Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels is looking to expand into Las Vegas.
News reports are the company, part of the British billionaire’s Virgin Group, is searching for an existing property to buy as part of an investment group including Bosworth Hospitality Partners and Juniper Capital Partner.
“We are highly energized right now in pursuit of procuring a Las Vegas casino hotel resort,” Bosworth founder Richard Bosworth told the Las Vegas Sun. “Due to confidentiality concerns I cannot share any specific details. However, we are completing our confirmatory due diligence.”
Anthony F. Lucas, a professor of hotel administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said of Virgin, “I do hope they come here because they’re great. I love what they’re doing. I like any business that’s savvy enough to think like a guest. That’s what makes Wynn better than anyone else, and he is. Just like Wynn, Virgin identifies pain points for customers and tries to figure out a way to fix them.”
Brent Pirosch, director of the gaming group at commercial real estate company CBRE, said Virgin would be a great fit for Las Vegas.
“Absolutely,” Pirosch said. “Any brand that’s got recognition outside this market is good, and especially one that’s considered a sexy aspirational lifestyle brand is going to do well here.”
The 67-year-old Branson launched Virgin Hotels in 2010 and opened its first location in Chicago in January 2016. The original plan called for hotels in New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Dallas, New Orleans, Palm Springs and Washington, D.C., by 2020. The company is now targeting 20 hotels by 2025, which has Branson kicking tires in Las Vegas.
Not that he’s a stranger to Sin City. Virgin America, which he sold to Alaska Air last year, makes several flights to McCarran International Airport from various cities, and his Virgin Atlantic Airlines runs direct flights to McCarran from London and Manchester.
