CitizenM Targets U.S. for Next Wave of Expansion

Just because Europe’s largest hotel company has a hard time expanding in the U.S. doesn’t mean America is giving the cold shoulder to all international brands.

Dutch hotel company CitizenM is in major growth mode, as evidenced by two personnel changes this week as well as a $1 billion capital raise announced late last year. Along with naming Hendrik Jan Roel as its new chief financial officer, CitizenM promoted Ernest Lee — most recently the company’s managing director for the Americas — as its first ever chief growth officer. 

The new position makes sense, as CitizenM’s global expansion is picking up major steam in the U.S.

“Our development portfolio is quite advanced at this point, with a presence in most of the top U.S. and European hotel markets,” Lee said via email to Skift. “There are a few more cities we'd like to be in, but top of mind right now is growing our customer base to fill these new properties — particularly in the U.S.”

CitizenM is part of the wave of so-called micro-hotels, where rooms ar