SBE’s new HQ brand will plant its first flags in Detroit and Montreux, Switzerland.
Both projects will be conversions, with the historic Royal Plaza and Villa Toscane in Montreux slated to undergo a renovation and relaunch as the HQ Montreux Hotel & Spa in 2025.
The 155-room HQ Montreux will house two SBE restaurants, a cocktail bar, a coffee shop, a spa, a fitness center, and event and meeting space. Plans call for 42 residences.
In Detroit, the Park Avenue House will undergo a repositioning, becoming the first HQ hotel in the U.S. Comprising 174 rooms, the HQ Detroit Hotel & Spa will be home to an SBE restaurant and a café.
SBE developed the Project HQ concept in partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, with the pair announcing the “smart lifestyle” brand in January. The flag is positioned as an “approachable experience for the consumer that has been priced out of the lifestyle hotel market.”
The project has received strategic investment from entertainment mogul Marc Anthony and his company, Magnus, which SBE said will “allow the brand to connect with the most sought-after audiences such as millennials, Gen-Z and Latin communities.”
A rendering of the HQ Montreux Hotel & Spa’s exterior. Photo Credit: SBE
“The tidal wave of consumers coming into the marketplace from the millennial, Gen-Z and Latino audience is staggering,” said SBE founder and CEO Sam Nazarian in a statement. “They’re eager to partake in communal celebrations, create new memories and relish moments of wonder — and we are creating the spaces to do just that.”
HQ hotels will be part of Wyndham’s Registry Collection and participate in the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program.
The brand has set a goal of opening 50 hotels by 2030, with more than 15 projects currently “under discussion,” according to SBE.