New FOUND Hotel Santa Monica Opening Amid Pandemic

SANTA MONICA, CA — FOUND Hotels is planning to open a new Westside location this fall, expanding its footprint to Silicon Beach.

It's different than a traditional hotel and operates more like a SOHO house for nomads, offering short-term or extended stays. It's what travelers need most in the wake of the pandemic, company founders told Patch.

With the coronavirus outbreak and popularity of Airbnb and short-term rentals, the way people travel is evolving beyond the traditional hotel. That's what the brand's target audience—Gen Z and Millennials—want, creators said.

"It's not like Motel 6 or some IKEA product," co-founder Ross Walker told Patch. "It's meant to be budget lifestyle, affordable luxury."

The group owns and operates the budget-friendly location and plans to open in October at 12311 Santa Monica Blvd. The Santa Monica space is designed to be cozy and cool, with herringbone wood floors in the lobby and molding details throughout.

"It's a mid-century modern mix with contemporary touches," Walker said. "It's very timeless, very warm, kind of a home away from home feel. It's also got extended stay capabilities."

Guests have access to refrigerators, freezers, which has become a necessity and a signature part of the hotel brand's travel experience.

"It's important during the pandemic because people are kind of looking for places where they can stay for a while or live for a bit," Walker told Patch.

There's also a communal cooking area, on-site laundry, and business center services, including access to a printer and site for sending packages.

"If you're just hunkering there or living there for an extended period of time you have everything you need," Walker said. "It's safe, too, with social distancing because you have your fridge and freezer. Or, if you want to order Door Dash or order out we'll be designed to receive that."

Across the travel and hotel industry, there's increased interest in extended-stay options during the pandemic.

"It's people self-quarantining or people just want to get away for a while, affordably," Walker told Patch. "And with people not going back to work, a lot of that mandates working from home. There are people who just want to get away."

Some people want to do a staycation, or they work remotely.

"This might be an affordable option: to live somewhere for an extended period of time for a low rate with different scenery," Walker said.

Some people are living somewhere else short-term, often temporarily. And, people need places to stay along the coast.

"LA is really drivable," Walker told Patch. "People from San Diego, San Francisco, wherever you're coming from, it's just a nice place to travel. Air travel has decreased, although it's inching up every week."

"The most demand in hospitality today is for kind of affordable extended stays in drivable locations," Walker said. "LA fits that, especially with the beach lifestyle. It's great for people, especially if you're not working in sunny Santa Monica."

The hotel is located at the site of a former senior living facility that needed repairs, he said. The converted site is important for the Westside, where access to affordable housing is sparse.

"In this area, in Santa Monica and around it, there's no affordable housing around there," Walker told Patch. "Prior to the pandemic, if you wanted to stay in Santa Monica or on the Westside here, I don't think you can get in for even less than $300 a night, for even a crappy hotel."

The location offers an affordable option for students, tech company employees, people working in the entertainment industry, or travelers in Santa Monica, Brentwood and West Los Angeles.

"The only other options in this area are kind of just dilapidated hotels. Only a few can compare," Walker told Patch.

The hotels focus on comfort and lifestyle, with plans for guests to rent bikes, a patio for yoga and relaxing, and other amenities.

"Most hotels don't typically have a kitchen design for guests to use on their own, and they don't have on-site laundry," Walker said. "That's a brand standard for our FOUND hotels."

"We also have a lot of common areas," Walker told Patch. "We have a bar in the lobby that serves guest and lounge working space."

The group also offers ways for families or groups of friends to travel together. It's designed to help friends and families split rooms and save money at a central location near public transportation.

"The other key feature that we have is we have bunked rooms," Walker said. "I think those will be even more popular when things settle down but it's also affordable for families who want to group together for safety."

The hotel company plans to expand with this model even more across the country.

"We already have over 4,000 beds across the U.S. in 14 cities and 27 properties," Walker told Patch. "Our plan is to keep growing the real estate portfolio and the brand over these next few years."

It's different than Airbnb.

"What I think our advantages over an Airbnb is we have scale," Walker told Patch. "In terms of building trust and safety, cleanliness, and all those standards for COVID, we can standardize things better."

The brand offers longterm stays for students in cities, too.

"We have students who live in our FOUND Studies and when they travel they get discounts or other benefits to the hotels that they travel to," Walker told Patch. "It's an ecosystem of properties that people travel to, and that's unique in the U.S. today."

Mostly, it's meant to be home—for now.

"I think it's really hard to grow a residential brand," Walker told Patch. "You don't care what it's called, you just want to care about how nice it is, and the location and price. But with our FOUND residences I feel like we have a chance to build a brand there because we have a hotel product."

FOUND seeks to attract young students through FOUND Study, adventure seekers through FOUND Hotels, and those pursuing aspirational dreams through FOUND Residences, according to the group.

"It's almost your home away from home," Walker said. "If you live in our UCLA residence here, and you knew you got to stay in Boston, San Francisco, it's almost like a SOHO House."

The brand opened its Nob Hill / San Francisco Union Square and Market location earlier this year.

There are plans to open the Gaslamp Quarter / San Diego location in 2021 and the brand is currently developing the location to have 157 rooms, very similar to the Santa Monica location. The San Diego location is near the historic Grant Hotel and will also offer affordable rates and similar amenities to Santa Monica.

Other FOUND properties are in development with plans to complete in 2021, including a mid-Miami Beach hotel and another property in Boston, in Cobley Square, which is under renovation.

The company has spent more than $400 million of equity to purchase, redevelop and rebrand properties across the US and expects to have over 27 properties spread across 14 cities by year-end of 2020. Cities include Chicago, Boston, Providence, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami Beach, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Oakland, San Francisco and Waikiki Beach.

For more information and to contact the hotel, visit the website or call (310) 883-6863.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story said FOUND Hotel Santa Monica was located in Santa Monica. It is West Los Angeles, a few blocks from the city of Santa Monica.