Columnist

Hotel micro-stays becoming big business in London

London is the financial centre of the world and the busiest global city for air travel. This has precipitated a new hospitality phenomenon; hotel micro-stays.

Imagine: You’ve just landed in London after a long and arduous transatlantic flight, only to face the next travail; a five hour delay before your business meeting or onward flight out of Heathrow.

That frown can now be turned upside down.

Dayuse Hotels is an online service that now has 30 hotels in London, having launched in Paris three years ago, which can be booked for daytime slots with a discount of 30-70% of the price of a night.

Business people can even schedule a meeting to take place in this informal context. Or simply recharge their batteries for a few hours (rooms can typically be booked for up to six hours) in the spa, fitness room or even private cigar bar.

With boutique hotels such as the Ten Manchester Street and La Suite West offering its services, Dayuse Hotels have contrived a revolution in the UK hospitality sector that is a mainstay in other parts of the world.

When browsing the website for availability for one of its more than 500 hotels over nine different countries, you are informed for which hours of the day the hotel is prepared to sell you a room, and at what discount.

These few hours recuperating in a plush hotel (or indeed in appropriating it as a second office) in the middle of the city, thus easing the afflictions of jet-lag, are good for business people and their companies.

Dayuse Hotels takes a commission on the 5,000 or so reservations made each month, and had a turnover of upwards of £2m last year (including extra revenue generated by the affiliated hotels), a 120% growth on 2011.

By optimising room utilisation by a few hours each day, the affiliated hotels can increase their annual occupation rate whilst maximising revenue. The operational aspect of renting a room twice a day can be a challenge, but one hotel managers are embracing, says Cesar Oge of Dayuse Hotels.

Cesar, business development manager at Dayuse, says: “To prove our model works, we allow hotel managers to test our business. They can endorse the calibre of guest we send them, and they can also test the operational aspect. Many hotel chains trust us today.”

Dayuse Hotels was founded in 2010 in France by David Lebée, an executive manager with 15 years experience in the industry.

It was the task of the team of 10 to think about and solve the question of increasing turnover for hotels when they are currently operating at 100% occupancy. Day use was the solution.

Dayuse Hotels caters to the nomadic urbanite; a luxurious, central and private office space to work, or for the constant traveller, weary, looking for a comfortable and quiet room to drop their suitcases, relax and wind.

As Cesar surmises, a Dayuse room is the perfect place to stay for a transit.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dayuse Hotels .