Zip by Premier Inn - At £10 per person per night, is this the future of City Centre hotels?

At the back end of an industrial park in a suburb of Cardiff, one of Britain's leading hotel chains believes it has created the future of low-budget accommodation.

Zip by Premier Inn is now open for business at Roath, northeast of the centre of the Welsh capital, and is offering some rooms costing less than £10 per person per night.

Around half the rooms have a window. Given the drab surroundings in the immediate vicinity guests assigned instead to windowless rooms with a "light box" (offering a variety of colours) may feel more fortunate.

Zip's corporate slogan is: "Small rooms, small prices." The starting price is £19 for one or two people, though The Independent estimates the average room rate will be around £30 - and significantly higher at peak times, such as when sporting events are being held at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

For what could be a prototype for ultra-low-cost hotels across Britain, aircraft interior designers have been drafted in to make the most of a room covering only 8.5 square metres. (In imperial measures, that equates to a square measuring 9ft 6in.)

Into this space have been squeezed two single beds which, if the occupants prefer, can be moved together. 

The bathroom, containing a shower, sink and toilet, has been designed without any sharp corners to make cleaning easier. 

Longer-stay guests can pay an extra £5 if they want their room cleaned more frequently than once every three nights. 

Guests have a choice between free standard wifi and paid "ultimate" internet access. A flat-screen TV hangs from one wall.

The narrow corridors, all in grey, have something of the feel of a cruise ship. Innovative new housekeeping trolleys, designed on a modular system, have been brought in with the aim of keeping costs down.