Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group is investing $250 million in the Yotel chain of pod hotels.
Starwood is acquiring a 30 percent stake in the company as it diversifies its hospitality portfolio amid competition from short-term rental sites like Airbnb, Skift reported.
Sternlicht said Yotel’s focus on design and affordable price is the “right strategy amid the current wave of digital disruption” and can be “easily scaled up with key strategic acquisitions and developments in desired city center and airport locations.”
Dubai-based IFA Hotel Investments is the majority owner of the Manhattan Yotel at 570 10th Avenue. In 2015, Synapse Development Group released renderings of a planned 110-key Yotel in Williamsburg, though it’s not clear where the project stands.
Yotel also operates four hotel airports in Europe and has several other hotels in development in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. Starwood is working with the company to open hotels in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Amsterdam.
Starwood’s main hotel brands include 1 Hotels and the luxury Baccarat Hotels and Resorts. Earlier this year, the company launched its economy-priced Uptown Suites brand as it looks to compete with the likes of Marriott’s Moxy hotels and Ian Schrager’s Public. [Skift] – Rich Bockmann