Italy: Hotel and apartment company URBANAUTS Hospitality Group, in partnership with investment group JP Hospitality Investors Club, has opened URBANAUTS STUDIOS Minelli in Trieste, Italy.
URBANAUTS STUDIOS Minelli comprises 36 studios housed across six floors in a 19th century palazzo, located in the San Vito district of Trieste. The studios come equipped with a small kitchen.
The building has no lobby, prompting guests to self check-in and out. An online concierge, which was developed with the Viennese startup Staymate, is available to all guests. Staff are also located on property.
Managing director of URBANAUTS, Theresia Kohlmayr, said: “[We] see ourselves as discreet travel partners. We offer our guests a network of fellows and then it’s up to the guests to follow our recommendations or embark upon their own adventure.”
The refurbishment of the building in Trieste was led by Vienna-based architecture firm BWM Designers & Architects. Erich Bernard of BWM said of STUDIOS Minelli: “The design concept is influenced by the typical colours of the city and celebrates the dolce far niente [which translates to “sweet doing nothing”].”
BWM, together with Büro KLK, had previously worked with URBANAUTS on its first hospitality project in 2012 – the grätzlhotels in Vienna. Located in the Belvedere district, former shops were transformed into hotel rooms. Grätzl Betriebs GmbH, with whom URBANAUTS jointly developed the concept, supported the delivery of additional projects across Vienna.
In 2015, URBANAUTS Hospitality Group was established to manage the hotel portfolio. Kohlmayr and Ines Auerbacher serve as managing directors of the group, which is owned by Grätzl Betriebs GmbH, URBANAUTS GmbH, GEP BeteiligungsInvest GmbH, and SOLUTIONS Holding GmbH.
In addition to the STUDIOS and the grätzlhotels concept, there are two additional products in the portfolio: apartment collection etagerie and hotel collection hideauts.
