Yotel has announced plans for its first property in Australia, located within walking distance of Melbourne’s central business district.
The 244-room Yotel Melbourne is scheduled to open in 2022, on City Road in the city’s Southbank district.
Facilities will include the group’s signature Komyuniti public space for co-working, informal meetings and relaxing, as well as an outdoor terrace, gym, and viewing deck with restaurant and bar.
Commenting on the news Hubert Viriot, CEO of Yotel said:
“Over the past two years, we have been actively searching for the right locations and partners to roll out our brands in Australia, a key market for our global expansion and a key feeder market for our hotels in the US, Singapore and the UK.
“With solid market fundamentals and global appeal, Melbourne is the perfect gateway to launch our first property in the country. Moreover, we are delighted to enter the market with (owner and developer) Cornerstone Partners Group, an international leader in hospitality and real estate investments.”
“Australia is a very sophisticated hotel market with strong stakeholders; however, we believe the affordable luxury segment has been underserved and that’s what Yotel intends to solve.
“Yotel Melbourne will serve as a launching pad for our brand across the country, following a similar strategy as what we did in the USA, where we first opened a property in New York in 2011 and now have ten hotels under management with extensive operational synergies and strong distribution channels.
“We are already exploring development opportunities in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and we are confident we will soon have a robust hotel pipeline in place, targeting both our international customer base as well as the domestic market.”
The Yotel brand launched in 2007 at Gatwick airport, and there are currently 30 properties either operating or under development, with plans to increase this to 60 by 2023.
The group’s first Yotelpad is set to open in Switzerland next year, and Yotelair properties recently opened at Istanbul and Singapore Changi’s airports.
For a review of the Yotelair Changi Airport, see:
Yotel said it plans to bring all three of its brands to the Asia-Pacific region, with Jason Chong, CEO, Cornerstone Partners Group (owner and developer of the Yotel Melbourne) commenting:
“Our group is focused on finding gaps in the hospitality markets across Asia Pacific. In Australia, we believe there is an avenue for disruptive brands such as Yotel, which offer something completely new to the market.
“We were also impressed by Yotel’s global development pipeline, focused on key gateway markets, which fits perfectly with our strategy, therefore it was only natural to join forces on our first project in Australia in Melbourne, one of the country’s most cosmopolitan and urbanised cities.”
