BERLIN — One of the main goals of a hotel brand CEO is to scale the brand's portfolio of properties, and Yotel's recent deal with Hilton aims to do just that.
CEO Phil Andreopoulos spoke to CoStar News Hotels at the International Hospitality Investment Forum EMEA in March, a few days after news broke that Yotel and Hilton had signed an agreement for Yotel’s hotels to be included in Hilton’s distribution platforms. Yotel's operating portfolio stands at 23 hotels across 10 countries.
“For our shareholders, our owners, our crew, our customers … scaling is good news for everybody. We want to be in more locations. We want to be more present in the market,” he said.
For Hilton, it is an opportunity to add to its platforms a European-focused boutique brand.
Andreopoulos said it became a realization that Yotel — in his words, a “relatively small company” — needs to focus on its distribution and awareness, despite the Yotel brand becoming far better known.
“For our owners, it will have a good impact, a positive impact, on the cost of sale. We will see channel shift away from the [online travel agencies] to more direct business,” he said.
Andreopoulos also mentioned the likely possibility of Yotel developing a “leisure brand. … So, watch this space. … We’ve designed a product that we’ve very proud of.”
To listen to the full interview with Andreopoulos, click the video or podcast embedded above.