Skift Take
For CitizenM, growth means looking at the hospitality industry in a different way.
Ten years after opening the first CitizenM hotel in Amsterdam, the founders of the style-driven budget-conscious micro-hotel brand remain adamant that hospitality is in need of more innovation, better technology, and insights from outside the industry.
"In our industry, we paint a wall gray and we're so excited — we think we've innovated and we haven't done shit," Michael Levie, co-founder and chief operating officer of CitizenM told Skift.
"I think that our industry still has a lot of growing to do, and what has happened is that, because of the lack of sophistication in technology … we're in a position where these are essentially retail stores — nothing more, nothing less," Levie explained. "We sell guest satisfaction here. What you'll see in our industry, and what's happening now, is we're bringing in people from the outside [to help us innovate.]"
Levie, together with CitizenM chief marketing officer Robin Chadha, was showcasing the brand's latest hotel, the newly opened CitizenM New York Bowery Hotel in the heart of New York City's Lower East Side neighborhood.
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