Stelios to visit easyHotel site in Cyprus

Stelio Hadji-ioannou, the buoyant entrepreneur and sometimes controversial founder of the easyGroup of leisure companies, will be in Larnaca next week to review the work in progress at the first low-cost easyHotel that will open next year.
The new property, refurbished to the simplistic standards of the easyHotel chain, replaces the Chryssopolis Hotel Apts on Kimonos Street, Larnaca’s busy road that leads towards the central police station and the promenade.
Harris Papageorgiou, director of Tzetza Enterprises, franchise holders for the easyHotel chain in Cyprus and operators of the first location, told the Financial Mirror that construction work is still underway and will meet the May 2009 opening deadline.
The 56-room hotel will bring “affordable, quality accommodation to the island” but will not necessarily maintain the bright orange colour scheme visible on the façade of most of the other easyHotels.
‘Sir’ Stelios will visit the hotel’s construction site next Friday morning, November 7 and will later inaugurate the new Limassol office of Travelnet, general sales agent for easyCruise in Cyprus.
Part of the easyGroup business owned by Stelios, easyHotel (which is a separate company from easyJet plc) currently operates eight hotels in Europe, with four London locations (Paddington, Victoria, South Kensington and Earl’s Court) and Luton, as well as Basel, Zurich and Budapest. Future openings include easyHotel London Heathrow in November and in Dubai next summer.
Stelios hopes to develop a regional master franchise that will see 38 easyHotels popping up in India, the Middle East and North Africa over the next five years at a cost of USD 400 mln.
It has been two years since Lawrence Alexander, CEO of easyHotel.com visited Cyprus and met 30 property owners keen to join the network.
“Ideally, the brand suits locations where there is demand through the year and is town centre, rather than resort location,” Alexander told the Financial Mirror.
The easyHotel Larnaca is within walking distance of the town centre and the beach.
Alexander said the company is constantly on the lookout for hoteliers or property owners who have a location of at least 20 rooms and who are prepared to invest to convert them to easyHotel standards. These are usually 1-star or 2-star properties in an urban or suburban location with potential demand outside of the standard tourist season.
“Standard beachside properties will not benefit greatly from the concept,” he said.
The franchise fee is calculated on a percentage of rooms' revenue and the standard contract will be for 20 years and each contract will be considered differently. Sales will be exclusively online, just as all the other easyGroup ventures.