Bill Walshe Bill Walshe

Viceroy’s expansion plan
Viceroy Hotel Group has a portfolio of 15 hotels, predominately in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean, but the group is now expanding internationally with projects in UAE, Turkey and Maldives.

The next stop will be Asia, with Walshe promising an announcement very soon, and operations are set to start on “another continent” as well.

Viceroy Yas Abu Dhabi
Taken over by Viceroy in August 2011, Walshe describes this hotel as a “really modern architectural wonder”. It has 500 rooms and a large conference space and famously hosts the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix.

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Viceroy Maldives
Located on its own island, this 60-key sanctuary is described by Walshe as “a contemporary interpretation of what we know there are customers out there who would love the Maldives to reflect”. With many two-bed and loft villas, “it plays to the modern family”.

Viceroy Istanbul
The first foot into Turkey will open in Q1 2014 and comprise 69 keys spread between 12 different buildings in this former monastery. Walshe says: “I signed off the designs for Istanbul a couple of weeks ago and it’s just beautiful; it maintains the heritage of the buildings that we’re privileged to bring back to life but again interprets them in a very relevant way. It’s just completely unlike anything else that we’ve done”.

Viceroy New York
This will open in September this year on 57th Street. “We’re having great fun with that because what we’re bringing to market is a hotel that looks and feels downtown but it’s on 57th Street,” comments Walshe. “It’s got the edginess of the downtown experience with the sophistication of its uptown counterparts — that whole sense of contradiction and positive disruption is something that I adore”.

Hotel Zetta, San Francisco
This is an Urban Retreat, a property of “really quite distinct personality” that doesn’t fit into the Viceroy brand mould, explains Walshe. There are four to date, with Hotel Zetta opening on February 18. Walshe launched the hotel with a flash mob pillow fight at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to attract the “cool tech” audience the hotel will appeal to.