Sitting down with The Peak for a one-on-one interview is the Vice President of YOO Worldwide’s Business Development sector within Asia Pacific region, Rich Millar. From regaling the core concept of the YOO and Yoo2 hospitality brand to discussing the recent expansion plans across Southeast Asia, including their upcoming upmarket residential concept, 8 Conlay, Malaysia is their next target on their global expansion plan and we could not be more ready for it.
So what is YOO about?
We have always been, for 21 years, involved with branded residences. We actually have around 82 projects completed. We have a hundred completed within 2 or 3 years. So we are by far the largest design firm in the branded residence field globally. So the Trump and the Lamborghini and the Arman, they cannot touch us. We have done far more projects and as a result of having this association with (Philippe) Starck. He really made a name for himself on interiors.
People have been asking us to do hotels. We’ve always said no. But now we’re saying yes. Hotels are now on the radar. There’s a reason why it hadn’t been in the past and why the time is right for us now. And of course, service apartments. So in this sense, we go across all of the terms of stay, short term, midterm, long term but all within residential. We’re talking about the hospitality component. Even when we do branded residences, there’s a hospitality component whether it is hospitality services that are offered to the owners of the apartments. It almost feels like you’re living in a hotel but in your own place. If you want hotel services they are available for you. If you don’t, that is also okay. We have projects in Canada, New Zealand and Tasmania with a lot more in Asia.
Since you operate on such an international scale how do you localise your projects to the country it is being developed in?
This story is from the February 2020 edition of The PEAK Malaysia.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of The PEAK Malaysia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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