Capsules being trialled at Hajj 2018

Source: KSA Center for Government Communication.
Capsules are being trialled as Hajj accommodation.

The Saudi Hadiyah Association is experimenting with portable fibreglass capsules for Hajj pilgrims to sleep and stay in as part of efforts to serve more people in the same space.

The capsules are light and measure 2.64 sq m with a height of 1.2 m. Designed to provide privacy, safety, and hotel-like facilities with smart electronic controls, the capsules can also be stacked side by side and up to two units high.

Bathrooms will be in separate units, while luggage will be stored in external lockers. Entry will be by magnetic card, but doors will automatically open if the power goes out.

“The hotel capsule is designed to serve Hajj guests by providing an efficient and ideal economic solution in crowded places,” said the association President Mansour Al-Amer. “It will feature most required facilities, including showers, irons, storage space, and safe deposit boxes.”

Al-Amer said 24 hotel capsules will be studied and examined in the field by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute. Twenty-four units will be located in Mina, and expected to be used by elderly and exhausted pilgrims.

The Institute has already conducted controlled experiments for the capsule in the last 10 days of the past Ramadhan.