‘The lifestyle hotel concept is growing massively’

Asli Kutlucan, Chief Development Officer, Cycas Hospitality BV

Millennials’ increasing mobility and new demands are creating opportunities to develop new hotel concepts, Asli Kutlucan, Chief Development Officer, Cycas Hospitality BV, told Real Estate Day.

‘This is an exciting time for creating new combinations in the market purely based on millennials’ lifestyle,’ she said. ‘Unlike previous generations, they don’t want to be born, raised and retire in the same city, they are very independent and are happy to go, live and work in different cities around the world’.

This generation is not interested in investing into real estate because such an investment would tie them down, but they prefer to find jobs in locations where they can live for six months or a year and then relocate to another place where they can absorb the culture and traditions of a different country.

Their new demands are being met by new hotel concepts. ‘We have seen a massive change in the market because millennials on a short stay are not interested in a large room but just in the functionality of the space where they are going to sleep,’ Kutlucan said. ‘Their culture is all about sharing and connecting, especially if they are new in a city or a country’.

What they prefer is the new lifestyle hotels which come with small but comfortable and practical bedrooms and have massive shared areas where they can connect, drink, eat and relax, she said.

Extended stay hotels are also favoured by millennials who are looking to go and work on a short-term contract or relocate temporarily to different cities across countries. 

‘This trend is set to continue’, she said. ‘The lifestyle hotel concept is growing massively and from our perspective the combination of an extended stay and a lifestyle hotel, especially under the same roof, provides the perfect solution for the new generations’ demands’.

The first ventures into these new concepts have been very successful, Kutlucan said: ‘We opened our Moxy and Residence Inn concepts in Amsterdam last year and the results are exceptional. In our first year and a half we achieved phenomenal success. Happy customers mean good money’.

The feedback from millennials in the fashion and IT sectors but also from the more traditional corporate world has been very positive, she said: ‘They love the whole concept, so we are planning to do more’. 

Extended stay is not just for millennials, though, but it is an exciting market in general, especially in France which for a long time was dominated by brands like Accor and Adagio which were never managed professionally, Kutlucan said. 

Now it is all changing: ‘Big names like Marriott, Hyatt and InterContinental are interested in France and they see extended stay as a growth market so they are bringing these branded extended stay hotels into the country and seeking to extend their footprint in the country,’ she said. There’s a Hyatt House under construction at Charles de Gaulle and another in the pipeline as well as a Staybridge. 


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