CapitaLand Investment Limited’s (CLI) wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) has set a target to sign 150 properties with over 30,000 units under its lyf coliving brand by 2030. The announcement was made at the official opening of lyf one-north Singapore today. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Guest-of-Honour Mr Alvin Tan, Singapore’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Owned by Ascott’s sponsored hospitality trust, Ascott Residence Trust (ART), the 324-unit lyf one-north Singapore will be an integral part of one-north, Singapore’s research and innovation hub. The property serves to meet the coliving needs of many innovative start-ups, research and development firms as well as high-tech and media enterprises located nearby, while injecting more vibrancy into the district through its experiential programmes and placemaking activities.

Mr Kevin Goh, CLI’s Chief Executive Officer for Lodging, said: “A unique lodging product in a class of its own, Ascott developed lyf as a solution that combines the best of serviced residences, hotels and coliving apartments. We have opened seven lyf properties in Singapore, China, Japan and Thailand to date. Our first lyf property – lyf Funan Singapore achieved an 80% occupancy level within three months of its opening in September 2019. lyf one-north Singapore welcomed our first guest in November 2021, and we have already achieved a strong occupancy rate of above 85% today. We see the potential to expand our lyf portfolio to 150 properties by 2030. In addition to growing the lyf brand via management contracts, we also see attractive opportunities for our private funds and Ascott Residence Trust to deploy more investments into this product class.”

Launch of lyf Innovation Lab to develop immersive virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to deliver cutting-edge experiences to guests in the metaverse
Ascott is also empowering lyf as a coliving concept through digital technology. The service model       of lyf is anchored upon the Discover ASR mobile app which enables functionalities from room bookings, hassle-free check-in/check-out processes, keyless room access, management of social spaces and community events, communication board with guests to cashless payment.

At the opening ceremony, Ascott announced the launch of the lyf Innovation Lab to power up its digital-enabled offerings. Created in collaboration with Temasek Polytechnic’s School of Informatics & IT, the lyf Innovation Lab will explore, design and testbed immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies and digital experiences for lyf. lyf one-north Singapore will serve as a living lab for field testing these digital innovations. Successful pilots will eventually be implemented across other lyf properties worldwide.

The Ascott limited won the following awards, World’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021, Asia’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021, Malaysia’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021, Middle East’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021 at World Travel Awards