Lifestyle hospitality group SBE is teaming up Wyndham Hotels & Resorts to launch a new hotel brand, which the two companies are touting as a "smart lifestyle" concept.
The name of the brand has yet to be unveiled; the project is being developed under the working title Project HQ Hotels & Residences.
According to SBE and Wyndham, Project HQ will cater primarily to "savvy millennial and Gen Z guests," offering a more "approachable experience" for consumers who have traditionally been priced out of the lifestyle hotel category.
Each Project HQ property will be located within a city center and feature dining, nightlife and wellness venues. These will include culinary concepts spearheaded by celebrity and up-and-coming chefs and a med spa offering known as SBE Wellness Clinics.
The concept will also include branded residences, which SBE and Wyndham said would cater to "underserved markets like integrated student housing, workforce housing and the like."
Project HQ hotels will be part of Wyndham's Registry Collection Hotels portfolio. The new brand will participate in the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program, which Wyndham estimates has around 105 million members worldwide.
SBE and Wyndham said they plan to open 50 hotels by 2030.
Project HQ marks SBE's return to the hotel space, following the company's move to sell full ownership of its hotel brands and management platform -- including its Delano, Mondrian, SLS and Hyde flags -- to Accor in late 2020.
"When we created lifestyle luxury back in 2005 with SLS, we forged a new category," said SBE founder and CEO Sam Nazarian in a statement. "Now, almost 20 years later we look to reinvent lifestyle again with Project HQ, the first smart lifestyle hotel brand."
SBE founder and CEO Sam Nazarian (left) with new partner Marc Anthony. Photo Credit: SBE
The Project HQ brand will join culinary and nightlife arm Disruptive Restaurant Group and digital food company C3 in SBE's company portfolio.
Concurrently, SBE has named Grammy-winning entertainer Marc Anthony and his entertainment company, Magnus, as equity partners. According to Nazarian, the tie-up will help bolster the company's efforts to grow its presence among Latin American consumers.