries". From custom-built furniture to integrated tech accessories, every inch of them has been considered. "Open ceilings with acoustic baffles allow air and light to circulate without sacrificing intimacy, while the public areas serve as extensions of the guest experience," the designer adds.
A minutious exercise in marrying practicality with the bohemian spirit of ultra-contemporary Art Deco, the sleeper cabins, some of which bear original mural walls by local artists, channel "the cozy anonymity of European train cars", with burnt red and cream, stripy textiles and pale wood interiors that are as essential as they are cinematic.
One detail worth noting, equally striking, 'shared, but private' bathrooms that mimic the curated feel and functionality of en-suite facilities without disrupting the sojourn's pocket-plan are available to everyone downstairs.
As for the remaining bijou, communal spaces, all champagne glazed tiling, stained glass, and sculptural design accents — Oscar Piccolo's curiously wavy Lampada Cappello table lamp being my personal favorite — they are the perfect liminal area to "spark spontaneous connection". Textured, moody, and designed for gathering, they elevate solitude and favor socialization.
Sitting where SoHo, the Lower East Side, the East Village, and the West Village converge, Now Now NoHo isn't just perfectly timely; it's also brilliantly located. Developing its vision, Ashley recounts, couldn't forego the neighborhood's reputation as "a crucible for counterculture and creativity".
In researching its history, the lives of cultural icons like John Giorno and Andy Warhol, whose contribution to The Bunker on the Bowery revolved around transforming his home into a vibrant artistic hub and archive showcasing his work as well as his contemporaries', stood out. Their dedication to fostering a community of avant-garde artists and poets, Islyn Studio's founder adds, lives on in the hotel design, "its blurred boundaries, unexpected juxtapositions, and in the invitation to connect with oneself, or others, in meaningful ways".
Transportative, otherworldly, and forward-thinking, Now Now NoHo might not meet the demands of every traveler, particularly those accustomed to sweeping sojourns. For its designer, though, "it is uniquely attuned to the rhythms of contemporary life". Rooted in the symbolism of dreams, the stay gives free rein to the subconscious, breaking with the pre-fixed patterns of routine to seamlessly invoke awe, introspection, surprise, awakening, and adventure. Because "even the smallest spaces can hold the biggest transformations".
