LONDON, UK: Safestay Plc, the owner and operator of an international brand of contemporary hostels, has acquired acquisition of three hostels in Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava from Dreamgroup Management E.C.P. Ltd for a total consideration of €3.7 million.

It has increased Safestay’s network to more than 5,000 beds across 21 hostels, all centrally located in Europe’s leading cities.

Larry Lipman, Chairman of Safestay, said, “It is satisfying to meet our target of having at least 20 hostels one year ahead of schedule. However, the true value of the operating network we are establishing is in the customer response to the Safestay brand and the sought-after central locations in key cities our hostels occupy. No other hostel operator offers the same range of premium sites in leading locations making the Safestay network uniquely positioned in a sector that is growing rapidly.

“It is pleasing to note that early stage investment in people and systems has positioned the Group  strongly to integrate the flow of additional  hostels, and that post integration, there is a positive response to the impact of the specialist systems, revenue management and sales initiatives implemented throughout the company. The board believe this will combine to ensure long term ongoing dominance by Safestay in the sector”

The three sites are being acquired from Dreamgroup Management E.C.P. Ltd which owns and operates hostels primarily in Ukraine.

The three sites will be integrated with Cloudbeds, the Group’s booking system, from completion and will require minimal investment to operate under the Safestay brand. They achieved an average occupancy of 74% in the first 9 months to September 2019 and are expected to immediately benefit from joining the Safestay network.

Since October 2018 Safestay has doubled in size, adding 10 hostels to its portfolio and increasing the number of beds to  over 5,000 when all development plans have been completed. Of the operational sites acquired, Vienna (November 2018), Brussels (November 2018) and Pisa (June 2019) have all traded well with occupancy in excess of 75% in the 11 months to November 2019.

Company expects most recent acquisitions in Glasgow and Berlin to follow the same successful path, even more so once their conversion to hostels is completed in Q1 2020.