Australia's first Yotel to debut in Melbourne

U.K.-based Yotel is heading Down Under where the Yotel Melbourne is set to open in 2022 via a management agreement with Cornerstone Partners Group, an integrated hospitality asset owner and developer.

The 244-room hotel will be a flagship property for the company in Australia, with areas for co-working, informal meetings and socializing,  a 24/7 gym and viewing deck with restaurant and bar. The property will be within walking distance of the central business district, the Arts Precinct, Federation Square and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
 
"Over the past two years, we have been actively searching for the right locations and partners to roll out our brands in Australia, a key market for our global expansion and a key feeder market for our hotels in the U.S., Singapore and the U.K.," said Hubert Viriot, CEO of Yotel. "With solid market fundamentals and global appeal, Melbourne is the perfect gateway to launch our first property in the country."
 
While calling Australia's hotel market "very sophisticated" with "strong stakeholders," Viriot said the country's affordable luxury segment has been underserved. "Yotel Melbourne will serve as a launching pad for our brand across the country, following a similar strategy as what we did in the U.S., where we first opened a property in New York in 2011 and now have 10 hotels under management with extensive operational synergies and strong distribution channels," he said. "We are already exploring development opportunities in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and we are confident we will soon have a robust hotel pipeline in place, targeting both our international customer base as well as the domestic market."
 
The group is planning to bring all three of its brands to the region: Yotel (the city centre concept), YotelAir (located at airports and busy transport hubs) and YotelPad (designed around the long-stay guest).  
 
Yotel Melbourne will be developed and owned by Cornerstone Partners Group and designed by CHT Architects.
 

"Our group is focused on finding gaps in the hospitality markets across Asia-Pacific," said Jason Chong, CEO, Cornerstone Partners Group. "In Australia, we believe there is an avenue for disruptive brands such as Yotel, which offer something completely new to the market. We were also impressed by Yotel’s global development pipeline, focused on key gateway markets, which fits perfectly with our strategy."