Serial restaurateur Sam Fox is set to mark his long-awaited debut in the hotel world with the creation of a 141-room luxury scheme in Arizona’s state capital.

This grandiose property will provide a refined hospitality experience combining local connections with a global lens.

From restaurants to luxury hotels

Sam Fox is collaborating with Brian Frakes of Common Bond Development Group in order to bring to life his very first hotel, The Global Ambassador. Frakes will support the acclaimed restaurateur in areas such as design, architectural oversight and financial modelling.

Nelsen Partners Architects is taking on the role of lead architect and Berghoff Design Group is overseeing the landscape architecture. Having worked on the majority of Fox’s previous projects, meanwhile, Judi Testani of Testani Design Troupe will come up with the design for the Phoenix-based hotel’s interiors.

The property is located within Red Development’s mixed-use scheme on the northwest corner of 44th Street and Camelback Road, where Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley converge.

For this project, Fox is drawing on more than 20 years of restaurant experience, encompassing more than 100 of his own restaurant openings. He is an 11-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Restaurateur of the Year and a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. For five consecutive years, moreover, he was named among the 50 most influential people in the restaurant industry by Nation’s Restaurant News.

In 2019, his restaurant group, Fox Restaurant Concepts, was acquired by The Cheesecake Factory, but as founder he remains responsible for its operations. Fox will manage, operate and co-develop the hotel under his newly formed Author & Edit Hospitality company.

Top-drawer gastronomy and wellness

The Global Ambassador will house 141 well-appointed guestrooms, along with extensive culinary and wellness experiences. Endeavouring to inspire travellers as a new luxury lifestyle brand, the property is promising to deliver a vibrant energy and worldly flair that reflect this opening’s importance to Fox.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scheme will be home to several inventive culinary concepts. Guests can expect five dining venues with cuisine spanning Greek, Italian and Moroccan influences, headlined by a huge 18,000 sq ft rooftop restaurant with views over Camelback Mountain. And its wellness centre will comprise an expansive fitness level and an ultra-luxury spa with treatments designed to put the mind and body in balance.

The hotel’s exceptional culinary and wellness offerings will be joined by a limited-access member’s club.

Currently in the planning phase, The Global Ambassador is due to complete in late 2023.

Many TOPHOTELNEWS articles draw on exclusive information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database. This subscription-based product includes details of thousands of hotel projects around the world, along with the key decision-makers behind them. Please note, our data may differ from records held by other organisations. Generally, the database focuses on four- and five-star schemes of significant scale; tracks projects in either the vision, pre-planning, planning, under-construction, pre-opening or newly opened phase; and covers newbuilds, extensions, refurbishments and conversions.

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