Dubai, UAE: XX July 2013 – International real estate and resort developer IFA Hotels Resorts (IFA HR) has announced that it will expand its YOTEL brand into Asia with a city-centre location on Orchard Road in the epicentre of Singapore.
Talal Al-Bahar, Chairman and Group CEO, IFA HR stated: “With each new location announcement, we see YOTEL fulfilling its potential to not only lead the airport hotel category, but to also create and dominate an entirely new category of affordable luxury within the competitive set for city-centre hotels.”
The revolutionary hotel concept can now add Singapore to its existing footprint, which already encompasses airport hotels in London Heathrow, Gatwick, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and a 669-cabin city-centre property, two blocks west of Times Square in New York City.
Scheduled to open in 2018, the 600-cabin YOTEL Singapore will be located at 360 Orchard Road, in the heart of the vibrant city, making it perfect for both business and leisure visitors to Singapore. A management agreement for the property has been signed with Yat Yuen Hong Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Fok Corporation Limited.
Gerard Greene Co-Founder and CEO of YOTEL, said of the announcement, “Given YOTEL is heavily inspired by Asian culture, it is fantastic that we are launching such an iconic project as our first in Asia. The location is one of the best in Singapore and we have fantastic partners in Hong Fok Group that share our vision.”
Inspired by first-class airline travel, YO! Founder, Simon Woodroffe OBE and YOTEL CEO Gerard Greene conceived the innovative YOTEL cabins to provide a flexible and convenient ‘first class’ hotel experience at affordable prices. The cabins are uncompromisingly designed to provide guests a bigger experience in a smaller space. The cabins feature luxury bedding, rejuvenating monsoon rain showers, relaxing purple mood lighting and YOTEL’s ‘techno wall’ with flat screen TV, multi power points and iPod connectivity.
The Singapore hotel will have YOTEL’s signature elements of its flagship ‘city’ properties and will include a Club Lounge space with ‘Club cabins’ that double up as meeting and work spaces during the day, transforming to a restaurant/bar space in the evenings and weekends, and a large outdoor terrace space with a pool and a gym.
Whether or not YOTEL Singapore will choose to replicate ‘YOBOT’ – the now infamous ‘world’s first’ luggage storing robot, which has become an attraction in its own right and is a permanent feature at YOTEL New York, is yet to be decided.
“YOTEL Singapore will be the brand’s springboard into Asia,” said Joe Sita, CEO of IFA Hotel Investments. “To call London, New York, Amsterdam and Singapore home is a dream for any brand. For YOTEL to expand to these locations as such a young brand simply reaffirms our belief that YOTEL represents the future of hospitality.”
YOTEL’s unique hotel experience will be a first for Singapore, a harbinger of a new era offering affordable luxury is the Asian hospitality sector.
“The beauty of YOTEL is that it’s a streamlined concept that’s flexible enough to work almost anywhere. At its heart is logic and luxury, which is what makes it such a brilliant investment for us. Whether you’re a businessperson, tourist, financier, investor or environmentalist – YOTEL delivers,” Al-Bahar concludes.
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About YOTEL
YOTEL was created by YO! founder Simon Woodroffe and YOTEL CEO Gerard Greene. The idea was conceived by Simon after he was upgraded to first class on a flight. He decided to translate the language of luxury airline travel and Japanese capsule hotels into a small but luxurious cabin. YOTEL launched as a revolutionary hotel concept in the summer of 2007, with its first location inside London’s Gatwick South terminal. In December 2007, the brand opened its second airport location inside London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 4, followed by its third location in the airside transit area at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam in September of 2008 supported by IFA Hotels Resorts.
In addition to its airport locations, YOTEL opened its LEED Gold status and flagship 669 cabin city centre hotel in 2011 in New York City, located off of Times Square on 10th Avenue and West 42nd Street. YOTEL New York features 20,000sqft of dynamic and flexible entertainment space on FOUR, including Club Lounge, Studiyo, Dohyo restaurant, and the largest outdoor hotel Terrace in New York City.
YOTELs, strategy for expansion led by Gerard Greene and an experienced team based at their HQ in London and in New York includes plans for more city and airport hotels in the US, Asia and Europe.
www.yotel.com
Twitter: @YOTELHQ/Facebook: facebook.com/YOTELHQ
IFA HOTELS RESORTS:
The largest investor in YOTEL, IFA Hotels Resorts (IFA HR) is an international mixed-use hotel and resort developer with projects designed to meet a broad spectrum of hospitality and residential needs.
The company has dozens of projects throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North America and the Indian Ocean. Each of the company’s operational assets, including its YOTELs and five-star Fairmont properties in Dubai and South Africa, is managed by its wholly owned subsidiary – Dubai-based IFA Hotel Investments.
In addition to hotels, IFA HR’s portfolio includes mixed-use residential resorts and sound appreciating investment opportunities ranging from hotel condominiums and vacation clubs to private residence clubs and stunning homes.
In every market in which it operates, IFA HR partners with leading companies offering local expertise, including Related Companies in the USA, Istithmar in the UAE and Tongaat Hulett in South Africa. Listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, IFA Hotels Resorts (IFA HR) has a market capitalization of approximately US$1billion. The company’s main shareholder is Kuwait-based International Financial Advisors.
HONG FOK CORPORATION LIMITED:
HONG FOK CORPORATION LIMITED is a public company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. The principal activity of the Company is that of investment holding whose subsidiaries are primarily engaged in property investment, property development and construction, property management, investment trading and investment holding and management.
IFA HOTELS AND RESORTS LIMITED : IFA HOTELS & RESORTS EXPANDS ... - 4
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