Eden Hotels Has Greater Ambitions
Amsterdam-based Eden Hotels has a new capital investment plan as well as a new parent company in Zien Group to help accelerate growth ambitions, which includes new brands. Current Eden Hotels CEO Billy Skelli-Cohen, appointed CEO of Eden Hotels in May 2022 with a mandate to build a robust platform for growth and development, will lead Zien Group, which will be based in Amsterdam with offices in London.
About €50 million has been committed to investment into the existing portfolio of hotels that will help further refine the Eden brand as well as create a new brand of individual hotels, initially by re-imagining some of its own assets. In November, Eden Hotels had a portfolio of 14 hotels across the Netherlands and wants to grow across Europe and the UK.
Created by the Dijkstra family some 75 years ago, Denver-based PE firm KSL Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Eden Hotels in December 2021.
HOTELS recently spoke to Skelli-Cohen to learn more about the trajectory of the group.
HOTELS: Why the reorganization?
Billy Skelli-Cohen: Creating Zien is a strategic move to create an umbrella parent company that will allow us to develop multiple brands and strategies in the future. Zien Group will not be consumer-facing but ‘house’ our different businesses.
H: Can you elaborate on the expansion plan?
BSC: Our first plan is to reinvest in our current portfolio. We will invest in each hotel and also pull certain properties out of the Eden portfolio to create a new brand. In parallel, we are looking for new acquisitions in the E.U. and U.K. to grow the business.