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VIRGIN HOTELS IS ONE PIECE OF THE LARGER VIRGIN UNIVERSE . THAT ’ S ITS STRENGTH .
By DAVID EISEN
J
ames Bermingham , the CEO of Virgin Hotels Collection , has an uncanny resemblance to his boss , who happens to be one of the most famous and recognizable men in the world , Sir Richard Branson . It could be the shock of blond hair and the matching goatees . Or , possibly , the accent . Either way , the two are identical in one regard : They continue to push the Virgin Hotels brand out of virgin territory and into expansion mode , bringing the distinct Virgin experience to more customers and promise of asset value to developers . Its latest hotel opening helps accomplish just that .
The Virgin brand is about as British as meat pie . Virgin Group was founded in 1970 by Branson and Nik Powell and recognized initially for its eponymous music megastores , which , in its heyday , were magnets for teeny-boppers and serious music heads , alike . The group has grown to include everything from airlines and cruise ships to mobile phones and space travel . Bermingham , who was nearly 20 years with Montage International before joining Virgin in 2021 , calls Branson the “ ultimate entrepreneur ,” and 50-plus years into it , “ He ’ s still as creative and as entrepreneurial as he was when he first started out .”
Virgin Hotels London- Shoreditch opened in summer 2024 , a conversion of the former Mondrian .
IN THE VIRGIN MOLD Virgin Hotels was launched in 2010 , but , in its 14 years since , it never had a property in London , a peculiarity for a company whose
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