made this an attractive business combination . “ We ’ re incredibly encouraged by the performance we ’ ve seen in 2021 – from the investment we ’ ve seen and the customer engagement we ’ ve seen across the board ,” Friedman said . “ We expect that to continue . As we start to see COVID dissipate and restrictions on travel dissipate , 2022 should be an incredibly exciting year for Selina .”
Museri added that Selina , which has a conversion cost ranging anywhere between US $ 20,000 to US $ 40,000 per key , which includes everything , is opening new units almost every two weeks and just opened for the first time in Southeast Asia . “ We have started signing and building in new , exciting countries such as Morocco , Thailand and Spain . We kept expanding in 2021 in countries that did great during COVID . For example , when we realize that countries like Portugal , Israel , Mexico , and countries in Central America were doing great during COVID , we just shifted our technology towards
A loft room at the Selina Chelsea in New York City those countries to identify the best asset for us . Quickly , we grew within the same year in those countries . That level of flexibility that exists in Selina today is very difficult to find in the hotel industry – the ability to realize in February 2021 there ’ s something very interesting happening in domestic travel in Mexico , Costa Rica and Portugal , for example , and within two months nail another five or six new locations in those countries , and three months after to open them and generate great revenue , profitability and deliver a great experience for the brand . That ’ s what we did in 2021 . We listened to the customers , took quick decisions , shifted technologies and moved .”
SELINA ’ S JUJU So , what makes Selina so special ? Museri and investors think it is their proprietary system and naturally the concept , which focuses on hosting remote workers and digital nomads in a play , stay , work ecosystem . Data from Upwork suggests that by 2028 , 73 % of business are expected to utilize remote workers .
Next comes partnerships with local artisans , who embed a local cultural influence , to create destinations that combine the comfort and style of a boutique hotel with coworking facilities and the social experiences of a retreat or festival , driving significant increases in revenue compared to a property ’ s prior operations . That local connection drive 61 % of F & B revenue and generates strong social media engagement .
Within about 120 days of a signed deal , Museri says , conversions are completed . They increase bed density ( many rooms are not private ), new revenue streams through co-working , F & B products and newly activated programming and content ( 40 % of revenue is generated from non-room products ). About half the revenue comes from F & B and direct bookings are closing in on 50 %, which significantly reduces customer acquisition costs compared to its comp set .
Selina ’ s owned and flexible PMS can create and sell alternative products like subscriptions , coworking packages and tokens for its digital nomad target guests . Its locations can be fully cashless with remotely monitored utility costs and an ability to predict maintenance issues from headquarters . Its platform can also exchange unsold rooms to local content providers like musicians , artists and yoga instructors , drastically reducing programming costs .
Museri says Selina is experiencing demand greater than pre-COVID-19 levels and witnessing 13 % above pre- COVID-19 same-store net advance bookings levels . When opening
28 hotelsmag . com March / April 2022