Fully tech-driven CityHub hotel rooms — Photo by CityHub
  • CityHub, the hotel concept for Gen Y and Z, to grow its portfolio to 10 locations in the next 5 years
  • The next location to open its doors is in Copenhagen
  • NIBC and ABN AMRO provide financial facilities to support roll-out

As the travel industry faces some of the most important challenges in its history, CityHub - the hotel/hostel hybrid brand - announces its financial collaboration with Dutch banks NIBC and ABN AMRO to kickstart its international expansion. The new funds will support and accelerate CityHub’s development plan, to grow its portfolio to ten locations.

Launched five years ago in Amsterdam, CityHub was created to bridge the gap between hotels and hostels, to cater to the needs of a new generation of global citizens. Frequently recognised for its innovative take on the hospitality industry, the award winning hotel brand recently announced the opening of its first international location in Copenhagen in September 2020.

Coming at a time when the travel industry is taking tentative steps out of the pandemic, NIBC and ABN AMRO’s support shows underlying expectation of the growth potential of CityHub’s innovative concept.

“Young leisure travellers are expected to be the first to resume travelling when lockdowns ease,” says CityHub co-founder Sem Schuurkes. “Our financial partnership with ABN AMRO and NIBC recognises CityHub’s position as the go-to option for GEN Y and GEN Z. We can’t wait to bring CityHub to the most exciting leisure cities in Europe.”

CityHub combines shared facilities with private sleek sleeping units, offering comfort, safety and high quality services at a hostel budget. Pioneers in contactless hospitality, CityHub’s technology allows guests to check in and out themselves, serve themselves at the bar, as well as providing 24/7 customer service via the CityHub app. CityHub’s modular concept makes it easy to repurpose existing buildings in up and coming urban neighbourhoods.

Sharing the same belief and confidence in CityHub’s potential, Dutch investment bank NIBC is joining ABN AMRO in supporting CityHub’s development plan by offering growth financing.

“With its game-changing concept, CityHub created a new category that has huge potential for the next generation of travellers. We are proud to be part of the team and excited to support CityHub’s growth across Europe,” says Brigitte van der Maarel, Head of NIBC Mezzanine & Equity Partners.

“We are proud financial partners of CityHub from the very start, providing financial facilities since the opening of its first hotel in Amsterdam five years ago. We are pleased to be able to facilitate CityHub’s innovative and disruptive concept to grow throughout Europe,” says Peter Sleper, ABN AMRO.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) acted as a guarantor of the loans through the Dutch Trade and Investment Fund, a government agency aimed to support businesses’ international ambitions.

About NIBC

NIBC is best suited to help entrepreneurs at their decisive moments. Now and in the future. As a bank for entrepreneurs, we are committed to cultivating our ‘THINK YES’ mentality by being flexible and agile and by matching our clients’ can-do attitude. We support our corporate clients in building their businesses. For our retail clients in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium we offer mortgages, online savings and brokerage products that are accessible, easy to understand and fairly priced. Operating in the Netherlands (The Hague and Amsterdam), Germany and UK, our corporate clients business (mainly mid-market) offers advice and debt, mezzanine and equity financing solutions to entrepreneurs across select sectors and sub-sectors in which we have strong expertise and market positions. The midmarket is dynamic by nature and requires a bank that can respond quickly and in a highly flexible way. Our aim is to meet the market’s requirements at decisive moments such as mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, investments and strategic financings and re-financings.

About ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO serves clients in the retail, private banking and corporate banking sectors. Our primary focus is on Northwest Europe. We offer clients in the Netherlands an extensive and comprehensive range of products and services across a variety of channels.

About RVO

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency supports entrepreneurs, NGOs, knowledge institutions and organisations. We aim to facilitate entrepreneurship, improve collaborations, strengthen positions and help realise national and international ambitions with funding, networking, know-how and compliance with laws and regulations.

We are a government agency which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Its activities are commissioned by the various Dutch ministries and the European Union.

About CityHub

CityHub is an initiative of college friends Sem Schuurkes and Pieter van Tilburg. The young entrepreneurs set a goal of improving the traditional hotel experience in line with the current zeitgeist and technological capabilities. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, they opened the first location in Amsterdam in 2015 followed by a second in Rotterdam in 2018. Right from the get-go CityHub has been featured among the best-rated hotel experiences on TripAdvisor and other well-known booking websites. Currently, Cityhub is a pioneer of the hub concept expanding internationally.