Adapting to the changing traveller

It was interesting to hear from YOTEL CEO Hubert Viriot that the company’s new YOTEL Pad aparthotel brand was not created primarily for a new customer demographic, but to offer its existing customer base a new product for a different type of travel.

“The people who stay in our hotels sometimes have different needs,” he says, “sometimes they need a little bit more time in one of our locations, whether it is for work or leisure. They may stay for a week and they need to ‘stop their go’! We felt we needed to create a product around that, so the first inspiration for YOTEL pad was how to address the customer who is on the go, but who sometimes stops. A good example would be nomadic travellers who work in different parts of the world – a few weeks here and a few weeks there.”

Viriot also observed the increase in mixed-use development in urban centres and the rise of hybrid platforms, and says YOTEL Pad is also a reaction to this trend. Click here to watch the full video interview, which was filmed at the newly opened YOTEL pad in London, the brand’s first property.

Elsewhere, another new brand has also opened its first outpost. LivAway Suites is welcoming guests to the economy extended stay hotel in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Salt Lake City was recently named the top job market in the US by the Wall Street Journal. LivAway Suites has a very defined customer mix – it caters to construction workers, travelling medical professionals, the military, displaced families, digital nomads, and others seeking intermediate to long-term accommodations.

It is one of a number of recent launches in the burgeoning US economy extended stay space, along with the likes of Wyndham’s Echo Suites and Hilton’s LivSmart Studios. All are characterised by efficient design, low build and staffing costs, and have been conceived with the input of owners and investors. They are also all rolling out their portfolios very fast, much faster than brands in other segments of US hospitality. Echo Suites signed more than 200 properties in just over a year after it was first announced. Hilton reported more than 350 deals in various stages of negotiation for LivSmart just six months after launch.

This is a segment which needed some fresh blood to replace the tired and generic existing inventory, and the response from owners shows the belief in its future.

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