Zoku International Set Plans to Open 50 hotels in the next 10 Years

Date: 2017…updated April 2018

Location: HQ Amsterdam, The Netherlands…Looking at Copenhagen, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, London, Manchester and Hamburg for their new hotels.

Name: Zoku, a true combination of work space and living quarters – serviced apartments with a twist…co-founded by Hans Meyer and Marc Jongerius, who started the company in 2014 and opened the first Zoku in Amsterdam in 2016.

News: Amsterdam-based hotel group Zoku International appointed Christoph Hager as its new rollout lead for Europe. Hager, who will be based in Amsterdam, will spearhead the growth of the company’s presence in Europe through leases, management agreements and select joint ventures.

Hager has more than 12 years of experience in hospitality real estate and hotel operations. He has held deal making and key underwriting roles in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Hager established and led a Starwood team based in Dubai for the Middle East and Africa in his most recent role at the company. He received a tourism diploma from Cesar Ritz Colleges Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree in hospitality business management from Washington State University.

To date Zoku has been privately funded through family and friends but €300,000 was crowdfunded in just 21 minutes from people in its target audience.

Zoku International faced a setback in early February 2018 when the Manchester City Council planning committee refused to approve a proposal to develop a 13-storey Zoku hotel in Shudehill, Manchester’s Northern Quarter, according to a report from Place North West.

In November 2017 that the planning committee deferred the project due to the lack of parking and to schedule a site visit.

The committee vetoed the project for a second time in December 2017 due to concerns over the building’s height, waste disposal strategy, impact on the surrounding neighbours and the loss of the site’s existing buildings.

The council ultimately refused the proposals, despite recommendations from the committee’s planning offices.

THPT Comment: Ironic, in Manchester they didn’t like that there wasn’t enough parking…in London planning consents are not allowing parking for hotels in, say Wimbledon, where it’s an obvious requirement – business-people coming up for the week, parking their car at the hotel and using public transport to do their business….

First Seen: Hotel Management