The first of the pod-style Jucy Snooze hotels will open at Christchurch Airport in November and in Queenstown in July 2017, while another in Auckland is also on the drawing board.

The hotels will contain hundreds of fibreglass and steel bed capsules stacked bunk-style eight to a room, with a communal bathroom and kitchen/lounge areas. Compact en-suite rooms will also be available.

Jucy has operated a budget Jucy Snooze in Auckland since 2010, mainly aimed at its own rental vehicle customers. It’s achieved more than 85 per cent occupancy. However, it doesn’t feature the new capsules, which measure 1.9m long, 1.1m wide and 1.2m high with a roll-down blind for privacy.

The pods cost between $NZ35 to $NZ45 ($A32.68-$A42.01) per night and can also be rented per hour.

They’re being made by the company’s Auckland manufacturing division, Jucy By Design, which also produces its distinctive green and purple campervans.

It’s a concept that has been trialled in China and Japan and the $NZ9 million, 271-bed hotel leased for 15 years from Christchurch Airport will be the first in Australasia. Jucy is paying for the $NZ1 million fit-out.

Jucy was co-founded in 2001 by brothers Tim and Dan Alpe initially as a campervan company with its brand led by the 1950s pin-up girl Lucy. It started out with 35 vehicles and now has 3500 and has grown to a sizeable company by New Zealand standards, with multiple interests.

It has since expanded into rental cars, a cruise boat at Milford Sound, coaches, hotels, and a new tourism app, Skoot, developed with Tourism Radio and Spark’s app company Putti.

The 256-bed Queenstown hotel will be part of an existing building owned by local property developer Ian Hamilton on a long-term lease. Queenstown has had shortages in tourism accommodation over the peak season.

-AAP