The acquisition immediately adds 800 units to the NUMA portfolio, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester, in established city centre properties. As a result, the business now has more than 7,300 units across Europe.
A strong market position
“Native Places has built a substantial direct share through its corporate distribution channels, as well as B2B and B2C brand recognition,” said Christian Gaiser, CEO and co-founder of NUMA Group. “The portfolio perfectly complements our expansion strategy…this collaboration marks another significant step forward in NUMA’s ambition to expand across Europe and secure a dominant foothold in the UK market.”
The Native Places business includes seven sites. In London there are aparthotels in Hyde Park, Mayfair, Bankside and St Paul’s, plus three more locations in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The acquisition also includes The Apartment Collection, an additional ten serviced apartments in London’s premier neighbourhoods.
Native Places was the short stay division of the Native Holdings group, headed by founder Guy Nixon. Having divested its aparthotel business, Native will be concentrating its future efforts on growing its build to rent, co-living and mixed use commercial developments across the UK.
NUMA is a technology-led hospitality business, with a fully digitized hospitality platform. The group has already secured a significant presence in key European city markets, with aparthotels in Berlin, Munich, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, and Vienna. In summer 2023, the group secured further investment of SD59m, in a C series funding round led by Verlinvest.
At the time, Raphael Thiolon, managing director of Verlinvest, revealed why he was backing NUMA: “Traditional hotel chains have struggled to respond to the needs of ever more digitally-savvy, time-poor consumers while being constrained by legacy backend infrastructures, large networks of franchisees, and slow-moving cultures. NUMA provides a holistic solution to these problems with its user-friendly interface on the front end and its new tech-first, data-led model that optimises business processes on the back end.”
Growing in London
The additional London presence will join NUMA’s first London site, which the group signed in March 2024 with when it secured the 86 room Bedford Corner Hotel. And it follows the November 2023 acquisition of Dutch aparthotel group Yays, which brought 489 units in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, as well as pipeline properties with a further 124 units to be opened in Madrid, Frankfurt, and The Hague.
NUMA has a strong and growing pipeline, that includes several openings later this year. In Salzburg, NUMA will open the V33 hotel, a development with 120 rooms backed by investor IFA. And in Paris, the group will open in a former hotel, which is undergoing refurbishment to deliver a 48 unit scheme. There will also be an opening in Munich, in Luxembourg and Lisbon.
Among 2025 openings are a 185 unit project in Hamburg. Berlin is a major focus for growth for NUMA. In 2026 it expects to open two further properties there, including a 95 unit property in Berlin Mitte, and an 82 unit hotel in Berlin Koloniestrasse. Also in planning is a site in Dusseldorf.
