A hotel is more than just a bed to sleep in.
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Fields | Hospitality
Header | Capella Hotel Shanghai Jianye / real shot by the travel industry
01
Have you ever stayed in a lifestyle hotel?
In the past two years, hotel brands that focus on this concept have been particularly favored around the world, and some hotel brands that not only provide accommodation services, but also focus on the overall life experience and personalized service have begun to emerge, attracting the attention of leading hotel groups.
Last week, Hyatt announced that one of its subsidiaries had acquired the lifestyle hotel brand "me and all hotels" from Germany's Lindner, officially becoming Hyatt's 29th hotel brand.
从体量上来看，“me and all hotels”其实很小。
According to public information, "Me and All Hotels" currently has six hotels in Germany with more than 1,000 rooms, and in the next few years, the hotel group will open several hotels in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart, and expand outside Germany.
At the same time, the hotel brand has seen a five-fold increase in room numbers since 2017, and the addition of Hyatt is a rocket booster for the small lifestyle hotel brand "Me and All Hotels."
As a new entrant, Hilton, Accor, and Marriott were on the move long before Hyatt set its sights on lifestyle hotel brands.
At the beginning of June this year, Hilton, which has been entering the lifestyle hotel space for 10 years, announced that it plans to double its portfolio of lifestyle hotels to 700 in the next four years.
Behind Hilton's ambitions, in April this year, it paid $210 million to acquire 35 hotels around the world for lifestyle hotel brand Graduate, both operating and under construction.
Also in April, Hilton acquired a majority stake in Sydell Group, home to luxury lifestyle hotel brand NoMad.
At the time, Jacobs, Hilton's chief financial officer and president of global development, predicted that more than 100 hotels would be added to the NoMad brand in the future, most of which were newly built hotels and some were remodeled.
France's Accor has also bet on lifestyle hotel brands in the past two years, with new hotels opening every year for decades after Accor formed a joint venture with lifestyle hotel brand Ennismore in 2021.
It is worth mentioning that Ennismore also made a new move in London late last year, making its first attempt to provide a coworking space with 800 desks near a London hotel.
Ennismore Coworking Space
According to the head of the brand, there are now 400 people on the waiting list for this coworking space, and a similar coworking space in Chicago has been "sold out."
Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight, major foreign hotel groups are in full swing to recruit in the field of lifestyle hotel brands, and the war is about to break out.
02
Gone are the days when hotels were just places to sleep.
With young people coming together again in person after the pandemic, lifestyle-centric hotel brands may resonate more than ever.
At the same time, many Gen Z young people now believe that the places they live reflect their values and wider lifestyles.
In the Chinese market, in recent years, many lifestyle five-star hotel brands such as Marriott's EDITION and W, InterContinental Hotels Group's Kimpton, and Hilton's Canopy have become very popular.
Of course, we can't forget the strong rise of the local hotel brand Atour Hotel.
In this era when the edition can be nicknamed "Little Atour", relying on a series of lifestyle supporting products such as borderless public area cafes, convenience stores, taverns, meditation halls and so on, after the epidemic, Atour Hotel's room premium and market performance in the Chinese market are very impressive.
In fact, personality is one of the key factors for the success of a lifestyle hotel brand, and this personality must be in line with a certain consumption habit of consumers.
For example, Atour 4.0 version of "Mino" defines the design style as "natural leisure", striving to create an ideal relaxing atmosphere to the greatest extent, hoping that young people can temporarily escape from the stress and anxiety of reality after staying in the hotel.
Atour 4.0 version "Seeno"
At the same time, it strengthens the business travel function, with a semi-enclosed office space "bamboo residence", a private private room "sitting in the cloud", a more open office area in the guest room, a standard 65-inch carved screen and a remote conference TV...... These are more in line with the needs of young business travelers.
In addition to the product itself, soft services are also gradually becoming dominant in lifestyle hotels.
For example, the service staff is not in a suit or leather shoes, but dressed casually, with a relaxed and thoughtful service attitude, and the hotel décor, perfume and music are intertwined to create a unique atmosphere, enrich the guest experience, and give meaning to life outside of their stay.
It's worth mentioning that, as far as I've observed, there is another constant factor for these lifestyle-focused hotel brands: ancillary revenues such as F&B, entertainment, and retail together account for at least 45% of their revenue.
Or take Atour Hotel as an example, since the opening of the epidemic, the fastest growth of the company is not the hotel business, the financial report shows that the proportion of retail revenue has climbed to 20.81% last year alone, creating a "second growth curve" with considerable potential.
Screenshot of Atour Hotel in 2023
It is no exaggeration to say that eating, leisure, and even shopping outside of accommodation are all "one-stop-shop" for lifestyle hotels.
It's easy to see why lifestyle hotels attract repeat visitors from abroad, provinces, and even locals, given the growing importance of the experience economy and the pursuit of emotional and cultural experiences beyond the material.
The rise of lifestyle hotels is in response to this trend, and leading hotel groups have also increased their efforts to make money, just because its money-making imagination is far more than some flashy hotel brands.
03
In the post-epidemic era, the hotel industry is undergoing subtle changes, and it is inevitable that hotel brands focusing on lifestyle will receive more market attention in the future.
People come here to eat or drink, work or relax, making hotels a part of their lifestyles and lifestyles, and this trend is influencing the habits of our generation.
According to STR, a big data provider for accommodation, lifestyle hotels are expected to account for 23% of the global hotel development pipeline by 2025.
According to STR, the average daily rate of lifestyle hotels has been $33.6 higher than the average daily rate of non-lifestyle hotels over the past decade, and the compound annual growth rate of revenue per available room of lifestyle hotels has outpaced all other brands by about 5% between 2018 and 2023.
As mentioned earlier, Hyatt, Hilton, InterContinental, Marriott, Atour, as well as Hoshino Hotels Japan and Meliá Spain are all hotel groups that have embraced this trend.
From budget hotels to mid-range brands to luxury hotels, lifestyle hotels are becoming more and more playful.
Jo&Joe, Accor's lifestyle hotel brand, has reimagined youth hostels where travelers and neighbors can enjoy brunch, drinks and shows in a variety of room types to suit their needs.
Accor Joe
Hoshino's fourth hotel chain, OMO, is targeting a business-friendly clientele for sightseeing purposes, with each hotel located in the heart of the city with a permanent OMO Ranger position, accompanying hotel guests to their favorite local spots, whether it's a bowl of ramen or a light adventure.
Hoshino Resorts OMO 7 Asahikawa
Atour's Light Living 3.0 version provides a series of "light and simple" products such as daily disposable pants, washing and care sets, and invisible care, which reduces the burden on the suitcase and returns the time used for packing to the guests.
If we simply summarize, we will find that the biggest difference between lifestyle hotels and ordinary hotels is that they are very malleable, not only limited to providing accommodation services, but also extending a number of value-added services such as catering, entertainment, fitness, art exhibitions, etc., and at the same time launching diversified products and services through cross-border cooperation to enhance the cultural and trendy attributes of the hotel brand.
A more advanced way to play is that some lifestyle hotel brands focus on interaction with the local community, such as Hoshino's OMO by organizing community activities, light travel and other guest experience activities to enhance guests' sense of participation and brand belonging.
As lifestyle hotels continue to flourish around the world, a report from Singapore-based commercial real estate investment firm JLL shows that lifestyle hotels now account for 32.4% of the branded hotels opened in the United States, an increase of 26.3% since 2000, and the proportion of new lifestyle hotel brand openings in the future will be as high as 50% worldwide.
It is conceivable that due to the growing demand for this type of accommodation, the global market share of lifestyle hotel brands will accelerate growth, and this track is destined to become more and more volatile in the coming period.
Today's topic: What do you think of the world's leading hotel groups laying out the lifestyle track? Welcome to interact with Travel Traveler in the message box below.