'The total restructuring and rethink of accommodation real estate' and 'the rise of digital nomads' will be two of the biggest changes coming out of the pandemic.

According to two leading investors who spoke at The Bridge Series, Episode 1, organised by WiT and Phocuswright.

When asked by Phocuswright’s managing director Pete Comeau, to imagine 10 years from now how they would complete the sentence “wow, the pandemic provided fertile ground for …”, Chris Hemmeter, managing partner of Thayer Ventures, a travel and hospitality-focused fund, “I think that the old days of thinking about accommodation, real estate as a hotel model only are over. I think multi-family is becoming a hybrid asset class, and I think that there will be more including single family homes and luxury villas. I think the whole world of hospitality, real estate and the monetisation of hospitality real estate is going to be the biggest fundamental shift – happening pre-pandemic but accelerated by the pandemic.”

Chris Hemmeter (top right) and Oliver Rippel (bottom right) being interviewed by WiT’s Yeoh Siew Hoon and Phocuswright’s Pete Comeau

Oliver Rippel, founding partner of Asia Partners, a growth equity firm focused on tech investments in South-east Asia, said the trend of digital nomads will be huge – moving from short term travel to travel to “relocate temporarily to a new location”.

“We see this already with our entrepreneurs,” he said. “It’s much less of hitting three countries within 24 hours but being co-located with the team on the ground for sometimes weeks, even months. What does that mean in terms of accommodation, how I organise and structure my travel, where to stay, what kind of services I need – where I’m almost like becoming a resident for a few weeks or months. I think we have barely scratched the surface on (this trend).”

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