SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills Due To Open This Week

After a long renovation and many pushed back opening dates – the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills is due to open to overnight guests starting on November 1st, yet I believe the lobby, restaurant, etc will be open today, Oct 27th – it’s a little hard to understand what they mean by “Opening Oct 28th, accepting reservations starting November 1st”.

I wrote about Sam Nazarian’s growing empire a few weeks ago, but the more I hear about his SLS brand, the more excited I get about it. The reviews that have come back so far are anticipating this to be the next Chateau Marmon, or at the least the next celebrity hang out spot.

People aren’t saying that because the hotel is owned by Sam Nazarian, and he’s famous for having LA hotspots – it has a lot to do with the design of the hotels as well as the amenities. It’s also interesting to watch how SLS Hotels is really about branding as well.

One of the most interesting aspects is the dual lobby design – this is what will draw the people (and celebrities) into the hotel. One lobby is solely for check-in/check-out and hotel guest use only, potentially to prevent those who are not bonafide guests from being unwelcome visitors. The second lobby is where the action is – it’s actually named “The Bazaar” and is a combination lobby, restaurant and store.

The Bazaar is unique due to its layout and setup – it has a few different areas for eating, as well as items for sale in glass cases throughout the area. This brings back memories of the grand hotels of yesteryear where products sold by high-end merchants located within the hotel or close by would put their wares in glass boxes in the middle of the halls and rooms of the lobby. A few months ago I went to the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington DE and they still had those glass display cases – displaying high end clothing accessories and jewelry, it really made a difference in the feel of the hotel.

Additionally, the SLS is selling its furniture – not the actual pieces that you would be sitting on in the library, but reproductions of it. Apparently they have their own furniture line now so you can take home the chairs, tables, couches, and I’d assume the beds and linens in the rooms.

I read an article a few days ago saying that the SLS Hotel was either going to be a huge success or a huge failure, and I was surprised – because I don’t see how it can be a huge failure by any means. It’s a high end hotel,a nd I think that will be an attraction, add onto that the unique features that I described above and I cant see it being anything but popular. Now this isn’t going to be a hotel that’s in the middle of suburban America – in that area it will surely fail as there is not enough of a group to draw from, but having locations in major cities throughout America – or even the world – will work very well.

At the very least it may be a wakeup call to hoteliers as to what the market will expect next: not just a hotel, but a living space, a space where people can congregate, and feel as though its an extension of their office, or home or neighborhood diner.

I’m looking forward to more announcements of SLS Hotels throughout America – but I think due to the economy we’ll be in somewhat of a silent period for awhile.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

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Category: branding, Hotel Development, Hotels, marketing, sam nazarian, sls hotels, Starwood Hotels