Development

Yotel puts franchising at heart of global expansion strategy

Yotel is positioning its new franchise offering as a major growth lever as it looks to hit 50 hotels across the world by 2025.

Its first UK franchise property opened at the start of November in Manchester following an acquisition by Tristan Capital Partners. It is the third franchise agreement for the brand following the recent openings of Yotel Porto and YotelPad Park City. 

The Manchester property is the group’s fourth hotel opening in the UK in under two years and rebranding of the hotel is due to be completed in Q1 2022.

Yotel operates in city centre and airport locations. New projects under development globally, including Porto, Dubai, Geneva, Long Island City, Miami, Mammoth, Atlanta and Melbourne. 

Yotel’s major shareholders include a controlled affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, the Talal Jassim Al-Bahar Group, United Investment Portugal and Kuwait Real Estate Company (AQARAT).

What They Said

Hubert Viriot, CEO of Yotel: “Yotel Manchester contributes to the more than 1,000 keys in our UK portfolio and is testament to the continuation of our expansion plans in the UK and Europe whether through new builds, franchise agreements or hotel and other conversions. We are looking forward to emulating this strategy in other key European cities.”

Rohan Thakkar, SVP development and technical services: “Launching Yotel’s franchising business model in the UK and Europe comes at an opportune time as investors look towards partnering with unique brands which are best positioned for the post-Covid world. With our transparent fee structure and owner focused approach, we believe that franchising will become a key growth strategy for Yotel.”