That’s lyf

In September I wrote about how the major serviced apartment companies are diversifying in to areas outside of their traditional offerings, citing Ascott’s recent purchase of a majority stake in Indonesian hotel company TAUZIA and Frasers’ earlier purchase of UK boutique hotel brand Malmaison Hotel du Vin.

This week’s news has backed up this trend with two contrasting announcements from Ascott. The company has launched its first Citadines property in the US, with the opening of a Fifth Avenue property in New York, just off Times Square. But instead of being a typical Citadines aparthotel aimed predominantly at longer stay business travellers, this property is a converted hotel, with only a small proportion of suites and very much targeting the leisure guest.

And the Ascott REIT has bought a site in Singapore to develop its first project, in this case a lyf property. lyf is an intriguing brand – millennial-focused and very different from anything Ascott has done before. The company has big plans for lyf, it clearly has faith that the brand will take off in a big way. Will we see it making its way to other countries before too long?