21c Museum Hotels is a surprising growth driver for this mega-hotel company in the U.S.
When you think of Paris-based hospitality company Accor, brands like Sofitel, Raffles and Fairmont are likely the first things that come to mind.
The company's Ennismore offshoot of lifestyle hotels also includes well-known brands like Delano and The Hoxton. But it's a brand with roots in the southern U.S. that is building up one of the largest footprints of any Accor brand in the U.S.
21c Museum Hotels — which just opened an eighth U.S. location in St. Louis in recent weeks — is bigger in this part of the world by property count than The Hoxton, Sofitel or SLS. The brand was launched by luxury art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2006. It's known for its art museums and restaurants as much as the guest rooms at each location. It also takes part in the Accor Live Limitless loyalty program.
Related: Check out the latest Accor points promotions here.
It might not have some of the notoriety of some of its sibling brands, but 21c Museum Hotels is clearly a growing option for lifestyle-driven travelers across the U.S. It's unlikely the growth is going to slow down anytime soon — even beyond the brand's significant concentration in the South and Midwest.
"We've got several pokers in the fire," Sarah Robbins, 21c Museum's chief operating officer, said in an interview with TPG. "If you looked at it on paper, you could deduce that this was the [geographic] strategy, staying kind of in the South or Southeast. But it was really where the buildings were, where the partners were, and it happened a little bit by accident."
The St. Louis location, where weekend rates this fall start at around $200 per night, features a full-service wellness center with a pool, the popular Spanish-influenced Idol Wolf restaurant and a cafe that leans as much into decor as it does into locally sourced growers and purveyors. Handsomely decorated accommodations range from a twin-size bed Bunk Room to a 1,115-square-foot 21c King Suite — a two-story suite with a fireplace, kitchenette and personal fitness loft.
It might be the new show pony, but the brand has several other proeprties. In addition to the new St. Louis location and the original 21c in Louisville, 21c Museum Hotels has locations in Bentonville, Arkansas; Chicago; Cincinnati; Durham, North Carolina; Kansas City and Lexington, Kentucky.
Where 21c Museum Hotels goes from here
As for where the future 21c locations might be, Robbins hinted two of the active conversations are in the Midwest, but the rest are in "opposite directions." She indicated the brand has previously looked at properties in Los Angeles, Miami and Austin. Still, she declined to get specific on where the brand would go after its latest opening in St. Louis.
But it's a big win for both travelers and surrounding neighborhoods when a 21c Museum hotel comes to town. The projects are just as much a case of community revitalization as they are about bringing out-of-towners to the city.
21c Louisville is spread across five former warehouses dating back to the 1800s. Meanwhile, 21c Bentonville delivered much-coveted, high-end hospitality to the city in northwest Arkansas, a short distance from its famous Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. (There's also a complementary art museum within the hotel). The 173-room 21c St. Louis entailed the renovation of a Renaissance Revival-style YMCA building in the city's downtown area.
"We hope that by us putting our stake in the ground that others will follow," Robbins said. "It is great where it can be additive to a neighborhood that maybe doesn't have as much of an art presence. But if you look at Chicago, for example, you can hardly say that we're additive in some ways. It's not like, 'Oh, they're really missing out on art.' But it can be complementary, as well."
The 21c Museum Hotels experience
Art is a significant brand standard for 21c Museum Hotels, and the 21c is a nod to art from the 21st century. Each hotel features contemporary art in a space open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Basically, you can feast on culture even when the kitchen is closed for room service.
"The best are the people that are coming in at nontraditional museum hours, and you can do that because it is 24/7. We really mean it," Robbins said with a laugh. "There was an artist that was interviewed, and they said, 'Looking at art at 3 o'clock in the morning is very different than looking at art at 12 o'clock on a Tuesday."
The company also puts a significant emphasis on chef-driven restaurants at each hotel. This fits in with Accor's broader lifestyle hotel strategy that banks on courting business from the surrounding community of nearby residents to keep bars and restaurants as bustling as the out-of-town guests staying upstairs.
"That one-two punch really makes a big impact, not only for the in-house guests but for the community as well," Robbins said. "Those two avenues are the way that we really do feel like we're more part of the community than just dropping in from outer space and dropping our brand in."
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