Lamington Group has announced the launch of Second Nature, the new brand for its Hometel portfolio, marking the next stage in the company’s evolution after a decade of developing and operating one of the UK’s most distinctive hospitality concepts…
From today, the company’s Hometels in Chiswick, Southampton and Belfast have transitioned from room2 to Second Nature, with all guest-facing touchpoints, including signage, uniforms, in-room collateral and digital channels, adopting the new identity. Future openings, including York in May 2027, together with developments in Cambridge, Leeds, and Shepherd’s Bush, will all launch under the Second Nature brand.
The rebrand reflects the evolution of the business rather than a change in the guest experience. When room2 launched in 2016, it introduced the Hometel: a new category combining the comfort and flexibility of apartment living with the atmosphere and service of a hotel. Over the past decade, Lamington Group has continually refined that proposition, creating a hospitality experience that has evolved far beyond its original identity.
Image credit: Lamington Group
The Hometel concept remains unchanged, but the business has outgrown the room2 name. Second Nature better reflects the quality of today’s guest experience and provides the platform for the company’s next phase of growth.
Robert Godwin, CEO of Lamington Group, commented: “When we launched room2, we weren’t trying to build a brand. We were trying to prove there was a better way to stay. We believed people shouldn’t have to choose between an apartment and a hotel, so we created the Hometel and spent the next decade building, operating and refining it ourselves. Over that time, our understanding of what great hospitality can be has evolved enormously. The room2 name belonged to the business we started. Second Nature reflects the business we’ve become.”
The launch of Second Nature also marks the next phase of Lamington Group’s growth strategy. Having established and proven the Hometel concept through its own portfolio, the business is now focused on expanding through a combination of new developments, leases and hotel management agreements. Today it operates more than 330 keys, with a confirmed development pipeline of approximately 2,200 keys and a long-term ambition to build a 5,000-key pipeline.
Central to that growth is a belief that sustainability should improve commercial performance, not simply environmental performance. Rather than treating sustainability as an additional cost, Lamington Group has embedded it into the way it designs, develops and operates its hotels, with a strategy centred on Net Zero, Circularity and Health & Wellbeing.
“We’ve always believed that doing the right thing should also be the commercially smart thing,” added Godwin. “Better buildings perform better. They cost less to operate, create healthier spaces for guests and teams and generate stronger long-term returns. We don’t see sustainability as an initiative alongside the business. We see it as fundamental to building a better hospitality business.”
This philosophy is continually tested through dedicated innovation rooms at the company’s Chiswick and Belfast Hometels, where new technologies, materials and operational improvements are trialled before being introduced across the wider portfolio.
Second Nature represents the next chapter in Lamington Group’s evolution. The Hometel concept remains unchanged, but the ambition to redefine modern hospitality continues to grow.
Main image credit: Lamington Group
