Boutique hostels firm in hunt for Edinburgh site

A South American hospitality firm is targeting Edinburgh as part of a major expansion into the UK on the back of securing £70 million in funding.

Selina is looking at locations in Edinburgh as it bids to increase its portfolio to 54,000 beds worldwide by 2020. Picture: Steven Scott Taylor

Selina, which operates “boutique” hostels which combine accommodation and co-working spaces, is looking at locations in the Scottish capital as it bids to increase its portfolio to 54,000 beds worldwide by 2020.

The company has recently secured Series B funding in a round led by the Dubai-based investor Abraaj Group, and backed by entrepreneurs including Adam Neumann, who founded US-based communal work space firm WeWork.

Selina, launched in 2014 in Panama by Israel-born Rafael Museri and Daniel Rudasevski, now employs around 1,000 people and has hostels across Latin American including Mexico and Costa Rica.

As well as accommodation and work spaces, each of its sites offers services such as fitness classes and volunteer activities.

Steven Ohayon, vice president of business development, said: “We have proven Selina’s concept through Central and South America and now see potential in the UK. Bringing Selina to the UK is a key part of our global expansion strategy and will provide a hospitality experience consumers can’t find elsewhere.”

Ohayon said the firm was looking for long-term leases of existing properties in Edinburgh as part of a targeted entry into the UK market which will also see sites open in Brighton, Liverpool, London and Manchester.

The group will also be opening its first US location in Miami in September, followed by New York and Los Angeles, and plans are under way for investments in Germany, Poland and Spain.