Bob W expands presence in Estonia via acquisition

Short-stay, alternative accommodations operator Bob W has acquired Estonia’s short-stay serviced apartment operator, Estonishing Stay Apartments. The acquisition bolsters Bob W's presence in the country, where is already has one property. Estonishing Stay Apartments lists five Estonian accommodations on its website, four in the capital city of Tallinn and the other in Tartu.

Bob W CEO and co-founder Niko Karstikko was at the IHIF conference in Berlin, where he spoke on a panel titled: Live, Stay, Work: Trends and Innovations, along with fellow brands within the alternative accommodations space, at the Adjacent Spaces platform of the conference. Adjacent Spaces panels discuss adjacent concepts including; hostels, co-living, co-working, student accommodation, serviced apartments, senior living, and more. 

All made the point that these types of accommodations, which go by many names and definitions, from short-term rentals to serviced apartments, are the types of products modern travellers are seeking out, oftentimes over traditional hotels, depending on the type of travel.

On it, Karstikko said: "If we look at historically hospitality, you're dealing with a very specific use case in terms of what the hotel offers you. An alternative accommodation represents a broader range of the different use cases and the increasing use cases that the modern traveller, the modern modern tenant, is looking for."

Accommodations like these rely heavily—almost exclusively—on technology to make them run. "Technology runs the whole show," said Karstikko. "We have under the hood what we call the technology hospitality engine that automates the whole experience."

Bob W relies heavily on the custom app that allows, for instance, guests to order towels to their rooms or other needed services and amenities. Bob W properties don't have traditional front desks and maybe only one full-time employee. They market to the "self-service generation," as Karstikko put it. "We trust the tech."

Acccording to its website, Bob W works with real estate developers, private equity funds, family offices and institutional owners to sign multi-year leases for bundles of commercial units or whole buildings.

It currently operates in Estonia, Finland, Spain, and the UK with expectations of expansion to Germany and the Netherlands. It says it has more than 1,200 signed apartments in its pipeline, representing an excess of €37 million in annual revenue potential across 28 properties in 15 cities across Europe. 

Estonishing Stay marks Bob W’s first acquisition.

Commenting on the deal, Gerdi Arst, co-founder at Estonishing Stay said they were happy join forces with Bob W "since we share the vision for a new category of hospitality," adding they are looking forward to working together to expand our real estate network regionally with new investors.