By HTN Staff - 9.21.2020
In response to a global pandemic that has largely done away with that quaint notion of “traditional office” and “traditional office worker,” citizenM (the name comes from “mobile citizens”) has launched its new “global passport” program. The idea is that, today, office workers can work and live anywhere.
The idea, also, of course, is to find creative ways to generate revenue at a time when most hotels around the world continue to operate at occupancy levels that are far below the norm. Guests buy a package of 30 consecutive days to spend at any citizenM hotel. The total price for the program is 1450 EUR / GBP / USD for a month, which comes to a flat rate of 50 EUR / GBP / USD per night.
The so-called corporate subscription and global passport, which is limited to the first thousand takers (at least for this initial trial run), are the latest additions to citizenM’s technology innovation streak that includes the recent launch of a new website and an upgraded mobile app.
The global passport program comes with the following benefits:
- Stay 30 days anywhere in the world
- Minimum 7 nights at any one location
- Housekeeping service every 4 days
- Superfast free Wi-Fi available in all hotels
- Unlimited use of living rooms for work, rest and play
The program is currently available in 21 hotels in 14 cities around the world, with more coming in 2021, according to the company.
In June, citizenM, which launched in Amsterdam in 2008, rolled out its upgraded mobile app. Using a mobile device, guests can now open their rooms or create a keycard. Once a guest checks in, they can use their phone to open their room, order food and beverages, control the in-room experience, then check-out when they’ve finished their stay.
The new citizenM app is designed to streamline the guest experience across all hotels with functionalities that include fully contactless check-in/out, payment for all in-hotel purchases, full room ambience control – lights, blinds, temperature, pre-select a room on the way to hotel, food and beverage ordering, full in-room entertainment controls – use phone as a remote control, in-app service requests – extra pillows, toiletries, wake-up calls, and city experiences with local perks. For convenience, there’s a “walking distance” search filter to highlight attractions a short stroll from any citizenM hotel.
The Dutch-based company has always made technology front and center. “We trust in technology to help us deliver the best possible service to our guests, and a consistently excellent experience no matter which hotel they visit,” notes the company website. “Proprietary software connects all our hotels for real-time updates. The software is fully scaleable and easily adapted to include new hotels as we grow our portfolio.”
According to citizenM, the technology is designed to provide:
– 60-second check-in, 30-second check-out
– “genuine human service”
– hotels centrally connected through proprietary software
– VoIP call rates and MoodPads in rooms
– real-time hotel monitoring for optimal guest experience
citizenM is the first hotel built entirely from prefabricated rooms. The parts – which are built in different places – are assembled at the company’s factory in mainland Europe. The prefabricated rooms are then wrapped in plastic, pressurized to keep windows in place, and shipped to the construction site, ready to become the next citizenM hotel. “This is a result of our first-time-right mission and highly-sustainable production methods, working with modular building blocks,” notes the company website.