European lifestyle brand Ruby Hotels has signed to open a second hotel in The Netherlands. Ruby Rotterdam will join the group’s successful flagship in Amsterdam, launching with a 225 room property in the country’s second city.
The hotel will be created by developer Foruminvest, in the city’s Glashavn district. The company is taking an existing office building and will be converting it to create the new Ruby, a route the Ruby brand frequently uses to create well located city centre hotels.
A promise of lean luxury
Ruby says its brand promises “lean luxury”, combining a high end feel at a surprisingly low price point. Its distinctive brand has also sought to support a diverse operating team, with undertakings including a 35 hour week for staff, profit share, paternity leave, and even grants for a new tattoo, piercing or hairstyle.
Currently there are 18 Ruby hotels open, with a further nine in development. One recent opening was the group’s first hotel in Dublin, Ireland, where it is already at work on a second site, due to open in 2025. Also in 2025, a 300 room Ruby in Glasgow, Scotland should be welcoming its first guests, while a second Scottish hotel, in Edinburgh will be developed by converting three existing buildings in the city centre. Developer Hunter REIM will deliver the hotel, which will have around 300 rooms.
Ruby is also planning to take the brand into China, having signed a partnership with local group Delonix. The Chinese pipeline is already building, with an 82 room hotel in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai and a 100 room hotel in Jiaxing planned. Ruby Nanjing Xinjiekou and Ruby Chengdu Anaisi are also in the early stages of development.
In London, Ruby will open their Ruby Hotel Stella later in 2024. The 154 room, eight storey block is in Clerkenwell, and will join Ruby Zoe and Ruby Lucy, already open in the UK capital. And across Europe, Ruby hotels are in development in Florence, Frankfurt and Marseille.
Entering the Swedish market
The pipeline includes a hotel in Sweden, which will launch the Ruby name in Scandinavia. There, real estate developer Alecta Fastigheter, part of the country’s largest pension fund will develop a 187 room hotel by repurposing former office space on the island of Kungsholmen in Stockholm. As well as the hotel, the conversion will also feature a restaurant on the building’s eleventh floor. The intention is to open the hotel in spring 2026.
The Ruby brand is also present in the flexible workspace market, with standalone co-working offices in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Malta, Munich, Stuttgart and Vienna, Stuttgart, and Malta. By applying its brand to daytime use, as well as overnight stays, Ruby is looking to embed its name as a true lifestyle brand.
