Yotel, known for its airport hotels styled after first-class airliner cabins, is investing in three more city locations building on the success of the Hell's Kitchen property opened in 2011 with 713 cabins. The new hotels will open in Boston in July with 326 cabins, in Singapore in August with 610 cabins, and San Francisco in September with 203 cabins.
Yotel Air properties are currently in London at both Gatwick and Heathrow; Amsterdam’s Schiphol; and Paris, Charles de Gaulle. The brand has built a following with tech-savvy travelers who prefer luxury to space and need the convenience of speedy self-check-in kiosks, hourly rates for layovers, multiple, convenient charging outlets and, in the New York location, a luggage-storing automated Yobot. The new city Yotels will offer roughly 80 percent Premium cabin-style guest rooms of between 150 to 160 square feet, with a few VIP cabins at 230 square feet in Boston. San Francisco will offer some new loft-style cabins with workspaces.
Like the airport version, the new urban hotels will offer the space-saving smart-bed design, monsoon showers, and smart TVs, but unlike the airport locations they will offer private Club Cabins for hire for shared working areas or meetings, access to the Yotel Club Lounge, and indoor/outdoor terraces for larger events. The New York Yotel has three private Club Cabins for rent; two are 175 square feet, and one is 200 square feet.
The new hotels are part of a large expansion plan to have 12 new Yotel properties in major cities including the hip Clerkenwell neighborhood in London, Miami, Fla., and Dubai, U.A.E., and one new airport location in Singapore Changi Airport, by 2019.
The chain intends to invest $1.5B in the expansion that will increase the number of rooms by more than 250 percent. Hubert Viriot, Yotel CEO, says, “I am confident that by working closely with our experienced partners and investors, we will enter new markets and continue to cater to the modern, tech-savvy global traveller of today.”
