The ball is rolling forward for Wyndham’s upcoming brand developed in partnership with lifestyle hotel maven Sam Nazarian and Grammy Award winner Marc Anthony.
Project HQ Hotel & Residences (the brand’s working title) has its first confirmed hotels slated for Detroit and Montreux, Switzerland. The upcoming lifestyle hotel brand, which was first announced earlier this year, is slated to operate within Wyndham’s Registry Collection and will be a more attainable lifestyle hotel experience (rates will average around $250 per night) than you’ll find at Marriott’s Edition brand and properties part of Hilton’s upcoming NoMad expansion.
The partnership enables Wyndham to tap into Nazarian’s wealth of lifestyle hotel experience from his tenure as the founder and CEO of SBE. Further, Anthony’s investment with his company, Magnus, is expected to fuel brand awareness among millennials, Generation Z and the Latin community. It will also be an entirely new concept for Wyndham Rewards members to earn and redeem points.
“Having established our first locations in Montreux and Detroit, we’re steadfast in our commitment to meeting the evolving desires of upcoming generations,” Nazarian said in a statement. “This marks the genesis of Project HQ, and we eagerly anticipate unveiling more exciting initiatives in the months ahead, alongside Geoff Ballotti and his tremendous Wyndham team. With our sights set on the future, we aim to build tremendous momentum as we continue to innovate and inspire.”
The Park Avenue House in Detroit is set to be the first Project HQ in the U.S. The hotel conversion will result in a 174-room property with a specialty restaurant from SBE’s Disruptive Restaurant Group, a cafe and food delivery via Everybody Eats, a Nazarian-founded business. The historic building in downtown Detroit is near the city’s Fox Theatre and Comerica Park, but no construction timeline was provided.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Royal Plaza & Villa Toscane in Montreux, Switzerland, is slated to become Project HQ’s first international location. The twin-villa property dates back to 1905 and was converted into a 155-room, 42-residence hotel in 1989. Following a major renovation, it is expected to reopen under the Project HQ brand affiliation in 2025.
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The Swiss outpost of Project HQ is expected to include two restaurants, a cocktail bar, a coffee shop, a spa and a fitness center.
While these two might be the first announced properties for Project HQ, they certainly aren’t the last. The development team notes talks are underway for more than 10 additional hotels. The goal is to have 50 Project HQ hotels open by 2030.
“We’ve seen tremendous interest from owners looking to enter the smart lifestyle category created by Sam Nazarian’s SBE,” said Wyndham CEO Geoff Ballotti in a prepared statement. “These initial projects in Montreux and Detroit set the stage for a brand that will benefit from SBE’s legendary lifestyle experience and Wyndham’s unmatched scale and resources, creating a turn-key solution unlike anything in the market today.”
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