Sleep Your Way To and From San Francisco and Los Angeles in ‘Cabin,’ an RV-Like Hotel
It’s like the knight bus from Harry Potter.
The trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco is a slog. In a car, you’re treated to the wide and wondrous sights of barren desert along California’s 5. A plane ride isn’t better as dealing with LAX and SFO might as well be the tenth circle of hell. And if you mention rail, we’re going to snicker in your face. As such, the people behind Cabin, believe they’ve figured out the best solution for the trip: a mobile hotel.
Cabin first launched its double-decker traveling hotel in 2017. At launch, the top floor was built for guests to lounge, get work done, and socialize with other passengers. The bottom floor was reserved for sleeping accommodations with small ship-like bunks ready to make the trip a true snooze. However, after the first year of service and listening to what its customers wanted, liked, and disliked, as well as thorough renovation, Cabin is back and supposedly better than ever.
According to Mashable, the company found that lounging and guest interaction wasn’t really wanted by their guests from the service. Rather, as you’d expect, they just wanted to go to sleep in either San Francisco or Los Angeles and wake up in the other city feeling refreshed and ready for whatever they had planned. What they wanted is a red-eye like experience with the comfort of a bed.
Cabin’s CEO told the site, "They just want to go to bed." As such, the top floor of the mobile hotel was gutted and made to mirror the bottom level’s bunks. However, there’s no longer a floor separating the top and bottom levels. Now, the bunks are stacked atop each other and guests climb into and out of their cubbies. Passengers can also choose a “bump-canceling” bed, which mitigates the bumps and undulations of the path chosen to and from cities.
The lighting throughout has been changed to be more similar to candlelight, dim and soothing, and even the host—driver—has been told to speak in more hushed tones that help lull passengers to sleep. The service also includes earplugs, melatonin gummies, water, slippers, and before you reach your destination and similar to that of business- or first-class on a plane, a hot-towel service. There’s also a bathroom with a vanity that’s large enough for toiletries, another upgrade from the previous design as Cabin’s team found that people were using it to get ready.
As for price, Cabin’s rooms start at $119 per trip and up to 22 people can be sleeping their way to and from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Whether this service catches on is anyone’s guess, though given we’ve made this trip at least a hundred or so times between the entirety of our staff, we could definitely see it improving our moods upon our arrival. That said, we may miss plowing through the night in total darkness with the radio cranked and a couple of cups of coffee to our side.
