Hilton is on a bit of a hotel brand shopping spree. Recently Hilton announced plans to acquire Graduate Hotels, and now Hilton has unveiled plans to acquire NoMad Hotels. This is in addition to Hilton’s new partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
NoMad Hotels joining Hilton Honors portfolio
Hilton will be acquiring a majority controlling interest in Sydell Group, in order to expand the NoMad Hotels brand from its existing London location, to high-end markets around the globe. This is intended to expand Hilton’s presence in the luxury lifestyle space. The financial terms of this deal haven’t been disclosed.
For some background, Sydell Group founder Andrew Zobler has created seven lifestyle brands, with hotel concepts including NoMad, The Line, Freehand, and The Ned. With this new NoMad Hotels partnership, Sydell Group will be responsible for design, branding, and management, while Hilton will lead development.
The NoMad Hotels brand will be fully integrated into the Hilton Honors platform, meaning it’ll be possible to book these hotels through Hilton channels, and it will also be possible to earn and redeem points. As before, all NoMad properties will remain independently owned.
As you can see, this deal currently only covers a single property that opened in 2021, but Hilton states that 10 properties are already in advanced stages of discussion, and Hilton hopes to grow this portfolio to as many as 100 properties. Hilton suggests that the NoMad London property “offers a ready-made platform for expansion in markets worldwide.”
Here’s how Hilton describes the NoMad brand:
Each NoMad hotel added to Hilton’s network will provide a uniquely local luxury experience that makes guests feel like residents of some of the world’s most sought-after neighborhoods. NoMad Hotels are both grand and intimate, fun and elegant, and classic and playful, creating a unique blend of luxury and lifestyle experiences throughout the stay with special touches like unique local art collections featured in each guest room.
Here’s how Chris Silcock, Hilton’s President of Global Brands and Commercial Services, describes this development:
“Adding NoMad to our growing brand portfolio will create new offerings for guests seeking unique luxury experiences in some of the world’s most desirable locations. 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.
“Coupled with our recently announced exclusive partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and our planned acquisition of the Graduate Hotels brand, Hilton is leading the hotel industry with the addition of innovative new luxury and lifestyle offerings that meet changing guest needs and add new opportunities for owners to join our system.”
My take on Hilton adding NoMad to brands
It’s cool to see Hilton’s recent investment in lifestyle hotel brands and other non-cookie cutter properties. You get the best of both worlds when you can get a unique hotel stay while still being able to leverage loyalty programs.
Now, this is definitely an unconventional hotel acquisition. As you can see, Hilton acquiring a controlling stake in NoMad Hotels won’t drastically expand Hilton’s portfolio overnight, as we’re talking about a single hotel as of now. For that reason, I’d be fascinated to know the terms of this acquisition.
Is the NoMad London really such a special property and does it have such name recognition that it’s worth building an entire brand around it, rather than Hilton coming up with its own new lifestyle brand?
I suspect the major motivation here is that Hilton has historically lagged competitors when it comes to having a premium lifestyle brand. Hilton doesn’t have anything between LXR and Curio Collection, to compete with brands like Hyatt’s Andaz and Thompson, Marriott’s W and EDITION, etc. I think this is intended to be the answer to that.
I do wish that this deal also included some of Sydell Group’s other brands. For example, The Ned is a pretty cool hotel brand, and The Ned Doha is especially cool. I guess I’m not surprised this isn’t included in the deal, given that The Ned is also a membership club concept.
Lastly, up until now, NoMad Las Vegas has belonged to MGM. We should find out soon how that’s rebranded, since it will no longer be a NoMad property.
Bottom line
Hilton is getting a controlling stake in NoMad Hotels. That means the NoMad London will be a Hilton Honors property as of later in 2024, and the goal is to grow the brand to up to 100 properties over time. It’s always nice to see the major global hotel groups add more independent, boutique properties, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops.
What do you make of Hilton acquiring NoMad Hotels?