Crouch and crawl into the future. Australia's first capsule hotel has opened in Sydney CBD and is offering space travel-inspired accommodation at a price point between a hostel and an Airbnb.

Originating in Japan in the late 1970s, the concept of self-contained pods has slowly spread across the world and has now appeared on George Street in the form of The Capsule Hotel.

Sitting above Bar Century, it consists of large rooms packed with up to 18 futuristic-looking pods, each featuring an LCD TV and a control panel with a climate control knob, USB port, headphone jack and a universal power point, among other things.

"I don't know why it took someone so long to open one here, especially considering how expensive Sydney is," said manager James Oliver, sitting cross-legged inside a pod. "It'll take off – it's a big step up from backpackers."