Latest news with #hostels
Skift
19-05-2025
- Business
- Skift
Room00 Raises $450 Million to Expand Its Urban Hotels and Hostels Across Europe
With new funding secured, Room00 plans to expand quickly, but it says it won't forget its niche. Madrid-based Room00, known for its hostels and compact hotels, has secured €400 million (about $450 million) to accelerate its European expansion and buy properties outright for the first time. "This capital changes our business model a little bit," founder and CEO Ignacio Requena told Skift. 'At the beginning, we were an asset-light company. With this capital, we have the opportunity to buy properties.' Room00 has relied on leases and hotel management agreements to expand across Southern Europe. Requena said the company can now acquire 30 to 40 properties with the new funding and potentially more from banks. Room00 operates several brands aimed at urban travelers, including Room00 Hostels, TOC Hostels, Room Select Hostels, and Letoh Letoh, ranging from budget-friendly design hostels to boutique hotels. London Expansion London will be Room00's first expansion beyond Southern Europe, with a goal of year-end for its first property in the city. "Our goal is to reach 20 assets and around 1,000 rooms in London in the next three years," said Requena. Despite London's crowded hospitality scene of global brands, hybrids, and independents, Requena sees an opportunity to target millennials and Gen Z travelers, a demographic he believes is underserved. Growing from 50 properties to over 200 in four years will require more than capital. Requena said the challenge is maintaining consistency while adjusting to each market. Requena said the company has no plans to broaden its appeal or reinvent itself. Instead, it wants to replicate its early success across new locations. "We don't want to change a lot," Requena said. "When you check our customer, they are growing the demand for authentic, design-oriented experiences that larger hostel chains, independents, and hybrid operators like us are better suited to meet." In Italy, Room00 is working with local real estate firm Kryalos SGR to launch a property investment vehicle, a model it could replicate in other markets as it grows. The company will continue expanding through selective acquisitions. "Our segment is really fragmented," he said. That includes Room00's 2024 acquisition of TOC Hostels for €20 million (about $22 million), a move that added 30 properties and another 20 under development across Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The fresh capital comes from U.S. investment firm King Street Capital Management.
Skift
15-05-2025
- Business
- Skift
Brookfield to Acquire Generator Hostels' European Operations
Generator's blend of hostel affordability and hotel-style design reflects where younger traveler demand is heading and Brookfield wants in. Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to acquire Generator Hostels' European operations for approximately €776 million (about $876 million) from London-based Queensgate Investments. The transaction includes 15 properties and 2,800 keys across 10 countries, in cities such as London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Madrid. Queensgate acquired Generator in 2017 for $480 million and expanded its footprint in 2019 with the acquisition of Freehand Hotels. Generator operates in the affordable lifestyle segment, offering a hybrid of hostel and boutique hotel accommodations tailored to younger and budget-conscious travelers. The brand has shared and private rooms, communal areas, and food and beverage. Brookfield said it would pursue growth through further acquisitions and third-party management agreements. The firm emphasized its hospitality and leisure real estate track record, citing investments in Spanish hotel owner and operator Selenta Group and Center Parcs UK & Ireland, which operates five short-break holiday destinations. Brookfield manages over $50 billion in real estate assets across Europe and over $1 trillion globally. In July 2024, Generator and Freehand Hotels reported a EBITDA of over €38 million (about $43 million) for the first half of the year, an 18% increase from the previous year.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
This travel hack could make the price of a hotel room cheaper
A surge in solo travellers, particularly those flocking to affordable hostels in Asia, is reshaping the travel industry, according to Hostelworld's CEO Gary Morrison. The industry has historically focused on couples, often overlooking the needs and desires of individual adventurers, he said. The shift is fuelled by a rise in "solo by circumstance" travel, where individuals find themselves alone due to life changes like relocation or relationship breakups, rather than a deliberate choice to travel solo, he said. 'To a large extent, the travel industry has been kind of closed off to solo travellers and it doesn't really cater to them,' Mr Morrison said. 'Every single hotel room is for two people. 'I think, in the longer term, other parts of the travel industry will start catering to solo travellers – which is, to stop charging them for two-person rooms.' Hostelworld, which is a platform for hostels around the world, has been involved in the social side of travel through its chat room app which launched after the Covid pandemic. It works by connecting people who have booked into hostels in a particular destination, allowing them to co-ordinate plans or find like-minded people staying in the same place. Bookings data from the platform show the proportion of solo travellers had risen from 57 per cent in 2021 to 63 per cent in 2024. Furthermore, young female backpackers have become the fastest-growing group, spurred on by increasing opportunities to group up with others or enhanced safety measures including the availability of female-only hostel dormitories. Mr Morrison said the 'vast majority' of European travellers were going to Asia, particularly Thailand, because of the appeal of cheaper hostel rooms and living expenses. He admitted that the shift 'obviously hurts revenues' for Hostelworld, which last month said its average booking values had dropped from €14.36 (£12.26) in 2023 to €13.21 (£11.28) in 2024. Mr Morrison said the company had set its sights on creating the 'world's largest travel network'. It does not make money from people using the chat function, but the engagement is seen as driving bookings as people recommend hostel stays, or even make cheap bookings in order to access the feature.
