Still Waiting for Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels to Transform Hospitality
Photo Caption: The Virgin Hotels Dallas opened on Dec. 15. It is the third Virgin Hotel to open. Virgin Hotels
Skift Take
Richard Branson created Virgin Hotels nine years ago, promising to deliver about two dozen boutique hotels with flair. So far, only three hotels have opened. Will it be able to accelerate its growth in 2020?
When British billionaire Richard Branson announced in 2010 that he would create the Virgin Hotels lifestyle brand, he promised that it would disrupt the hospitality industry. The brand made its splashy debut in Chicago in 2015. Branson flew in for it, conducting interviews with journalists in the Shag Room of The Commons Club with no shoes on. He promised to provide a fun, edgy, affordable alternative to every other lifestyle brand out there, of which there are many.
It’s a pronouncement the company still makes, but nearly a decade later, it hasn’t exactly lived up to that ambitious promise.
The company opened its third hotel, a 268-room property in Dallas’ Design district, on Sunday. Virgin Hotels San Francisco opened in February. The very first Virgin Hotel debuted in Chicago in 2015.
Three properties in nine years is not exactly what makes a brand an industry disruptor.
Virgin Hotels CEO Raul Leal said that will change in 2020, with the opening of three hotels, inclu
