Virgin Hotels Expands to San Francisco

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

San Francisco—Virgin Hotels, a division of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, continues its aggressive expansion campaign, and the next stop is San Francisco. The company just announced plans to open Virgin Hotels San Francisco, which will feature 196 chambers and grand chambers—that’s Virgin-speak for glorious guestrooms and suites—in the city’s trendy South of Market district.

Virgin Hotels San Francisco Rooftop

Paradigm Hotels Group is developing the new-build property, and Virgin will manage it. “San Francisco has always been one of our key target markets and we were so happy to find our space in SoMa,” Raul Leal, CEO of Virgin Hotels, told Commercial Property Executive. “The timing couldn’t be better, as the SoMa neighborhood is really expanding both from a cultural and real estate standpoint.”

With the address of 250 Fourth St., Virgin Hotels San Francisco will be surrounded by a bevy of popular destinations ranging from Yerba Buena Gardens to the 700,000-square-foot Moscone Center convention and exhibition facility. “We’re excited to get in ahead of the expansion of the convention center, which is critical to the city’s success, and the new Transbay Transit Center, which will link San Francisco and other key cities and neighborhoods,” added Leal.

Adhering to the lifestyle hospitality brand’s objective of intermixing “a passion for food and beverage with music and culture,” Virgin Hotels San Francisco will feature dining options, drinking outlets, meeting spaces and the brand’s signature The Commons Club, a contemporary social hub of sorts.

Virgin Hotels San Francisco will debut in the summer of 2017. “We have a solid base of Virgin fans due to Virgin America’s popularity in San Francisco, so we’re hoping to bridge that hospitality gap for those travelers by providing them with a Virgin Hotels experience,” Leal said. The San Francisco location will mark the second Virgin Hotels property; the first opened in Chicago in 2015. Next to see the Virgin flag fly will be New York City and Dallas, where projects are presently under construction. Hotels in New Orleans, Silicon Valley, Nashville and Palm Springs will soon follow.

Image courtesy of Virgin Hotels