IFA looks to launch region's first Yotel this year
EXCLUSIVE: Kuwait-based developer IFA Hotels & Resorts is in talks to bring radical cabin-concept hotel brand Yotel to the Middle East.
The firm is likely to announce the region’s first Yotel within the next three to six months, according to IFA Hotel Investments president Joe Sita.
“We are in active discussions with a couple of parties here. The whole thing is going well and I think within the next three to six months we might be able to announce some very interesting and exciting projects for Yotel in this region,” Sita told Hotelier Middle East.
Created by Yo! Founder Simon Woodroffe and CEO Gerard Greene in the UK, the affordable Yotel hotel room concept was inspired by small-but-luxurious cabins found in first-class airline travel. Typical brand features include automated check-in and out, free wi-fi, monsoon showers, flat-screen TVs and workstations.
Sita labelled the UAE as a “definite” spot for Yotel, with the firm targeting Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“We’re also talking about some in Saudi Arabia - Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca and so forth - those are a little further out but they’re a key target for us,” he added.
The brand is also being expanded in North America with a partnership between Yotel, IFA Hotels & Resorts, Kuwait Real Estate Co. and The John Buck Co. announced yesterday (June 6) to raise US $250 million discretionary private equity fund with the goal of acquiring and developing more than $650 million worth of Yotel hotels in North America over the next three to five years.
Sita told Hotelier regional growth plans for the brand had "gained momentum" since the opening of the first city Yotel in New York in June 2011.
"We have been focused on opening and stabilising New York which has gone extremely well for us. The projects we’re currently looking at are with other partners who have seen our urban model in New York, understood it well and seen how well it’s been accepted in the marketplace and really see great opportunities for it here [in the Middle East].
"It’s one thing to show somebody a concept on a brochure and another to have them touch and feel the results," he added.