Stella Stays launches its operations in Bahrain

Stella Stays, a hospitality brand, has launched its operations in Bahrain ahead of a major expansion in the region. The company’s expansion ambitions will capitalize on Bahrain’s booming real estate industry, which already has $12 billion in projects in the pipeline.

Stella Stays manages a collection of properties in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Canada. The company, which aspires to compete with existing hotel chains, is aimed at tourists and locals looking for short, medium, and long-term stays in well-designed, furnished, and controlled apartments, townhouses, and villas. In addition to normal hotel amenities, each Stella Stays unit is designed by the company’s in-house interior design team and includes elegant modern furnishings, pre-loaded Netflix accounts, PlayStations, espresso machines, and 100+ on-demand services.

The start-up launched in late 2019, and has grown to manage nearly 300 properties as of August 2021. “We have an aggressive growth plan and the new properties being built in Bahrain will play a crucial role in our strategy.” said Mohannad Zikra, CEO and Co-founder at Stella Stays.

He also added,  “Our expansion into Bahrain coincides with the Kingdom’s major real estate developments. Our model is the perfect fit for the Bahrain market and will be an excellent stepping stone in rolling the concept out to key locations in the region and eventually expanding to Europe and North America.”      

Despite the pandemic’s beginning, Stella Stays was able to shift its focus from visitors to locals and inbound travellers in need of a location to work remotely while undergoing quarantine. One round of early money has already been raised for the startup. Now, the company wants to match the success of a similar company in the United States, Sonder, which announced earlier this year that it would be going public at a valuation of USD 2.2 billion.

The Bahraini market is ideal for Stella Stays to expand. The Kingdom’s economy has supported strong residential development boom, with developers moving forward on a number of freehold apartment projects. In the real estate industry, the Kingdom also has some of the best value set-up expenses in the area.

Ali Al Mudaifa, Executive Director – investment Origination at Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, said: “The Kingdom’s hospitality sector is evolving rapidly amid ambitious real estate developments across the island. Major global hotel brands and small hospitality innovators alike view Bahrain as an attractive place to expand in the wake of the pandemic, which has catalyzed innovation.

Ali Al Mudaifa, Executive Director – investment Origination at Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, said: “The Kingdom’s hospitality sector is evolving rapidly amid ambitious real estate developments across the island. Major global hotel brands and small hospitality innovators alike view Bahrain as an attractive place to expand in the wake of the pandemic, which has catalyzed innovation.

“We are seeing disruptive business models attracted to Bahrain’s dynamic real estate market in part because of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority’s (RERA) forward looking, effective regulation. The Kingdom’s 100% foreign ownership regulation also makes Bahrain an attractive place to set up. We look forward to supporting Stella Stays and many other hospitality companies from around the region and beyond in their growth plans in the coming months.”