Citizen M announces London and New York expansion

“Budget luxury” hotel brand Citizen M has opened its latest property in the Scottish city of Glasgow, and has announced four new properties in London and New York, with future plans for China, Hong Kong, Paris, Milan and Zurich. The group already has two established hotels in Amsterdam – one at the airport and one in the city centre (for a review of the latter click here) - and has now opened its third property in Glasgow. The eight-floor Citizen M Glasgow is located on the corner of Hope and Renfrew streets within walking distance of both Queen and Central train stations, and features 198 rooms, a bar, cafeteria CanteenM, and several public lounge areas with designer furniture. Rooms have king-size beds with Sealy mattresses, wall-to-wall windows, Philips mood pads which control the room’s technology,  integrated bathrooms, cupboard and built-in workdesk, and power rain showers. Designer influences include a double-heighted glazed red entrance with a red spiral staircase leading to the lobby, an oversize mesh artwork by Glaswegian artist Alex Dordoy on the hotel’s façade, and a back gate with a striped pattern paying homage to the ridges on the vinyl record of the track “I Belong to Glasgow,” by 1920s Glaswegian musician Will Fyffe. Citizen M has also announced two forthcoming properties in London, one close to the Tate Modern and South Bank due to open next year, and a second in Tower Hill due to open in time for the 2012 Olympic Games. The group will also open two new hotels in New York on 50th and Broadway near Times Square and in Bowery, close to Soho and the Lower East Side. The group says that it is also “focusing on China and Hong Kong, and actively scouting building sites in Paris, Milan and Zurich”. For more information visit citizenm.com. To read our update on the growing budget and limited service hotel market, see the September 2010 issue of Business Traveller, and to read our report on Glasgow’s transformation from industrial centre to events powerhouse, see the July / August 2010 issue. Report by Mark Caswell