BUILT ON MAGIC

Upon opening his latest Virgin Hotel in Edinburgh, Sir Richard Branson told Hotel Magazine that he believes it is ‘magic’ which creates cohesion across venues when looking to expand. Being fortunate enough to attend the official launch of the venue, we sat down for an exclusive interview with Sir Richard Branson and CEO of Virgin Hotels, James Bermingham, as they speak on topics including the importance of appealing to locals as well as what’s next for the Virgin brand.

What made you choose Edinburgh as the first Virgin Hotel outside of America?

Sir Richard: Edinburgh is rich in history, it’s rich in our history - we used to have Virgin Records and Virgin megastores here. I don’t sound like it, but my roots are Scottish. First of all my grandmother was from Edinburgh, my wife is from Glasgow, and I think technically I’m about three quarters Scottish, so I have been coming up for many, many years. Virgin normally goes where we feel there’s a need for us.

When we came across this site, it needed a lot of imagination and our team had an eye to see how they could turn it into something very unique and bring the whole place back to life again. It was important that we achieved this in a really cosy way that reflected the music heritage and the art of Edinburgh, rather than the stuffy side a lot of hotels in Scotland are built on.

James: Launching into Europe, it’s very important that we are first into one of the most important cities which ticks all the boxes. European expansion is very important to us and Edinburgh is a great place to launch, especially because we’ve got two magnificent heritage buildings here and we always want to create that sense of spirit and place - this is a magnificent example of that.

How do you ensure each Virgin Hotels venue still has that element of cohesion, what is it that brings them together and why is this important?

Sir Richard: I think we experimented on the Americans, because we obviously didn’t want to open something in the UK until we’d perfected it and got it right. First of all creating the Chicago hotel and then Nashville, New Orleans and Vegas, it allowed us to learn a lot. Every time we start something and open a new venue, we learn something to make sure that even more magic can be created in the next one. Edinburgh’s is not the sort of stuffy, traditional hotel that people think you should create when you’re building a hotel in Scotland, it almost goes against the grain a bit. We wanted to create a hotel that had a touch of Scotland but was really welcoming, extraordinarily fun, full of modern art with wonderful people working here that can welcome our guests. All the things that Virgin is, hopefully, renowned for and the team managed to convert this building in a way that I think reflects well on tradition and the Virgin brand, but also on what people actually want in this modern day and age.

You mentioned the word magic, would you say that it is that element of magic which ties all of the Virgin Hotels together?

Sir Richard: I’d like to think so. There’s no point in repeating something that’s been done before, everything we do has to have a bit of magic sprinkled on it and our team have done that here in Edinburgh.

What helps to ensure that Virgin Hotels Edinburgh is at the forefront of a consumer’s, local’s and tourist’s mind when they go to book an overnight stay?

James: I think, as Richard said, it is bringing that magic, that sense of fun and playfulness and hiring great people to let them be themselves - that’s hugely important to us to express service their way. Really embracing the local community here and making sure we are as appealing to locals as anyone else is essential for us; we want the venue to be considered as the centrepiece of their community. If we continue to achieve that then we can bring in more and more hotels, because there’s only one Virgin.

Where is next for Virgin Hotels?

Sir Richard: Glasgow will be on the horizon very soon and obviously New York has just opened very near Times Square. We’ll break ground in Denver this year and also in Miami, so, we’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up.

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