Yotel confident of fast Asia expansion with first opening in Singapore

brendan-daly_yotel

Daly: Yotel Singapore will showcase to Asia the Yotel concept

YOTEL, pioneer of sleek, digital-driven ‘cabin’ accommodation, is confident of expanding rapidly in Asia following the opening of the first Yotel in the region in Singapore early next year.

The 610-cabin Yotel Singapore, located on Orchard Road next to the Thai Embassy, is looking to charge a rate of S$200 (US$148) to S$240, according to its newly-appointed general manager, Brendan Daly.

The Yotel concept is new to most Asian customers. Currently, there are only four properties in operation, the flagship Yotel New York and three Yotel Air at London Heathrow and Gatwick and Amsterdam Schipol. The company’s CEO, Hubert Viriot, unveiled this new brand architecture to TTG Asia e-Daily, saying going forward, the brand Yotel will comprise city hotels while Yotel Air will be airport hotels. A third brand, to be announced, will cover serviced apartments.

Viriot and Daly are going all out to ensure Yotel Singapore will showcase Yotel as the best-in-class provider of affordable luxury accommodation. Said Daly: “As it is the first Asian property, it has to showcase the Yotel concept, which is about giving people the experience they want.

Affordable hotels have been around but other brands tend to dumb down. Our room may be 14m2, but we make it count and our R&D is on guest comfort for the 21st century traveller – mattress, monsoon rain shower, no long queues, high technology, etc. It appeals to the digital-driven, smart traveller of any age, both leisure and corporate clients.”

The first hotel will set the tone for the brand in Asia and open the eyes of Asian consumers to the brand, added Viriot, who is confident it will be the catalyst for more Yotels in the region once consumers and the investment community see and experience it.

Viriot said the company was eyeing 50 hotels by 2020 and “not less than a quarter of this will be in Asia”.

Currently, Yotel has a pipeline of 12 hotels, two of which are Yotel Air (one at Paris Charles de Gaulle opening next month and the other at Changi Airport to open in 2018). Of the 10 Yotels, four have just been signed – in Dubai, Riyadh, Geneva and London – and the other six are being developed in Boston, San Francisco, Williamsburg Brooklyn, all opening in 2017; Miami (2018), Yotel Singapore and Yotel Dubai opening in 2018, which will also be its first serviced apartment product.

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