Yotel Extends its Brand
Date: January 2018
Location: Global
News: Yotel has moved into the extended stay segment with the launch of the YotelPad brand, with five confirmed sites in the US, Europe and Middle East.
The first YotelPad properties will be in Switzerland, Dubai, Miami and Park City. The latter location will see the first YotelPad, at Park City Mountain, the largest ski resort in the US. It will be developed by Replay Destinations.
In Switzerland, it was opening two locations in the Geneva Lake district.
Standard rooms will start from 20 sqm, but larger offerings will include work and relaxing areas, en-suite bathrooms, kitchenettes and storage space. Communal areas and amenities can include 24/7 gyms, bike and gear storage, Amazon lockers, laundry, home cinema and library as well as Yotel’s Club Lounge, for co-working, meetings and entertaining friends or colleagues.
Yotel currently have 8 pod-hotel operations in Europe (4), USA (3), and Singapore.
Commenting on the new flag’s ownership structure, Viriot said: “The majority of the brand’s initial developments will be branded residences, meaning the individual units will be sold to owners, either individuals, corporations, or institutional investors, and then those owners have the option to put those units back into the rental market. Upon booking these units, owners will pay a commission to YotelPad for servicing and managing their units.”
The company plans to offer some co-branded sites. Both Yotel Miami and Yotel Dubai will also feature YotelPads. In Miami Yotel will have 258 cabins and 208 Pads, in Dubai there will be 481 Yotel cabins and 101 Pads. Guests staying at both Yotel and YotelPad will share the same Club Lounge, as well as facilities like gyms, bars, restaurants, terraces and pools within the same building.
Viriot confirmed to HA )Hotel Analyst) that IFA Hotels and Resorts was no longer a shareholder but that Talal Jassim Al-Bahar, chairman & CEO of IFA Hotels and Resorts continued as the chairman of the Yotel board. The company’s major shareholders now include the Al-Bahar Group, Starwood Capital Group, United Investment Portugal and Kuwait Real Estate Company.
Yotel had an investment of US$250m from Starwood Capital in 2017 giving it a 30% stake. Hubert Viriot is now CEO.
THPT Comment: Interesting move away from the airport pod hotel concept, where you can hire the bed for a few hours, where Yotelpads will be available for hire for a few weeks! Simon Woodroffe, an entrepreneur and NOT a hotelier opened his first Yotel in 2007 (inside the) London Gatwick airport, having established the Japanese food chain Yo Sushi. we now hear that Simon is already at play in the residential space with his Yo! Home.
First Seen: HA