Who are Yotel customers?
Jo Berrington - These are mainly entrepreneurs, SME executives and people from the digital world who don't want to pay for unused space. Our airport hotels in Amsterdam Schiphol and London Heathrow and Gatwick have 250% occupancy! We sell the same room two or three times a day to travellers who arrive late at night because they've missed a connection or to spend the night before catching an early morning flight, and then to transit passengers who come to take a shower and rest for a few hours before setting off again.
Do you have any other plans for the major hubs?
J. B. - On 1 July, we will be opening a Yotel at Paris CDG, in terminal 2E. Airports like our concept because it can fit into slightly hidden areas that are not very suitable for restaurants or shops. We also have a project in Singapore Changi with an establishment due to open in 2018 as part of the futuristic Jewel project. Before other hubs, why not? Our goal is to have 50 hotels open or signed by 2020.
Airports like our concept because it can be integrated into slightly hidden areas.
Does this development plan also focus on town centres?
J. B. - Because of the small size of our rooms, our concept fits perfectly in places where the price per square metre is very high, as are hotel rates. In New York, we have a total of 713 cabins, with floor-to-ceiling windows and probably one of the largest terraces in the city, all within a 15-minute walk of Times Square. Our next urban hotels are due to open in Boston, in the regenerating Sea Port district, in Brooklyn, Miami and San Francisco, in addition to Dubai.
