European extended stay operator Cycas Hospitality secured an investment from Thai family-owned Hua Kee. Under the multimillion-dollar deal, Hua Kee, the owner and operator of several hotels in Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe, is taking a one-third share of Cycas.
Cycas Hospitality operates extended-stay hotels in the UK and additional operations in Benelux. The company has plans to roll out the concept across continental Europe. This new investment provides working capital to the business for expansion and line up Hua Kee as a potential co-investment partner for future deals.
The company’s turnover under management is forecast to treble over the next two years from €38 million to more than €100 million based on the existing pipeline of hotels. Cycas currently has 3,000 guestrooms either open and operating or signed and in the pipeline. The operator intends to grow this to more than 10,000 in the next five years.
"Extended-stay accommodation, which includes serviced apartments and aparthotels, is a new and dynamic asset class in Europe and is evolving as a major subsector in the hotel industry as leisure and business travellers increasingly seek and value flexibility and independence," Eduard Elias, co-founder of Cycas Hospitality, said in a statement.
"In comparison with the US, Europe is largely underdeveloped and undersupplied in the extended-stay sector, and we are anticipating this sector to gain significantly more market share in the short, medium and long-term," Erik Jacobs, a representative of Hua Kee, said in a statement.
Hua Kee Group is a privately held conglomerate of various business holdings. With its origin in Thailand, Hua Kee is active in the industrial, residential and hospitality sectors. On the hospitality side, Hua Kee is active in Southeast Asia, Australasia and Europe, with investments covering most areas in the hospitality sector ranging from urban full service conference hotels under Narai Group to smaller boutique hotels, resort hotels, limited service budget hotels, hostels and serviced apartments.