Above, a Yotel room at Gatwick airport in the UK. View Pictures / UIG via Getty Images
Above, a Yotel room at Gatwick airport in the UK. View Pictures / UIG via Getty Images

Yotel to bring its small scale to Dubai



Hotel rooms are getting smaller and smarter in Dubai as affordability becomes a deciding factor for tourists.

More midmarket hotels are opening because of a push for budget rooms from the emirate's government. The latest is London-based Yotel, a subsidiary of Kuwait-listed IFA Hotels and Resorts, which is known for its pocket-sized but luxurious rooms at airports.

Yotel’s model is gaining ground as it expands in top tourist destinations where land is hot property. The company expects to open its first Middle East property in 2018 in Dubai’s Business Bay.

Yotel rooms start at barely 170 square feet, or 16 sq metres, which fits in a queen-sized bed that can fold into a sofa and an internet-connected flat-screen television. The 42-storey Business Bay tower is to have 438 cabins and 127 serviced apartments, and will be developed by Dubai Investment Properties.

The question is whether Yotel has picked a suitable location.

“It is difficult to make such a model work in Business Bay because it is mostly a four and five-star property area, and because land is valuable there,” said John Podaras, a Dubai-based partner at the hospitality consultancy Hotel Development Resources. “That said, it is a strategic location.”

Room rates on Sheikh Zayed Road are under pressure and will further feel the pinch when nearly 2,000 rooms across three Starwood-Habtoor hotels – a St Regis, a Westin and a W hotel – come to the area by the end of next year.

In Manhattan, a Yotel room can start at US$199 a night during weekends. The company did not say what its rates in Dubai might be.

In February, the emirate’s average room rate fell 5.6 per cent year-on-year to Dh983 a night, according to the research consultancy STR Global. Occupancy rates slipped to 86.6 per cent.

Yotel also expects to open city hotels in New York, Singapore, Miami and San Francisco in 2017, building on the success of its first city hotel, which opened in New York in 2011.

Next year, the chain is to open hotels inside the terminals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Singapore Changi Airport. It is also scouting for space for city hotels in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah and Istanbul.

Yotel operates airport hotels inside London Gatwick (its first property, opened in 2007), London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol, as well as the city hotel in Manhattan.

In 2005, IFA Hotels and Resorts acquired a majority stake in Yotel, whose founders had been inspired by similar Japanese capsule hotels.

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From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

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Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Name: Tharb

Started: December 2016

Founder: Eisa Alsubousi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: Luxury leather goods

Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings

 

Grand Slam Los Angeles results

Men:
56kg – Jorge Nakamura
62kg – Joao Gabriel de Sousa
69kg – Gianni Grippo
77kg – Caio Soares
85kg – Manuel Ribamar
94kg – Gustavo Batista
110kg – Erberth Santos

Women:
49kg – Mayssa Bastos
55kg – Nathalie Ribeiro
62kg – Gabrielle McComb
70kg – Thamara Silva
90kg – Gabrieli Pessanha

Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

If you go

The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road. 

The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
 

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.

These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.

Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.

Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega

Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 3/5

World Cricket League Division 2

In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.

UAE fixtures

Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final

Stage 2 results

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18

Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02

Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04

4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates

5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation

General Classification

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19

2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12

3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16

4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17

5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19

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Power: 154bhp

Torque: 250Nm

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Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)

Nancy Ajram

(In2Musica)

Squid Game season two

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

Rating: 4.5/5

World Test Championship table

1 India 71 per cent

2 New Zealand 70 per cent

3 Australia 69.2 per cent

4 England 64.1 per cent

5 Pakistan 43.3 per cent

6 West Indies 33.3 per cent

7 South Africa 30 per cent

8 Sri Lanka 16.7 per cent

9 Bangladesh 0

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)

Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)

Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)

Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)

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