CapitaLand Investment Limited’s (CLI) wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited has set a target to sign 150 properties with over 30,000 units under its lyf coliving brand by 2030.

The announcement of this ambitious development plan was made at the official opening of lyf one-north Singapore on 11 April, 2022. The opening ceremony was officiated by Alvin Tan, Singapore’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Lyf, which stands for « live your freedom », is a lodging concept designed for youth guests who are part of the next-generation of guests. The apartments, social spaces and experiential programmes at lyf properties are designed for guests to forge connections and nurture a sense of community. Ascott currently has 17 lyf coliving properties with over 3,200 units in 14 cities and nine countries.

Lyf properties are owned by Ascott’s sponsored hospitality trust, Ascott Residence Trust (ART). In 2023 lyf Gambetta Paris, Ascott’s first lyf-branded property in Europe, will open its door. 

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.

Kevin Goh, Chief Executive Officer for Lodging, CapitaLand Investment Limited

Ascott is also empowering lyf as a coliving concept through digital technology. Lyf’s guests can use Discover ASR mobile app to book rooms, do check-in and check-out, have keyless room access or make cashless payment.

During this opening ceremony, Ascott also 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.

Currently lyf one-north Singapore serve as the first pilot for this new concept. Other pilots will eventually be implemented across other lyf properties worldwide. This first pilot is the expansion of lyf’s coliving experience into the metaverse by harnessing VR and AR technologies to merge the physical world of lyf with the virtual space. 

The lyf brand has always been advocating new ways of living and forming communities. We are now enhancing our lyf community building efforts beyond the walls of our apartments and the lyf social spaces. Tapping on VR and AR technologies, lyf is aiming to offer a borderless experience to our guests in the virtual realm. For example, our lyf Champions can host virtual property tours live or our Ambassadors of Buzz can offer custom lyf tote bag design workshops where guests can then purchase their own creations in the metaverse as non-fungible tokens (NFT) or as actual merchandise in the real life. Guests looking for a workout can even spar over a game of virtual tennis and connect with other guests. These virtual experiences will allow guests at lyf to explore, engage and interact with lyf as well as with one another like never before.

Tan Bee Leng, Ascott’s Managing Director for Brand & Marketing