July 12, 2023
Provided image/Bre Furlong
After three years in development, Yowie hotel is now taking its first bookings.
A new hotel has officially entered the Philly market, as Yowie on South Street is now taking its first bookings for August and beyond.
The boutique hotel, which shares space with the popular Yowie home goods shop, has been in the works since 2020. Located at 226 South St. near Head House Square, it features 13 suites decorated with items available for purchase in the Yowie shop or through in-room catalogs.
The entire Yowie brand is the brainchild of Shannon Maldonado, a former fashion designer for Ralph Lauren and American Eagle. The Philadelphia native launched the Yowie store online in 2016 to national buzz, and a tiny brick-and-mortar location in Queen Village soon followed. After it was hailed "Philly's coolest boutique" by Bon Appétit, Maldonado moved Yowie to its current space on the ground floor of the new hotel.
"It’s about clean open space, so the products have a pedestal to shine and it's not a bunch of stuff," Maldonado said of her brand in 2016. "I think the edit is what people are excited about — I’m not asking you to buy ten mugs, I’m asking you to buy two. To me, these two are the coolest mugs I’ve seen. And that's what people who have gone to the site have told me they appreciate."
The rooms at the new Yowie hotel start at around $179 per night and can climb past $1,000 for the hotel's priciest two-bedroom suites on prime weekend dates. Most of the rooms include a kitchen with cookware, and all of them are decorated in Maldonado's bright, "minimal but cozy" style.
The 13 suites were designed by Maldonado with items available for purchase in the Yowie shop.
Most of the Yowie hotel rooms have a kitchen with cookware.
The hotel also features a café, Wim, connected to the shop on the ground floor. A collaboration with ReAnimator Coffee and the bakery and pizza shop eeva, Wim serves coffee, salads, sandwiches and pastries from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Yowie is a non-smoking hotel and is not pet-friendly. Reservations can be made online, with a credit card only, on the hotel website. An ADA-compliant suite is available on the ground floor, and pack-and-plays are available for parents upon request.
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