Shared Living and Office Startup Localstitch Signs MOU
Next Month, Seogyo Branch Reservations on Hotel Website... Considering Expansion of Participation
Starting Point for Business Diversification Beyond 4 Hotel and 1 Resort Brands
Lotte Hotel is considering diversifying its portfolio beyond operating four existing hotel brands and one resort brand to include shared housing and shared office businesses. The plan is to expand the ecosystem by applying Lotte Hotel's infrastructure and services to new businesses and shared models.
On the 11th, Lotte Hotel announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a cooperative system for shared housing and lodging business with Local Stitch, a space planning specialist company. At the MOU signing ceremony held on the 10th, Lee Hyo-seop, Head of Planning at Lotte Hotel, Kim Soo-min, CEO of Local Stitch, and other executives from both companies agreed to jointly develop operational models and services combining Lotte Hotel's brand power and Local Stitch's regional space development capabilities.
(From left) Taehee Lim, Executive Director of Lotte Ventures; Hyoseop Lee, Head of Planning Division at Lotte Hotel; Sumin Kim, CEO of Local Stitch; and Minsu Yoon, Head of Future Business Division at Lotte Hotel, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement. [Photo by Lotte Hotel].
Local Stitch, a space planning company, is a startup that previously attracted investments from Lotte Ventures, Hana Bank, and others. It operates 23 locations of shared housing and shared offices for regional creators, mainly composed of MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) such as solo creators and freelancers.· It is characterized by combining co-working and co-living to provide not only office space but also residential space.
The cooperation between the two companies will begin with the opening next month of the 296-room 'Local Stitch Creator Town Seogyo.' Initially, Local Stitch services will be bookable through the Lotte Hotel website. Through this, Lotte Hotel can attract a wider variety of customers, including low-cost long-term residents beyond the target audience of its five hotel and resort brands, to the Lotte Hotel platform, while Local Stitch gains easier customer access. In the future, possibilities for applying hospitality services, operations, and investments are also open. Going forward, various products different from existing hotels are expected to be available through shared channels.
Lotte Hotel aims to establish a foundation for the 'soft brand' business in the hotel sector through this agreement. It will introduce a new business model that combines the brand image and marketing capabilities accumulated in the hospitality field with Local Stitch's regional space business. Lotte Hotel plans to apply this new operational model to hotels and idle assets to be expanded in the future to improve operational efficiency and expand the 'soft brand' business.
A Lotte Hotel official said, "Lotte Hotel has established a dedicated organization this year for new businesses and is actively exploring new business models with various partners," adding, "We will increase corporate value by discovering future growth businesses and make a leap forward as a culture and tourism content company."
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