Sir Richard Branson launches Virgin Hotels

Sir Richard Branson has announced his Virgin Group plans to invest around £320 million on a string of new luxury hotels.
A new website http://www.virginhotels.com/ leads with the strapline: ‘Fancy getting into bed with Virgin’ and describes the project as ‘our next (ad)venture’.
The site says that Virgin Hotels will be a four-star chain that targets ‘high income, well-educated, metropolitan “creative class” customers’.
The first hotels will open in North America and eventually go global. Branson promises to “re-define the customer journey from pre-arrival to check-out.”
On its website, Virgin Hotels says it has initially targeted cities including New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington D.C.
Mr Branson has also pledged to integrate Virgin flyers and loyalty program members into the project, to significantly enhance marketing, sales and distribution.
The venture “aims to acquire up to $500 million in properties” over the next three years.