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About Generator
Voted by Fast Company as one of the top 50 Most Innovative Global Companies, Generator is Europe’s fastest growing boutique accommodation brand located in the most central locations across Europe and USA including Dublin, London, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Venice, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Rome, Madrid Miami and Washington D.C.
Pioneers of affordable luxury and masters of the social experience, all properties include a range of room types from shared to private bedrooms, chill-out areas, bars, cafes and a variety of spaces available for private hire - from street facing or basement exhibition spaces to penthouse suites and roof tops. The successful concept begins with the award winning interior design; continues with the locally inspired, carefully curated events and the extraordinary food and beverage offerings; concluding with the best night’s sleep in our bespoke beds in shared or private rooms.
Generator’s History
Generator started out in 1995 as a brother and sister partnership. Louise and Kingsley Duffy owned and leased two traditional properties, in two of the hottest destinations for youthful travellers: London and Berlin.
In August 2007, Patron Capital acquired a rudimentary Generator and within eight years, increased the property count from two to eleven and pushed the boundaries to make Generator the design-led accommodation brand that it is today. In March 2017, Queensgate Investments acquired Generator with plans to cement its reputation as a leader in hospitality by investing €300m into adding more hostel assets.
Generator’s Mission
Generator is about a whole new dimension of cool, social travel accommodation and public spaces for the young at heart. Our vision is to lead the way in a new generation of properties, hybrid between hostels and hotels to be recognised globally as the best in its class and to create a worldwide portfolio of achingly attractive, design and event-driven accommodations that are stylish, contemporary, central, social and safe.
Our mission is to become the world’s leading design-led accommodation brand. We do so by offering stylish, cool yet affordable accommodation in centrally located hotels with event-led, soulful social spaces, like traditional hostels. Our goal is to excite the senses and be innovative with a wide-ranging, concepted food & beverage and ancillaries offer appealing to in house guests and the local community. We strive to use design, technology and innovation to be distinctive and to improve efficiency and drive our selling across multiple channels, with a focus to our website, to attract both groups and individuals, both corporate and leisure, and diversifying our geographic focus to increase our price premium over competitors. By ensuring we have the on brand team with the passion and local knowledge to make our guests’ stays memorable, we put the interests and safety of our guests and customers first.
Our values are about being stylish, social and safe. Along the way we will embrace new technologies, demonstrate a global cultural perspective with a neighborhood curation, and seek to be environmentally aware.
Generator’s Timeline
1995 – It begins with the Duffy Family opening the first hostel in Bloomsbury, London
2002 – After a small break the brand expands to two properties with the opening of Berlin Prenzlauer Berg
2007 – Patron Capital invest in the brand, after realising the huge growth opportunity of the portfolio.
2011 – Generator Copenhagen opens in June and illustrates a significant interior design change for the brand. Followed shortly by the opening of Generator Dublin in July.
2012 – Opening of Generator Hamburg, former Beatles recording studio. Acquisition of Venice, Barcelona and Berlin Mitte. Generator creatively rebrands to align interior design with the visual identity of the brand.
2013 – Generator Barcelona opened as the first property fully designed by DesignAgency. Closely followed with the opening of Generator Berlin Mitte in April, and Generator Venice in June.
2014 – Regeneration was the theme for 2014. The London hostel was completely remodelled and launched in March. The brand launched ReGenerate in Berlin and Copenhagen, a music, art, and culture festival that was a collaboration with The LAB magazine.
2015 - Generator opened its biggest property yet in Paris, with 917 beds in 199 rooms. It was also a year of collaborations, including a major partnership with underground music platform, Boiler Room.
2016 – Launched three new locations including Amsterdam, Rome and Stockholm alongside exciting new collaborations.
2018 – Generator opened its first US location in Miami and continue its European growth with a property in Madrid. Generator also launched its new look website and booking engine. Queensgate Investments acquired Generator with plans to cement its reputation as a leader in hospitality by investing €300m into adding more assets.
2019 – Generator acquired another property in the U.S., in Washington D.C. The latest arrival in the Generator family opened its doors in January 2020. In February 2019, Generatorhostels.com becomes StayGenerator.com and brings a few nice looking features on their website too.
In October 2019, Queensgate Investments acquired freehandhotels.com and its 4 properties in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
2023 - Generator opened its 3rd property in Berlin with the Generator Berlin Alexanderplatz.