The hit HBO series “Entourage” had a successful run and for a considerable amount of time captured the zeitgeist of the aughts, with its mixture of Los Angeles hedonism and youngish angst. It became Sunday night appointment TV for those looking to live vicariously through the four Queens-bred buddies.
Of course, the City of Angels took centerstage—a host of landmarks (known and obscure) playing relevant roles. And what is more relevant to the hip LA scene than a rooftop pool? In one episode, in season four, Vince and Eric (but everyone calls him E) are seen at one of these pools, amid a packed crowd of young, vivacious men and women, soaking up the sun, flipping through the pages of Vogue and chatting up the opposite sex—all on a weekday.
The prurient pool top prompts the priggish E to ask Vince: “Who hits on girls on weekdays?” To which Vince responds: “It’s LA—every day is a weekend.” Perfect.
Oh, that rooftop pool they were atop? It just so happened to be the Mondrian, which in a city filled with spiffy hotels remains a locus of energy, more than 35 years after it first opened.
Cooling Out
The Mondrian brand has always been synonymous with a certain coolness and vibe that doesn’t necessarily smack you in the face but eases you in, ensconcing you. That feel—developed through design, service and the intangibles—was not created overnight, but guided by the steady and virtuosic hand of Ian Schrager, the nightclub and hotel impresario, and his Morgans Hotel Group, a dominant player in the boutique and lifestyle space before those terms even existed.
Like many brands do, particularly the ones that excel, they, like real estate, sell. In its original iteration, the Mondrian opened as Le Mondrian in 1985, under the L’Ermitage Hotel Group, which sold it, in 1996, to Morgans Hotel Group, which already had hotels in New York, under such brands as Morgans and Royalton.
Morgans Hotel Group ended up selling the hotel in 2011 to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust but remained the manager. Five years later, Morgans Hotel Group was acquired by SBE Entertainment Group, which, in 2020, was bought outright by Accor.
Since then, the Mondrian brand has grown from its LA roots, with more than 15 hotels globally and more on the way. The brand sits within Accor’s lifestyle division Ennismore, a hotel group that Accor struck a joint venture with in 2021.
As astutely as Schrager put his imprint on the Mondrian brand, that duty now falls to Chadi Farhat, who is the brand COO of
Mondrian. Farhat is no tyro to the Mondrian brand essence: he worked for Schrager and Morgans Hotel Group for five years and SBE for six.
Though there have been intervening years, Farhat has no intention of disrupting what a Mondrian is and will be. “It is rooted in the same DNA as the very first property. Design, art and culture continue to be at the core of the experience,” he said. Yet, as Farhat pointed out, the brand must adapt and “continuously evolve” as the years move forward—relevancy doesn’t mean being a relic.
Farhat said that under Ennismore, Mondrian is “leaning into its DNA more than ever.”
The brand’s association with Ennismore, and by extension Accor, is, as Farhat said, “the best of both worlds.”
Mondrian is grouped under Ennismore aside other brands that fit the lifestyle bill, including Delano, 25hours Hotels, The Hoxton, JOE&JOE, SLS, SO/ and Mama Shelter. In Ennismore, still guided by its founder Sharan Pasricha, Mondrian is part of an agile and entrepreneurial company that, as Farhat put it, “knows how to tell meaningful stories.” In Accor, Mondrian is part of Europe’s largest hospitality company, a vast global network of hotels that all benefit from scale and the accoutrements of it, infrastructure, development, distribution, sales and marketing and more.
Mondrian Momentum
Mondrian is on a growth mission, expanding its global presence with four openings in 2023, two in 2024 and eight more expected in 2025 and beyond. Much of the growth is happening outside the U.S., with future openings in locations such as Australia’s Gold Coast, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Bordeaux and Tulum. Some of the destinations don’t jump out as necessarily conventional development sites—Bordeaux is not Paris.
It’s not by chance but part of a concerted effort, Farhat said. “We say that Mondrian hotels are found at the heart of the world’s most exciting cultural scenes and that doesn’t always mean opening in fully realized, hot spots. We often find ourselves ahead of the curve,” he said.
Consider Doha, the capital of Qatar, where Mondrian Doha opened in 2017, well ahead of large-scale events, such as the FIFA World Cup, held in Qatar, in 2022. “You get to shape a destination and become part of the draw, introduce it to the world and be a member of the community from the start,” Farhat said of the hotel.
Several factors have led to Mondrian’s international growth path, as outlined by Farhat. These include the brand’s design ethos, that Farhat said is “well-known” the world over. The Mondrian brand grew out of the designs of famed designer Philippe Starck, who combined with Schrager on many of the early Morgans Hotel Group properties.
Farhat said that the brand has also been able to “keep pace” with the acceleration of culture and where it is headed next. Mondrian’s affiliation with Accor and Ennismore gives it a global pedestal that it did not have before, allowing it exposure to new markets and development partners.
Mondrian is also an adaptive brand, one that can be realized either through conversion or new development. The Reuben Brothers-owned Mondrian Shoreditch London, for example, opened in summer 2021, a transformation of the former Curtain hotel. In New York, Mondrian Park Avenue was a conversion of an office building and is now owned by Global Holdings Management Group. “It’s one of the more flexible brands within the [Ennismore] portfolio,” Farhat said.
Mondrian is also adapting itself to offer a residential component. Mondrian Gold Coast, in Australia, will be the brand’s first branded residences when it opens next year. The hotel will be adjacent to a 25-story residential tower and Farhat said the residences sold out three years before its opening. Similarly, the Tulum hotel, Mondrian’s second in Mexico, after Mexico City, will also have residences. “Interest in our branded residences captures the demand for the Mondrian vision,” Farhat said. “The hotels are known for being immersive and visionary and a residential component allows residents to tap [into that].”
The Mondrian brand has come a long way since its 90s LA debut but has worked to retain its original sensibilities while not eschewing new ones.
“Its originality drove a sea change in hospitality and is always a point of reference that speaks volumes when promoting the brand anywhere in the world,” Farhat said. “But it’s no longer all about any one property. The brand is greater than the sum of its parts and that’s a very healthy place to be.”