HotelsMag March-April 2022 | Page 26

Co-working space is among the big features at Selina , known for attracting the digital nomad crowd .
INVESTMENT

SELINA is not just a hotel

CO-FOUNDER RAFAEL MUSERI SAYS HE HAS A BETTER MOUSETRAP TO IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES AS WELL AS CONNECT WITH MILLENNIALS AND GEN Z TRAVELERS . NOW HE HAS A SPAC INVESTMENT TO FUEL GLOBAL EXPANSION .
by JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF

Convert tired , underperforming hotels into something fresh , a little left of center in great locations that increase revenue on average 2.4 times without spending more than pre-opening costs , which are no more than 10 % of the upfront investment . Sounds easy , right ? And what a huge opportunity considering all of the struggling , neglected hotels around the world , especially those not affiliated with brands . Big opportunity , yes ? Easy ? Not so much , says Selina Co-Founder Rafael Museri , who very confidently says he has a leg up on any competitor because his brain trust has created its own technology to identify the best opportunities and created a concept that caters so well to millennials and Gen Z travelers , who make up about US $ 350 billion of the travel spend per year .

While it is not exactly clear how it works , Museri says Selina ’ s proprietary technology identifies the most distressed and underutilized assets in a specific marketplace . His team can then go directly to those landlords , negotiate leases ( a majority
24 hotelsmag . com March / April 2022