Pop-up hotel concept WhyHotel raises $10M, plans U.S. expansion

A startup that turns units in new luxury apartment buildings into temporary hotels has raised $10 million in Series A funding.

WhyHotel plans to use the capital to expand beyond its initial launch in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas and to add staff. 

The round was led by Highland Capital Partners, with participation from Camber Creek, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Mendacre, MetaProp and Geolo Capital.

“WhyHotel provides a better product and a better customer experience to business and leisure travelers for their short‐term housing needs,” says Craig Driscoll, parter at Highland Capital Partners.

“The WhyHotel team has taken a leadership position in helping modern cities and leading property developers provide visitors with a more flexible and cost‐effective housing option. We are proud to be partnered with the WhyHotel team on this journey.”

WhyHotel partners with apartment developers to use between 100 and 250 of the units in new buildings as hotel rooms. The pop-up hotels operate for as long as it takes the building to complete its lease-up phase, generally between 18 months and two years.

WhyHotel furnishes and cleans the units and provides round-the-clock hospitality and security staff in the buildings. Guests have access to the building’s amenities, and building residents receive discounts on the units, for example for their friends and family. Read more about the company on PhocusWire's Startup Stage here.

“The WhyHotel concept of turning brand-new, yet-to-be-leased luxury apartment building units into temporary hotel suites has seen great success with consumers in the areas we have launched so far,” says Bao Vuong, president and co‐founder of WhyHotel.

“It is for that reason that we are continuing our rapid expansion to bring the WhyHotel experience to additional metros and we are grateful to have received the funding to do so.”

WhyHotel launched in 2017 and has hosted pop-ups in properties in Washington and Baltimore. Now the company is creating three new temporary hotels in apartment buildings in Northern Virginia and preparing to expand to new markets in the coming year.