Virgin Hotels plans D-FW hotel; announcement could come within 90 days
By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS
Staff Writer
krjacobs@dallasnews.com
Published: 04 June 2013 08:12 PM
Updated: 04 June 2013 08:12 PM
Within 90 days, Virgin Hotels, the hospitality arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin empire, is expected to announce plans to build a hotel of more than 200 rooms in North Texas, the chief executive of the hotel division said Tuesday.
The company is working with about a half dozen Dallas-based investors to amass the funding for the project.
“Assuming we can come to terms in the next 90 days with our [investors], we would announce that we’re building a brand new 200-some-odd-room hotel,” said Virgin Hotels chief executive Raul Leal.
With rooms priced at about $300 a night, the addition would represent new competition for brands like W Dallas Victory hotel and Hotel ZaZa in Uptown.
The Virgin hotel, one of at least two the company plans to announce soon, could open before the end of 2015.
“We’ve been looking at the Dallas market for a long time,” said Leal, noting that a related company, Virgin America, has been flying into Dallas-Fort Worth for more than two years.
“We’re moving in the direction of [opening] in all the major metropolitan cities in the U.S. and London first. Of course, there’s an added incentive for us to go into a market … Virgin America is going into.
“It gives us a competitive advantage in the market,” he said, adding that hotel guests will earn airline rewards program points.
Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and is a separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Branson’s Virgin Group is a minority investor in Virgin America but a majority owner of Virgin Hotels.
Virgin America began service to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Dec. 1, 2010. Its current schedule includes three daily flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Last year, the airline carried 449,028 passengers in and out of D/FW, up 15 percent from the 390,167 who flew in 2011.
Leal declined to say where, specifically, the hotel will be built or what the cost will be. He said the company has identified a couple of locations, including one in the city of Dallas that “we are very excited about.”
Downtown and Uptown are possible locations. They already are home to high-end brands including the W, ZaZa and the Ritz-Carlton. Occupancy rates in central Dallas, which includes downtown and Uptown, are averaging 73 percent, according to STR, formerly Smith Travel Research. That’s up from the high 60s over the past several years.
For the luxury market alone, the occupancy rate in Dallas is about 65 percent year to date, up from 60 percent in 2012.
The NorthPark Center area, with its proximity to the Park Cities, has far fewer high-end options.
The Dallas hotel would have at least three food and drink options and a rooftop bar, Leal said. A hotel the company is building in New York will be larger, with space for retail. The Dallas hotel would not have retail.
Construction could begin by the end of this year, Leal said.
With no Virgin hotels open at this point — plans are also in the works for Chicago — the company is betting that the Virgin name, found on everything from cellphones to wine, will attract hotel guests beyond the airline’s frequent fliers.
“It’s a company that has a legacy for comfort, great service and innovation,” Leal said. “Our offering would add to the Dallas market.”
Follow Karen Robinson-Jacobs on Twitter at @krobijake.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/r...in-90-days.ece
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