Hotel group Qbic thinks outside the box with quest for empty offices

DUTCH group Qbic is seeking redundant office space in UK cities, including Glasgow, to transform into inexpensive, modular-built hotels.

Qbic, part of the Maastricht-based La Bergre Group of companies, is set to announce a multi-million pound deal with an unnamed private equity firm to back the opening of ten pod-hotels in Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham and London.

The hotel is based on the use of a patented modular room pod designed in Holland and built in China. A sister company to the hotel operation also makes the pods, called Cubi, for student accommodation. The pod comes complete with bed, bathroom and desk in one self-contained unit.

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The firm has identified its first UK-based Qbic hotel in London, but Paul Janmaat, the managing partner of Qbic, will be in Glasgow this month to find empty space suited to being turned into a hotel.

Janmaat said: "We discovered that about 16 per cent of all offices across the EU are empty. Some consultants say at least 40 per cent of that space is never going to be filled any more. In Holland we found there were property owners desperately looking for some companies to rent it so we developed the Cubi, a modular piece of furniture in which you can add different elements, from a bathroom to a wardrobe and bed. You combine all you need in a room which makes it extremely easy to build - in about a day."

The firm established its first Qbic Hotel in the World Trade Centre Amsterdam in 2007. The hotel, which start at 69 per night inclusive, received acclaim from travel guides and guests although plans for the group's expansion faltered during the recession.

A licensing agreement with Golden Tulip fell by the wayside after the Dutch hotel group was forced to seek protection from creditors in 2009 due to the downturn in the leisure industry. Golden Tulip has since been sold to global hotel giant Starwood.

With the backing of the private equity group, Qbic Hotels aims to open 15 to 20 hotels across Europe over the next four or five years in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Each hotel room pod requires about 300 sq ft including corridors, while an entire hotel would require 27,000 sq ft. "If you ask anyone in the hotel industry the four UK cities that have potential for a hotel, then 90 per cent will name Glasgow," said Janmaat.

The hotels are largely automated, with occupants using their credit card to obtain a key. Janmaat estimates that each hotel only needs to be manned by one person at a time while cleaning of the rooms is outsourced. "We want to offer the best basics and we say this is the best bed, the best shower, free wifi and the room should be spotless. Those four items sound pretty simple but we know that for 80 per cent of hotels it is difficult to do."

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