International real estate and resort developer IFA Hotels & Resorts (IFA HR) has announced that it will expand its YOTEL brand into Asia with a city-centre location on Orchard Road in the epicentre of Singapore.
Talal Al-Bahar, Chairman and Group CEO, IFA HR stated: “With each new location announcement, we see YOTEL fulfilling its potential to not only lead the airport hotel category, but to also create and dominate an entirely new category of affordable luxury within the competitive set for city-centre hotels.”
The revolutionary hotel concept can now add Singapore to its existing footprint, which already encompasses airport hotels in London Heathrow, Gatwick, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and a 669-cabin city-centre property, two blocks west of Times Square in New York City.
Scheduled to open in 2018, the 600-cabin YOTEL Singapore will be located at 360 Orchard Road, in the heart of the vibrant city, making it perfect for both business and leisure visitors to Singapore. A management agreement for the property has been signed with Yat Yuen Hong Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Fok Corporation Limited.
Gerard Greene Co-Founder and CEO of YOTEL, said of the announcement, “Given YOTEL is heavily inspired by Asian culture, it is fantastic that we are launching such an iconic project as our first in Asia. The location is one of the best in Singapore and we have fantastic partners in Hong Fok Group that share our vision.”
Inspired by first-class airline travel, YO! Founder, Simon Woodroffe OBE and YOTEL CEO Gerard Greene conceived the innovative YOTEL cabins to provide a flexible and convenient ‘first class’ hotel experience at affordable prices. The cabins are uncompromisingly designed to provide guests a bigger experience in a smaller space. The cabins feature luxury bedding, rejuvenating monsoon rain showers, relaxing purple mood lighting and YOTEL’s ‘techno wall’ with flat screen TV, multi power points and iPod connectivity.
The Singapore hotel will have YOTEL’s signature elements of its flagship ‘city’ properties and will include a Club Lounge space with ‘Club cabins’ that double up as meeting and work spaces during the day, transforming to a restaurant/bar space in the evenings and weekends, and a large outdoor terrace space with a pool and a gym.
Whether or not YOTEL Singapore will choose to replicate ‘YOBOT’ – the now infamous ‘world’s first’ luggage storing robot, which has become an attraction in its own right and is a permanent feature at YOTEL New York, is yet to be decided.
“YOTEL Singapore will be the brand’s springboard into Asia,” said Joe Sita, CEO of IFA Hotel Investments. “To call London, New York, Amsterdam and Singapore home is a dream for any brand. For YOTEL to expand to these locations as such a young brand simply reaffirms our belief that YOTEL represents the future of hospitality.”
YOTEL’s unique hotel experience will be a first for Singapore, a harbinger of a new era offering affordable luxury is the Asian hospitality sector.
“The beauty of YOTEL is that it’s a streamlined concept that’s flexible enough to work almost anywhere. At its heart is logic and luxury, which is what makes it such a brilliant investment for us. Whether you’re a businessperson, tourist, financier, investor or environmentalist – YOTEL delivers,” Al-Bahar concludes.
