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A luxury hotel brand focused on the needs of young families is making its way to the U.S., and it's helmed by a hotel REIT veteran.
Dubbed Hotel Bambinee, the hospitality brand intends to cater to families via its amenities and design. Founder Rachel Meng has over a decade of experience in the industry and was previously the director of investments at hospitality REIT Pebblebrook Hotel Trust.
Amenities such as connecting rooms with bunk beds and in-room babysitting options, as well as equipment like bottle warmers, baby bathtubs and diaper genies, aim to make traveling with children easier on parents.
Meng said she is a travel enthusiast who has visited 44 countries, and she came up with the idea for Hotel Bambinee after seeing how challenging it was to go on trips with her kids. She said few hotels, even family resorts, are equipped to provide things like bassinets and booster seats that parents rely on.
“I realized after having two daughters how much travel changed,” she said in a press release.
The brand also intends to partner with hoteliers to maximize underutilized space or floors through a platform called Club Bambinee.
"We see the opportunity to build from the ground up or repurpose a portion of the space or floors within existing hotels to capture the demand from this growing yet underserved demographic," Meng said.
U.S. hotels are on the upswing this year after a sluggish start and despite labor and insurance costs surging in 2023. With elevated rates to offset growing costs and guests ready to travel, hotels are managing a sweeter comeback than other sectors in commercial real estate.
Occupancy rates have been steadily growing since January, hitting a peak of 62.5% for the week ending March 2, a 50-basis-point bump from two weeks prior, according to CoStar data. Weekly occupancy rates rose 140 basis points from last year, a trend CoStar predicts will continue as groups on the books for spring travel season are higher than 2023.
"Luxury and upper-upscale guests, what we call the mass affluent customer, have really been prioritizing spending on experiences over material goods,” KSL Capital Partners partner John Ege told Bisnow earlier this month.
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