Yotel to Expand Internationally in Airports and City Centers

Yotel, the bright purple hotel brand, announced plans to expand to additional airports and city centers.

Five hotels are scheduled to open in New York's Williamsburg neighborhood, San Francisco's Mid-Market neighborhood, Miami, Singapore, and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport by 2018.

Yotel currently has four properties at London Heathrow, Gatwick Airport, Amsterdam Schiphol, and in New York City. It first took the concept out of airport terminals and into city centers in 2011 with a 669-room property in Times Square. Since that time, demand for a relatively new category of design-friendly budget hotels, including citizenM, easyHotel, Pod Hotel, and Alt Hotel has taken off.

These brands offer a minimalist product while keeping young travelers’ desire for smart design and easy connectivity in mind. Rooms are smaller, plugs are prolific, common spaces are large, and most services are self-sufficient. A Hotel News Now article referred to customers as the “no-frill chic” audience last year.

Although Yotel CEO Hubert Viriot’s comments that rooms are “on par or superior to most upscale hotels” and “guest experiences are…remindful of first class travel” seem inflated, the brand has established a reputation enabling it to expand internationally.