Clubhouse Lounge in London inspires Virgin Hotels

By Barbara De Lollis
May 30, 2011

LONDON - What does a stylish airline lounge have to do with hotels?

This specific lounge - Virgin Atlantic's Clubhouse at London Heathrow Airport - will play a key role in influencing the development of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Hotels concept.

Hotel Check-In thought you might like to check it out.

In January at a hotel conference, Branson told Hotel Check-In to look at this specific lounge to understand what he's trying to achieve in Virgin hotels.

I'd never seen it, so I made a point of visiting it March at the end of my London hotel tour.

The expansive, stylish lounge is a virtual playground for adults, with some cool things - even hanging chairs - that kids enjoy, too. Its lucky occupants enjoy freebies wherever they turn from shoe shines to giant jars of candy to gourmet meals.

Other freebies: Cocktails, phones, Internet, office supplies, a spa setting, shower, and haircut or massage.

Whether Branson's New York City-based team borrow directly from the lounge for the first hotel remains to be seen. If they do, we might see a hotel lobby that contains a stylish, glass-enclosed Bumble and Bumble hair salon where VIP guests could get their hair blown out - for free - before a night on the town.

During my interview with Branson at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego four months ago, the billionaire entrepreneur kept quiet about specifics, saying:

"We have a lot of ideas but because we're going to be at least two years away from having the first hotel from unveiling the first hotel, we don't want to have people steal ideas."

Richard Branson's hotel pet peeves: Rules, fees, hassles

When I recently asked Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson for specifics about what we can expect from a Virgin Hotel, he deftly dodged my repeated questions during our chat in San Diego. So, to bring you at least a nugget of insight, I asked him what drives him crazy about them.

For that question, he had no problem speaking his mind.

"There are lots of frustrations that you get with hotels," he told me when we spoke in a hotel suite at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit.

The entrepreneur's top hotel pet peeves:

• Cold environment: "A lot of them are far too big, therefore, they've become quite impersonal."

• Rigid rules: "I was in a hotel last week. I wanted to have breakfast at 6 a.m. and was told the kitchen did not open for another hour. It's a tiny meal. It doesn't take much for a cook to just pull out the oatmeal."

• Hassles: "Another time, I was wide awake at 4 a.m. and I wanted to watch a film. Because I hadn't lodged my credit card, it said sorry, you can't watch the film."

So, while we still don't know from the source exactly what we should expect, Branson's remarks certainly give us a few clues.

Will his hotels have personality? You bet. We are talking about the fun, flirty Virgin brand, after all.
Rules? Expect Branson to break them.

Hassles? If his personal pet peeves are any indication, expect few. Want more evidence? Hotel Check-In previously learned from Virgin Group exec Anthony Marino that the hotel chain doesn't plan to charge for Wi-Fi - the same no-hassle approach that Ian Schrager's taking as he develops his two new hip brands.

"I don't think (Branson) will nickel and dime guests," predicts Charlie Quinn, an executive vice president with financial advisory firm CBRE Hotels in Dallas, who thinks Virgin Hotels has the potential to be hipper than Starwood's W chain. "People are sick and tired of Wi-Fi fees, resort fees and finding a bottle of water in their room with a neck tag that says it costs $8. It's chintzy."

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