Ikea moves into hotel business
Swedish furniture giant Ikea is planning a one-billion-euro entry into the budget hotel sector, opening at least 100 hotels in Europe.
The hotels are planned for Germany, Belgium, Britain, the Netherlands and the Baltic states. Construction of the hotels will be funded from revenues from the Ikea brand but will not carry the company logo and be operated by a hotel management company.
The hotels will also not be furnished by Ikea, which specialises in inexpensive furnishings that consumers assemble themselves.
“We’ve been searching for property across Europe for a while and we’ll announce in a few weeks where we’ll open our own hotel,” Svenska Dagbladet quoted Ikea’s Harald Mueller.
“We’ll get rid of everything that’s unnecessary, like for example hotel restaurants and put in its place a good breakfast, high-speed Internet and an efficient reception with no formalities when one leaves the room,” he told the Swedish newspaper.
The first hotel is likely to open in Germany by 2014 and will be run by an international hotel operator.
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