Japanese ‘smart’ hotel offers self-parking SLIPPERS for guests – is this the future?

IN countries where it’s traditional to take your shoes off when you enter a room, hallways can get very cluttered with rogue shoes.

So a Japanese state-of-the-art hotel has a novel ideal – it’s come up with self-parking slippers.

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The traditional Japanese inn (known as a ryokan) combines traditional hospitality with up-to-the-minute driving technology.

Using automotive systems, slippers at the ProPILOT Park Ryokan "park" themselves at the entrance of the traditional inn at the push of a button, ready for guests to use upon arrival.

The rooms will also come with self-parking tables and floor cushions.

At first glance, the ProPILOT Park Ryokan looks like any other traditional Japanese inn.

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Slippers are neatly lined up at the foyer, where guests remove their shoes.

Tatami rooms are furnished with low tables and floor cushions for sitting.

What sets this ryokan apart is that the slippers, tables and cushions are rigged with a special version of Nissan’s ProPILOT Park autonomous parking technology.

When not in use, they automatically return to their designated spots at the push of a button.

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First introduced in the all-new Nissan LEAF in Japan in October 2017, ProPILOT Park detects surrounding objects and lets drivers automatically park the vehicle in a selected parking space by pressing a button.

The same technology is being used in the amenities at the ProPILOT Park Ryokan during a demonstration to entertain guests and reduce staff workload.

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Nissan spokesman Nick Maxfield said: "The self-parking slippers are meant to raise awareness of automated driving technologies, and their potential, non-driving applications.”

Nissan will offer a free night at the ProPILOT Park Ryokan, located in Hakone, Japan, for one lucky pair of travelers.

For a chance to win, contestants must post on Twitter using the hashtags #PPPRyokan and #wanttostay between January 25 and February 10.