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Philippe Starck Now Belongs to Sam Nazarian

April 5, 2007 at 11:22 AM | 0 Comments

News about LA nightlife impressario Sam Nazarian, the man behind Hollywood clubs Privilege, the Abbey and some other place that Paris Hilton frequents, launching his own line of luxury hotels has been burning up the hotel industry wire. But it's not really all that new.

Last year, (actually almost exactly a year ago) we learned that the Los Angeles Le Meridien was set to undergo some Philippe Starck renovations then reopen as an SBE Hotel in 2008.

So what's new this year? Well, Sam Nazarian has decided to fully lend his name for promotion's sake. The marketing campaign centers around "It's not your father's hotel" (gag). The hotels will be named SLS followed by city location, but will still be under the Starwood hotel group. And each hotel will have a nightclub and a hip restaurant, of course.

But what is perhaps most shocking is that Philippe Starck can't design hotels, restaurants, bar, or nightclubs with anyone else other than SBE for 15 years.

That means when Ian Schrager gets over his Julian Schnabel partnership (if he isn't already over it), he can't phone up Starck until 2022. And will boutique design hotels even be cool by then?

Related Stories:
· Hotel Hype: LA Le Meridien No More? [HotelChatter]
· Nightclub owner to launch hotel brand [LA Times]