Dive Brief:
- Hilton acquired a majority controlling interest in New York-based hotel developer Sydell Group to expand the NoMad Hotels brand globally, the company announced today.
- Sydell has created seven lifestyle hotel brands including NoMad, The Line, Freehand and The Ned. While Hilton will lead all future development for the NoMad brand, Sydell will continue to handle design, branding and management.
- Hilton hopes to develop as many as 100 NoMad hotels worldwide, with 10 already in “advanced stages of discussion with Sydell,” the company shared. Though Hilton operates luxury hotels and lifestyle hotels, NoMad will be the company’s first brand that combines both.
Dive Insight:
NoMad hotels are currently open in the brand’s flagship London location and Las Vegas. NoMad London, which opened in 2021, will be available to book on Hilton’s platforms later this year. NoMad Las Vegas was excluded from the deal and will rebrand in the coming months, Hilton said.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“By pairing an already proven brand concept that’s ready for expansion with the power of Hilton’s commercial engine, we are accelerating our ability to drive growth in the luxury lifestyle segment,” said Chris Silcock, Hilton’s president of global brands and commercial services, in a statement.
NoMad is Hilton’s first luxury lifestyle hotel brand. NoMad hotels are designed to make guests feel like residents of “some of the world’s most sought-after neighborhoods,” Hilton said, with local art featured in each guest room.
Sydell founder and CEO Andrew Zobler said the brand is “dedicated to providing guests with accessible luxury, exceptional design and award-winning food and beverage.”
“Hilton’s expertise in both luxury and lifestyle, paired with its track record in scaling brands, makes for an exciting opportunity,” he added.
Hilton expanded in the luxury segment earlier this year by partnering with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, which added more than 150 properties to the company’s portfolio. Hilton also plans to grow that brand to “six or seven hundred” hotels, CEO Chris Nassetta said in the company’s most recent earnings call.
The company has also expanded on the lifestyle end, with last month’s acquisition of Graduate Hotels. At the same time, Hilton is already pushing a significant expansion of its homegrown lifestyle brands — Tempo by Hilton, Canopy by Hilton and Motto by Hilton, and the Tapestry and Curio collections.
Both the Tapestry and Curio Collections opened more properties in 2023 than in any year before, Nassetta said on the company’s latest earnings call.
And in 2022, Hilton announced that it planned to more than double its lifestyle portfolio by 2032.
