Skift Take
NeueHouse is set to grow and bring its intricate form of hospitality around the world. It turns out creating a truly customized experience for members is a lot of work.
In their race to conquer the global market for co-working, companies like WeWork have expanded around the world while offering a limited set of services to tenants. They are also under financial pressure as a result of offering generic spaces without much differentiation or custom programming.
NeueHouse, though, has taken a different approach to growth as it opens just its third location in Los Angeles' iconic Bradbury Building.
[caption id="attachment_379954" align="alignright" width="280"] NeueHouse CEO Josh Wyatt. Photo: NeueHouse[/caption]
NeueHouse CEO Josh Wyatt, the co-founder of Generator Hostels and former Equinox Hotels chief, thinks upscale co-working spaces with embedded cultural events represent something of an antidote to the norm in the sector. Just don't call your local NeueHouse a co-working space.
"We're not a co-working company, we're an experiential hospitality-based company that provides private members with work space," said Wyatt. "That distinction, and how that evolves, is a really important differentiator versus the 10 other companies that are sitting in the middle [of this space]."
Skift spoke to Wyatt about transitioning from the challenge of designing experiences, building spaces for creative workers, and the trends defining the future of business travel and creative events.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Skift: A lot has been made about co-working companies being property technology upstarts, raising a bunch of money, and then building tech platforms. Your background is in hospitality and experiences. These two things seem somewhat opposed in nature.
Josh Wyatt: There are a lot of people talking big games, and what they're forgetting is at the end of the day, if you are truly selling yourself as a hospitality experience, you'd better have two things: hospitality and experience.
I'm a hotelier by background. I'v
