Hotel in Tokyo installs flight simulator in room (2019) | Hacker News Reader

Hotel in Tokyo installs flight simulator in room (2019)

businesstraveller.com

114 pointsmmhsieh52 comments

> however, guests staying for a night in the twin bed room can’t sit in the pilot’s seat or “touch the instruments”, according to the hotel. A “transparent acrylic board” will separate the cockpit from the room.

So it's kind of like a minibar in your room, only instead of dispensing liquor, it dispenses 737-800 simulator hours.

At least you can drink the liquor ;)

"It was installed to celebrate the hotel’s 15th anniversary."

AKA - The owner really wanted to figure out a way to expense a new flight simulator.

[Note: I have no clue about tax law in japan... that was mostly a joke because I don't see how this would ever recoup the cost.]

Especially at the seemingly-very-reasonable ~$225 for a 90 minute "lesson."

What the hell's the point if you can't book this room and use the sim all day?

Yeah, didn't really understand the 90 minute limitation. Wouldn't it be better to allow the guest to play as long they want once the guided session is over.

The 90 minutes is probably with the instructor, who will also prevent you from damaging things.

Most of the things in hotel rooms are replaceable. This is arguably not as replaceable as towels or a mattress.

Probably helps electricity usage too, even though that's probably small to a hotel for even 24 hours usage.

It's a hotel, people would immediately use that cockpit for all sorts of things that are hard to clean and could damage the equipment.

ding ding ding!!

Japan

Yeah. But uh, if that's the case wouldn't this make more sense in a lobby?

That is bizarre.

If I want to pay to use a flight simulator, why would I pay to use one in a hotel room of all places?!

Why a flight sim in your hotel room? Well, they probably have Densha de Go!! across the street from where you live anyway, so there's no point in having a train simulator in there... :)

Seriously though, since it's marketed toward flight enthusiasts (they said it's a differentiation ploy), I think it'd be pretty fun to get a personalized flight lesson right in your room, with a setup like that. A unique experience, more like a weekend specialty camp/training event. For that reason, maybe it's all the more desirable than a simple hotel room stay.

Meh, I still don't get it.

I used to be a flight sim junkie, and I could totally get it if you had use of the simulator for the duration of your stay - that would be amazing!

As the offer is though, it's weird. I pay extra to use the simulator for a short time, then I get to stay in the same room and state at it, wishing I had more time using it. Very odd!

I suspect this is some regulatory trickery. Maybe they are licensed as a "hotel" and not a flight training facility or arcade. So maybe they have to keep the "room" available.

In the early days of pay-per-view movies, some hotels became essentially small theaters where people would rent the room simply to access the content available in-room. It was easier to get a permit as a hotel than as some other types of businesses.

I bet pilots staying overnight in Tokyo after 12-20+ hour flights would love this room that way they can continue working in the comfort of their own bedrooms.

I don't hire any pilots that don't have significant side project flight hours on their resume.

Does playing Ace Combat count?

What? I won't even set foot in a plane whose pilot hasn't posted their VATSIM [1] Twitch [2] or recordings [3]. How else would I know they can actually fly!?

I have a horrible ear for radio communications, so until I figure out how to learn to parse what I'm listening to one of these days, I can't get into what appears to be a really, really cool sim experience I'd love to play with someday.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Air_Traffic_Simulation...

[2] https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/VATSIM/videos/all

[3] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtO_n5SzuAacXKQYoKQY4...

Out of curiousity, how many pilots do you regularly hire?

Our hiring pipeline sifts through many candidates but so far none have been the 10x pilots our organization requires. We only hire the best.

Between autopilot and remote control, it's not too much of a stretch imagining one guy in an office making sure 10 autopiloted planes do what they are supposed to. Maybe have to make sure none of them take off or land at the same time.

That would be the Air Traffic Controller.

I meant a person replacing all the pilots, not assisting them.

What helped me to find the best of the best is also filtering by youtube comments.

Someone on the internet compared it to code reviews from the software engineering world.

Makes sense.

For the train otaku of HN - https://global.trainhostelhokutosei.com/

That is awesome. I took the Super Hokuto from Hakodate to Sapporo last year, some of the most incredible scenery of my life.

It is hard not to become a train enthusiast in Japan, especially when armed with a rail pass. I would essentially wake up in the morning, decide where to go, within the hour I had tickets and was on a train. Book a cheap hotel on the train ride, enjoy the new city until I felt like another train ride. Effortless and perfect for the unplanning wanderer.

do you know Japanese? how feasible would this be without knowing Japanese? It sounds awesome

Not OP, but for the most part you can get around fine without knowing Japanese. In two trips across Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Gunma, and Sapporo, the only transportation there wasn't any English for was a normal bus route in Sapporo; all other modes of major transportation, even buses in major cities, have English announcements and visual indicators.

For the bus I mentioned though, I just used Google Maps/GPS on my phone and guesstimated where to pull the stop request cord, etc.

For communicating with people, Google Translate works decently well. Obviously knowing Japanese would be ideal, and you should learn a few phrases, but it's ok to use Google as needed.

Can't speak for super rural areas, though.

Very encouraging, thanks for sharing.

I did something similar without knowing a word of Japanese. Google maps was super helpful as it knows everything about train schedules, platforms... It can be as easy as following the blue dot.

The rail pass gives you a lot of freedom since it allows you to hop on a Shinkanen without booking your seat in advance.

Ah that's perfect. I always wonder how reliable maps systems are in other countries, so this is really helpful. Thanks!

Definitely feasible, I didn't know any Japanese. There is English almost everywhere and many people are happy to be practicing their English with you.

Though I ended up learning some phrases while there so I could be more polite. The restaurant protocol really helped, and "sorry", "excuse me", "thank you", "hello", "goodbye" were all helpful.

The trouble with using only some Japanese is you will get a reply in Japanese and not understand it, so sometimes it's best just to be up front that you don't know it.

The trains themselves are effortless once you do your first one. You quickly learn the floor markings on the platform, and you can't mess it up too badly because if you miss one, the next one isn't far behind.

That sounds great, especially the trains part. Glad to know it's a nice place to travel. Thanks!

This...actually sounds really nice. Why didn't I think of this when I was there before?

Or you know.. Book a sleeper car.

https://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/english/

But Why?

In high school when I studied Japanese I learnt of these gaming parlours that had pachinko machines. You’d purchase a bucket of metal ball bearings and pour them in and they’d fairly randomly get stuck and flow through and may release other balls that are stuck there. I learnt that when you win you can swap your winnings for a teddy bear from the prize cabinet.

Only years later did I find out that the real system was you could then take the teddy across the street and swap it for CASH. The teddy bear was a front for what was really going only, but in the process everyone saved face.

I suspect a similar thing is happening here.

That's because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, you buy balls, and win balls, exchange those balls for tokens. Then across the street, you can exchange those tokens for prizes / cash, thereby circumventing the law. It has nothing to do with saving face, it's a loophole to allow for gambling.

You can't use it. A bit pointless then!

I think they would literally get more bookings if they just installed wrap-around screens like that but with Microsoft Flight Simulator / joystick/keyboard.

I concur, when clicking the link I genuinely thought they installed Microsoft flight simulator, which really made me follow the link.

Boeing has found their new revenue model.

Boeing's flight simulator probably crashes.

I think the idea of hotel rooms with high end simulators for driving, flying and other stimulants is a fabulous business idea and excellent for places of low scenic interest, ie you go and stay a weekend racing, drinking, eating and sleeping in your room.

I remember going to a hotel as a kid where each room had some sort of theme (tropical, polar, etc. at West Edmonton Mall). It would be really neat if you could select an experience that has different levels of technology instead.

The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo also has this room theming:

https://www.madonnainn.com/viewrooms

In the future, AI overlords will determine that it is inefficient to drive airplanes, and will instead put humans in what they'll call a cockpit.

This room is where they'll be raised, before ready for service.

Made me think of Enders Game.

2020 works from home version for pilots and flight attendants.

Tokyo always coming up with the coolest things to attract tourists

I still don't really get the appeal of civilian flight sim-ing. I like playing with the systems in DCS, but ultimately the end game there is to shoot each other. Usually, I can never sit there flying whereas I will spend hours lapping in rfactor2 or similar - in large part because if you're in an online race, you know that you are racing a human that you have to outbrake or outsmart.

Then again, racing cars is a lot cheaper than owning a plane.

That’s a valid way to play, but not everyone is playing video games for intellectual stimulation. A lot of people play to relax, not to compete.

Look up Euro Truck Simulator. Some people just like fiddling with complex systems and relaxing with some sights and sounds.

If you can't get into flight simulators, just wait until you see the train simulators that are popular in arcades in Japan.

https://kotaku.com/japan-still-makes-the-best-train-games-17...

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