Loft-like guestrooms feature exposed brick, upgraded bedding and lots of technology.

A double-double loft room

Serial brand creator John Russell has done it again. Russell, along with group of hotel industry veterans and in conjunction with Indian and Brazilian investors, debuted his latest brand, MODO Hotel, at this week’s Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego.

MODO plans to develop simultaneously in Brazil, India and the U.S.

MODO, which parent company Advaya Hospitality plans to roll out on three continents simultaneously, is a lifestyle lodging product driven by music and designed around the Bauhaus aesthetic. “Modo means ‘the way’ in Spanish,” says Russell, who’s CEO of both MODA and Advaya. “To us, the M stands for music centric, the O for original, D for design-focused and O for on track with the way people travel today.”

A king suite loft room

Calling it the universal language, MODO’s Chief Development Officer Chris Jones told a press conference during ALIS that music will permeate the product in a variety of ways. Through a partnership with Downtown Music, guests will have access to thousands of independent music tracks on the brand’s website (MODO Radio) and through premium sound systems and headphones at the properties.

The MODO lobby

“Music, especially independent music, resonates on a global scale, and that makes it a perfect fit for our brand,” says Jones. Visitors to the website can download the music and embed the music on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. “This will enable the music and our brand go viral.”

Even the foodservice has a music theme. RPM, the food and beverage outlet, will be adjacent to each hotel and will be scalable in size and menu options.

Guestroom designs have a loft-style look, similar to Russell’s previous brand venture, NYLO Hotels (of which he is still a partner), with high ceilings, large windows or glass walls and lots of concrete, brick, stained cork and distressed woods. Amenities include the proprietary MODO SNOOZE bedding system, free WiFi, iPod docks, 26- to 32-inch flat-screen TVs and remote-controlled access to each hotel’s curated music collection.

MODO struck a deal with BridgeRock Capial Management to develop between five and 10 MODOs in Brazil. In addition, later this year the company will unveil a budget version of the brand for the Indian market. At least five properties are slated for the country in the next three years. In the U.S., Advaya will create a fund to acquire properties for conversion and to build new hotels. Initial target markets are New York, Kansas City and Miami. Russell says franchising will follow, as well as expansion to China, Thailand and other parts of Latin America.

Russell says the full-service MODOs will have between 110 and 150 rooms and will cost $110,000, including land, to build. Land costs in gateway cities will push the tab a little higher. The budget brand slated for India will feature hotels with 60 to 80 rooms and costs are $75,00 to $80,000 per key.