Brownstone supplied its $2,999-per-bunk bed pods to at least one of the residences now being investigated, Olive Rooms, which opened up a co-living and co-working space in SoMa earlier this year.

Pod hotels have existed in Japan since 1979, when the first one opened in Osaka. But only recently did the pod hotel concept arrive in Boston, when MECO opened in the West End. Here's what it's like.