NOVUM Hospitality continues to invest in its home location of Hamburg: a further niu hotel with around 345 rooms has been jointly agreed upon with the acclaimed project developers GBI AG and NORD PROJECT. The lifestyle hotel in a smart design is to be realised in the Hamburg district of Mitte, at Nordkanalstrasse 46 and will probably open in 2021. “This will be our fourth hotel start-up in Hamburg,” explains David Etmenan, the Chief Executive Officer & Owner of NOVUM Hospitality. The hotels in Wandsbek and Eppendorf will open their doors in 2019. In Horn, completion is planned for 2020, and then the following year in the district of Mitte. The new property has been designed by the Hamburg architects pbp prasch buken.
This additional supply of hotel accommodation is encountering a growing demand and a very healthy hotel market. “Most key performance indicators are better in Hamburg than in other metropolises,” asserts Jan Winterhoff, Director of Hotel Development at the project developer GBI AG. In 2017, the Hanseatic city hosted 500,000 more overnight stays than in the previous year – overall, a 13.8 million increase with 6.8 guests. For this reason, increases were also recorded in room occupancy (which rose by 0.9% to reach 80.3%), the average room price (up 6.8 %, to € 117.79) and the revenue per room (RevPAR up 7.8 %, to € 94.63). And Hamburg Tourismus GmbH expects the steady growth in the number of visitors to continue – thanks, above all, to new attractions like the Elbe Philharmonic Hall, which is a magnet for additional national and international guests.
The building that currently stands on the plot of land in the Mitte district is to be demolished, enabling the niu hotel to be built from scratch with a gross floor area of approx. 10,700 square metres. 83 underground and 20 aboveground parking spaces are to be provided for the niu’s approximately 345 rooms. “Hamburg’s City Süd has long been undervalued as a hotel location, even though it is situated very conveniently for the centre. The hotel’s position on the axis between the city centre and the Elbe bridges, as well as the excellent public transport connections and nearness to the main railway station and to the Berliner Tor and Hammerbrook commuter train stations, are absolutely ideal,” emphasises Jürgen Paul, the Managing Director of NORD PROJECT. Which is precisely why this location is developing in such a dynamic way. Many high-quality properties are coming into being, resulting in a marked upgrade of the area.
“Like all hotels of the niu brand, this hotel is being given an additional name that relates to the region where it is located. In the case of Nordkanalstrasse, this extra name is niu Yen. niu Yen pays homage to Hamburg as a gateway to the world, to the harbour, to trade and the way to the sea. The name ‘Yen’ or ‘yearning’ honours the urge to travel that’s in the very air of Hamburg,” explains David Etmenan, the Chief Executive Officer & owner of NOVUM Hospitality. And it’s not just the name that’s tailor-made to suit the locality, but also the unique interior of each niu hotel. The design concept is rounded off perfectly through the socio-cultural collaboration with the non-profit association Viva con Agua – because niu Yen, too, follows the motto: Urban Art goes niu. Within the framework of this cooperation, select artists who are actively involved in Viva con Agua Arts and the Millerntor Gallery redesign the hotel walls in an urban art style for the good cause. The proceeds go to the water and sanitary projects of the charitable initiative. The initial focus here is on the current Viva con Agua project in Uganda.
Over the next two to three years, NOVUM Hospitality will be starting up over 40 niu hotels throughout Europe. At the beginning of February, niu Cobbles became the first hotel of the new brand to open in Essen. The hotels already definitely agreed upon include two further project developments with GBI AG in Frankfurt and Mannheim. “Working together with as innovative and creative a brand as niu is great fun,” enthuses GBI AG Director Winterhoff: “This applies even though – or precisely because – the project involves very special constructional challenges due to the high technical standard. This makes a hotel property like this one in Hamburg particularly attractive for investors too.” The cooperation in developing the project is to be broadened in further expanding the lifestyle brand.
All niu hotels offer an innovative Living Lobby as a meeting point not only for hotel guests, but also for locals. Events should above all provide entertainment. The aim is to create a relaxed, interactive lifestyle at all the hotels of this brand. The latest digital equipment is a further asset of the brand and is found at all hotels. A large number of electrical sockets and USB ports, smart flat screens, ultrafast WiFi, an Instagram wall, background beats throughout the hotel and Bluetooth speakers in the rooms leave nothing to be desired. Add to this a sophisticated F&B range of offers. “Particularly in a metropolis like Hamburg, where so many people are on the move, not only for business purposes but also for culture and recreation, our lifestyle concept can substantially enhance the work-life balance of our guests,” sums up David Etmenan, the Chief Executive Officer & Owner of NOVUM Hospitality.
