Virgin Hotels has signed to launch the brand in London. It will rebrand the former Mondrian in the UK capital’s Shoreditch district, opening as a Virgin hotel from August 2024.
The property will be the eighth location for the Virgin Hotels name, and the 17th destination for the larger Virgin Hotels Collection. The 120 room hotel will undergo a rolling transformation over the following months, to turn it into a fully aligned Virgin hotel. The property will retain its existing BiBo Spanish restaurant, and facilities including the rooftop bar, pool and restaurant, a private members club, gym and treatment rooms.
Landlord switches hotel brands
The hotel is owned by the Reuben Brothers, who appear to be using Virgin’s interest to shuffle their central London hotels portfolio. Up until now, the hotel had been trading under Ennismore’s Mondrian brand, and this business is actually looking for larger premises.
“Since opening Mondrian Shoreditch, we have been overwhelmed with the response from guests, locals, and industry,” explained Chadi Farhat, Brand COO of Mondrian. “Building on our successes and achievements in Shoreditch, we look forward to working with the incredible team and our partners at Reuben Brothers to finalise and announce our new London home soon.”
The Reubens own a number of other hotels in the capital, and have the firepower to acquire an additional property, should they choose to, to accommodate Mondrian. The arrival of the Virgin name over the door at 45 Curtain Road represents a second rebrand: originally, the property launched as The Curtain hotel, before taking up the Mondrian brand in 2021.
Virgin builds a Transatlantic presence
Currently there are Virgin Hotels open in the US cities of Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, Las Vegas, New Orleans and New York. And in the UK, there is one hotel in Edinburgh. A second Scottish hotel, in Glasgow, opened in 2023 but remains closed and is for sale, after its developer went into administration shortly after the opening. A new owner may choose to pick up with Virgin, or could alternatively have different ideas for branding and operating the new hotel.
Pipeline properties for Virgin Hotels. include developments in Denver and Miami. The Denver hotel being developed to designs by Tryba Architects, will have 241 rooms and is expected to open in autumn 2025. It will be swiftly followed by the launch of the 250 room Virgin Miami in winter 2025, which will be in a landmark 40 storey tower.
The Virgin Hotels Collection is the umbrella brand for Virgin Hotels, and its affiliated Virgin Limited Edition business. This operates Sir Richard Branson’s collection of unique, luxury retreats around the world. The destinations include Caribbean islands, an Alpine chalet, Moroccan kasbah and safari experiences in Africa.
