In just 15 years, founder Sam Nazarian has transformed sbe from a nightlife company in Los Angeles with a cult and celebrity following to a full-fledged lifestyle hospitality enterprise. The company comprises nightlife venues, restaurants, and hotels throughout LA, Miami, and Las Vegas, with high-profile chefs (José Andrés and Michael Schwartz) and designers (Philippe Starck and Piero Lissoni) at the helm. And that’s only the beginning. The company has started subsidiary Disruptive Restaurant Group to operate and expand its culinary offerings and collaborate on third-party operations; is translating its Hyde nightclub into a hotel brand; and recently acquired Morgans Hotel Group, hotelier Ian Schrager’s original industry-changing company. After opening the Redbury in New York and an SLS in Brickell, Florida, and with a handful of others on the horizon including SLS hotels in Seattle and Mexico; Mondrians in Doha and Dubai; a Delano in Dubai; and redos of the Sanderson in London and the Delano in South Beach, Michele Caniato, sbe’s newly appointed chief brand officer, and Joe Faust, president of Dakota Development (the planning, design, and construction division of sbe) discuss reimagining a portfolio of iconic properties, creating 360-degree experiences, and constantly pushing the status quo.
On their history with sbe
Michele Caniato: I have been working with sbe for close to 15 years. At age 23, Sam Nazarian wrote me a letter that I still have today where he described his desire to start a new hospitality group called sbe, and he wanted to get in touch with Philippe Starck. The rest is history. Since then [with design management agency Culture + Commerce and sister brand Material Connexion], I have been supporting sbe with design, brand, and marketing development, bringing some of the top designers to collaborate with sbe.
We closed then what was a 15-year exclusivity between sbe and Starck to design the hotel brand SLS and then we developed [restaurant] Katsuya. I brought them designers like Matthew Rolston to develop the Redbury brand, and Lenny Kravitz to collaborate on suites in Miami and Las Vegas. I am new officially, but have been part of the sbe family for many years. When Sam called me eight, nine months ago and said, ‘Michele, we’re very close to buying Morgans. I would love for you to join us to head up branding, and to collaborate closely with Faust,’ it wasn’t even a question.
Joe Faust: I came on board 12 years ago when Sam had just acquired the Le Méridien
hotel [in Beverly Hills] and wanted to create the SLS Hotels brand. I did the original Katsuya in Brentwood and the original Hyde nightclub on Sunset. I’ve been around for all of it. Prior to that, I worked for the Pritzker family in Chicago for 15 years building Hyatts.
On growth
MC: I give a lot of credit to Sam. He’s really the engine of our organization. There are few people in the industry like Sam who have a vision for the group overall and a 360-degree understanding of the industry. In the same way he can sit with Joe to develop a property, he can sit with me and look at branding, he can sit with our CFO and understand the finances, and he has a precise vision on what he wants to do with the company. In an industry where there are a lot of hotels, a lot of restaurants, a lot of nightclubs, what sbe does and where we are really different compared to our competitors is that we own all of our brands. If we have a new opening, we are able to bring in our nightlife and restaurant brands. There are a few companies in the industry that can create the 360-degree experience where guests can eat, play, and sleep all in the same location.
JF: In the hotel industry today, with Marriott gobbling up Starwood—they’re the 10,000-pound gorilla—our ability in the lifestyle sector is very unique. A lot of the big [companies] have many different brands that fit into this so-called category, but we live, breathe, and eat the lifestyle sector. Like Michele said, we are able to control a customer’s whole experience. The opportunities in front of us with the Morgans acquisition allow us to continue and expand in that field.
On the Morgans acquisition
JF: When we acquired Morgans, Sam sent me out to look at almost all of the different assets and wanted me to evaluate and see what was missing. They are all very iconic hotels from the Clift [in San Francisco] to the Delano [in Miami] to the Hudson [in New York], and they are still pretty special. Morgans was not big in food and beverage and that’s a component that is missing. When we started looking at the brands that we would carry forward, we wanted to focus on Mondrian, Delano, and interestingly enough, the Sanderson in London. We’re going to bring Starck back into the Delano and the Sanderson to retell that story 20 years later.
MC: Starck and Ian Schrager were the beginning of what was the boutique movement, then Starck went to work with Sam, and now Sam is buying the company where everything started. If you look at the portfolio of 23 hotels, close to half are designed by Starck. It’s very exciting to see the circle closing; that is what we call sbe 2.0. The Morgans Hotel Group name is not going to be used anymore, but we have no desire to eliminate the brands. We have only a desire to integrate them as part of sbe, refresh them, and invest in the food and beverage. It’s pretty exciting.
On the Mondrian Doha, set to open this summer
MC: We’re very lucky to have Marcel Wanders [the property’s designer] back. [He also designed the Mondrian South Beach.] The Mondrian Doha to me represents an incredible, luxurious design experience, something that I’ve never seen in that part of the world. There are eight different restaurants and lounges, and at every turn there is a surprise—from the ESPA to Morimoto and Cut by Wolfgang Puck to a bridal room that is one of the most luxurious suites I have ever seen.
On the SLS Seattle
JF: I challenged Starck on this project. He did not know a lot about the city, but he researched it. He really dug deep—understanding that Seattle is a very high-tech town and there are a lot of outdoorsy people there—and designed a hotel that is one of his best. It’s in a 52-story office building that expands out and then it contracts as the building goes up, so the rooms are all different shapes and sizes. It was a real challenge to come up with a room concept that had the ability of shrinking and growing. Some rooms almost end up being suites because the rooms get very long. They are beautiful.
On new hotel brand Hyde
MC: It’s very interesting to see how a nightlife concept in 2005 is still relevant. We have Hyde locations around the country—inside sport arenas, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami. Now we are turning it into a residential hotel. We’re starting with Miami, and it [will feature] unassuming service to connect more with a younger generation—the Millennials. It’s about the common space, an environment that will be easy for them to mingle and connect.
On staying relevant
JF: A lot of times people ask Sam why he continues to stay involved in nightlife, and in his words, he says, ‘It helps keep us relevant.’ [We learn] how the customers who are coming to our clubs—who are 21 to 25 or even 30—think, what they like. They may start off staying at our Redbury or Hyde hotels, but they will be our future SLS, Mondrian, and Delano customers as well. It’s not a demographic, it’s a psychographic, and [it’s about] understanding what is important to people when they travel. Sam always challenges me on the design side to continue to [rethink our] thought processes every time we do one of our restaurants. It’s keeping the integrity of the original concept, but updating it. Katsuya is now over 10 years old from the original, but I continue to work with Starck and pick his brain for new ideas. We take these new ideas and infuse them into some of our more tried and true brands.
On what’s next
JF: We are developing the design and what food and beverage outlets we’re going to put in the Delano in Dubai; redeveloping the Sanderson, which will be incredible because the owners there have allowed us the flexibility to dream and take the Sanderson brand to a different level; and then there’s the Hudson, which is a very large asset. We are literally stripping it to the bones and re-masterplanning it. We are going to do some great stuff there.
