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Student Hotel: 13 facilities in Italy by 2021
05 April, Il Sole 24 Ore
The Student Hotel is accelerating its expansion in Europe, with a particular focus on Italy. The Scottish entrepreneur and founder of the company Charlie MacGregor has realised Italy’s potential. Since there is a very limited number of student houses in the country, the company has decided to undertake an aggressive expansion strategy. The MacGregor family started already in 1982 providing housing to the students of the University of Edinburgh. Nowadays, the group is the creator of a solution that caters to long-term students and to short-term tourists.
In Italy, the group will open this year a facility in Bologna (and a second one is coming soon), and it will inaugurate in September 2019 a student house in Florence, in the Belfiore area (the one in Lavagnini is already open) after the company bought a building there for 30 million euro. Moreover, another facility is planned to open in Rome by 2020 in the former Customs House in San Lorenzo, owned by Cdp, with the aim of requalifying the whole surrounding area. By 2021, there will be in Italy 13 student hotels. The growth will involve also Turin, where the plan is to implement from scratches a facility close to the university, as well as Milan, Naples, Pisa and Siena.
“The minimum size of our student houses is 15 thousand Sq m for a capacity of 400 rooms – says MacGregor – By 2021, there will be around forty student houses in Europe capable of accommodating 15 thousand students and 25 thousand short-term guests. There are some locations, like Milan, where it’s difficult to find the right building at reasonable prices”.
At the moment, The Student Hotel is present in ten locations for a total of 4,392 rooms. The company has hotels in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Barcelona and Paris.
Two partners have recently entered the group’s capital, these are Aermont Capital and Apg, a private equity company and a Dutch retirement fund. “The revenue is forecasted to reach 300 million by 2021 and the profits will be invested- said the Ceo. At the moment, we have 450 employees and we’re aiming at becoming 1,200 by 2019”.
The business model of The Student Hotel is based on a close collaboration between the public and the private sector.
Source: Il Sole 24 Ore
Translator: Cristina Ambrosi