Ikea to launch budget hotel chain in Europe
Scandinavian flat-pack furniture retailer Ikea is making the move into the budget hotel sector.
Hotels are planned in 100 locations across Europe, with the first two expected to open in Germany in 2014.
Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordic countries have also been earmarked for Ikea hotels, by the property division of Inter Ikea, the company that owns the Ikea intellectual property rights.
Harald Muller, a Brussels-based business development manager of Inter Ikea's property division, told the Associated Press that the aim is to spread all over Europe.
The chain won't use Ikea's name or feature the brand's signature build-it-yourself furniture, but it will engrain the Ikea philosophy of "good quality at a reasonable price," he said. "It's not an Ikea hotel. It's a continuation of our normal investments in real estate."
The hotels will have a Scandinavian "feel" because the interior will be made by Nordic designers, but the "guests won't really recognize Ikea in it at all," Muller added.
The company, which already owns a handful of hotels in Europe, will work with another company to operate its first chain.
Its name has not been revealed, but it is expected to be released in an official announcement in September.
By Janie Manzoori-Stamford
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