UK: Navneet Bali, the former chairman of Meininger Hotels, has launched the LyvInn brand, an extended-stay and transient hospitality concept.
Initial locations for the brand include Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Barcelona and London.
LyvInn is aimed at young people and will provide spaces to live in for work and travel. It will feature communal spaces and facilities, as well as state-of-the-art health and safety features.
Speaking to Hospitality Insights, Bali said: “LyvInn is hybrid, a combination of transient and extended stay, whereas Meininger is fully transient. My idea was to create another brand within the same demographic – young people. They have a different way of looking at the world. When they come out of university, when they start their first jobs, they need somewhere to live. They aren’t likely going to immediately be able to buy a flat and they enjoy the communal experience. It’s cheaper, everything’s taken care of – there are elements of co-working. COVID-19 means that it is likely to become more common to work from home, so you might also get start-ups taking space.”
He added: “From a return per square metre point of view, it’s a small apartment. You have an apartment, a living space and a work space. You can work individually or in a team; it provides flexibility and a sense of community. People also want a trusted brand, particularly now with the pandemic. They want a branded experience where they can feel safe. It’s also an extended-stay product, so it provides a more stable income from a landlord’s point of view. It’s a combination of ‘live’ and ‘inn’, and provides for flexibility with a transient element, catering to families and young people, as well as businesses.”
The group is looking for properties ranging from 5000 square metres to 30,000 square metres of gross floor area, either freehold, leasehold, or existing development sites for conversion.
Navneet Bali is a speaker at the Urban Living Festival, 25-26 November at Tobacco Dock in London. The two-day event connects the global community of contemporary hospitality and real estate ‘urbanites’ to collectively define the evolution of how and where we stay, live and work. For further information, click here.</p
