About Umi
Our Vision
To provide a service-led environment known for its welcome, its passion for fun, its great value and a desire to unite people and cultures.
What is Umi all about?
To build a unique hotel we employed a unique approach. The focus was on building a brand with meaning behind it as oppose to just another hotel. We worked closely with a young branding agency called the youth conspiracy ltd. who were given the brief to create something different and revolutionise the industry. Their process had young people at the heart of all development. After recognising that the values we wanted to emulate lay in Westbourne Grove and on the Portobello road we quickly found our direction for the hotel. It was this bohemian nature found in cities all over Great Britain from London to Brighton to Liverpool which really connected with a diversity of characters and personalities.
The next stage was finding the name and as we felt that all people are ‘umi’ people we took the naming process to the streets speaking to locals and tourists alike identifying what they liked, loved and hated. We generated a list of over 500 names and over the course of 3 months we funneled that down to umi - born out of nothing more than continual consumer testing, a raw feeling and a fantastic vibe.
What does Umi mean?
The ‘umi’ interlinking logotype expresses the fusion of cultures, ideas and people. The name ‘umi’ has a huge Asian influence. Meaning sea in Japanese, the name itself acts as our synapse-joining staff, guests and nationalities, breaking down boundaries and allowing a continual flow of communication with everyone who comes into contact with the umi brand.
The bespoke typeface is round and smooth. ‘umi’ is written in lower case evoking a warm and personal feel. ‘umi’ has 21st century hospitality at its heart whilst exuding character and meaning in many languages. It is not a typical hotel name, an abbreviation or persons name.
Umi People
People are the key to our amazing service and everyone who works with us is passionate and enthusiastic to learn. We are dedicated to the promotion of young excellence, continually searching out young talent and working closely with students and highly innovative fresh thinking companies.
If you are a hospitality student or feel yours skills would benefit umi, please contact Steve on
Umi final note…
It is time to pull away from the traditional stereotypes of 3 stars and build a hotel that stands for something, that has a strong sense of identity, a soul and a real passion for delivering great hospitality and fantastic value…