Yotel Wants to Grow Up, and It Is Starting With Bigger Rooms

Yotel, the compact-cabin hotel brand best known for airport locations, is planning a bigger and more polished version of itself. Skift reports the company is in talks over an upscale Yotel format with larger rooms, upgraded bathrooms and food and beverage, aimed at better locations and higher rates. It also plans a smaller city-center hotel based on the YotelAir design.

The brand has about 24 properties today across three lines: Yotel, YotelAir for airports and YotelPAD for longer stays. The stated goal is roughly 100 hotels by 2031, with the company also looking at resort destinations. Open locations include Singapore, Japan and Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur City Centre is expected to open in early 2027.

Asia is where much of the growth is aimed. Yotel is in talks with three major Asian airports about YotelAir sites and is targeting Thailand, South Korea, Jakarta, Manila, Vietnam, Australia and India, where it plans conversions but has not yet started.

Its Hilton affiliation matters here. Yotel can tap Hilton Honors, which has roughly 250 million members, and it expects about two-thirds of bookings to eventually come through direct channels, including Yotel.com, Hilton.com and the Hilton app. For travelers, that could mean more points-friendly options near airports and in city centers.

Sources: Skift, Skift (travel news front page)