New Hospitality Start-Up Leverages Obsolete Retail

Los Angeles-based start-up Stay Open is planning to build pod and private-room hotels by repurposing vacant and obsolete retail and office space. The start-up has secured $2 million in seed funding, led by a European family office. The model includes four to eight private sleeping pods, high-end shared restrooms, large common areas for work or play, food-and-beverage outlets and access to local amenities.

“I started seeing all of this empty retail and office space, predominately in Los Angeles, which is where we are based,” Steve Shpilsky, co-founder of Stay Open, tells GlobeSt.com. “At the same time, there were a lot of people booking hotel rooms for a single night, so they were only using the bed. I started to think about a way to efficiently repurpose empty real estate into hospitality use.”