1 Hotels: History, Ownership, Market Position, Locations, and Guest Experience

1 Hotels is a luxury lifestyle hotel brand created by hospitality investor Barry Sternlicht and developed through the organization formerly known as SH Hotels & Resorts. The concept was publicly introduced in 2006, although the first operating 1 Hotel did not open until 2015 in Miami Beach. Today, the brand belongs to Starwood Hotels, the hospitality company controlled by Starwood Capital Group.

Within the travel and tourism industry, 1 Hotels combines full-service luxury hospitality with biophilic design, reclaimed and natural materials, prominent greenery, wellness facilities, destination-oriented dining, and environmental operating initiatives. Its portfolio includes city hotels, beach and island resorts, and branded residences across North America, Europe, and selected Asia-Pacific markets.

The brand is positioned for travelers who want an upper-end hotel experience but prefer an aesthetic based on nature, craftsmanship, and informal contemporary spaces rather than traditional luxury formality. Its clearest defining feature is the attempt to integrate environmental considerations into the design and operation of a full-service luxury lifestyle hotel.

1. What Is 1 Hotels?

1 Hotels is a design-led luxury lifestyle brand built around nature, environmental responsibility, wellness, and contemporary full-service hospitality. Barry Sternlicht, the founder of Starwood Capital Group and the former chairman and chief executive of the earlier Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, created the concept in the United States. The brand was announced in 2006 and became an operating hotel brand in 2015.

It is part of Starwood Hotels, which was known as SH Hotels & Resorts until 2025. This modern Starwood Hotels business should not be confused with the earlier Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, the company acquired by Marriott International in 2016.

1 Hotels operates both urban and resort properties. Its accommodations range from conventional rooms and suites to larger resort units and branded residences at selected developments. Restaurants, bars, wellness facilities, meeting venues, social spaces, and destination programming support the lodging offer. Although individual properties vary, recurring brand elements include abundant planting, organic forms, reclaimed materials, filtered water, natural textures, locally influenced design, and sustainability-related operating practices.

2. 1 Hotels at a Glance

• Hotel brand name: 1 Hotels
• Hotel family: Starwood Hotels, formerly SH Hotels & Resorts
• Ultimate corporate affiliation: Starwood Capital Group
• Brand type: Luxury lifestyle and design-led hotel brand
• Concept introduced: 2006
• First operating hotel: 1 Hotel South Beach, opened in 2015
• Founder: Barry Sternlicht
• Place of origin: United States, with its operating debut in Miami Beach, Florida
• Current headquarters: Miami, Florida, through parent company Starwood Hotels
• Current ownership: The brand is owned through Starwood Hotels, which is controlled by Starwood Capital Group
• Industry segment: Full-service luxury lifestyle hospitality
• Market position: Nature-led, environmentally oriented luxury with contemporary design and an informal service atmosphere
• Typical property types: Urban hotels, destination resorts, adaptive-reuse hotels, and mixed hotel-and-residence developments
• Geographic focus: North America, Europe, and selected Asia-Pacific destinations
• Primary guest segments: Affluent leisure travelers, business travelers, couples, families, wellness-oriented guests, groups, and residence buyers
• Core guest proposition: High-end accommodation and service in spaces designed to strengthen connections with nature
• Loyalty relationship: Participation in the guest-recognition and loyalty ecosystem operated by Starwood Hotels, subject to current program terms
• Operating model: A mixture of brand ownership, hotel management, development partnerships, and branded residential arrangements
• Current status: Active and expanding internationally
• Official website: Official 1 Hotels website

3. What Hotel Family Does 1 Hotels Belong To?

1 Hotels belongs to Starwood Hotels, the hospitality platform formerly called SH Hotels & Resorts. Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm founded by Barry Sternlicht, controls the hospitality company and the 1 Hotels brand. The parent portfolio also includes Baccarat Hotels and Treehouse Hotels.

Each brand occupies a different position. Baccarat Hotels emphasizes formal luxury, craftsmanship, and the heritage of the French crystal company. Treehouse Hotels presents a more playful and accessible lifestyle concept. 1 Hotels is the portfolio’s nature-centered luxury lifestyle brand, with sustainability, biophilic design, and wellness playing more visible roles in the proposition.

The 2025 adoption of the Starwood Hotels name revived a name closely associated with Sternlicht’s earlier career. The present company is nevertheless a separate organization from the former Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. It is not the Starwood business that became part of Marriott International.

Brand ownership also does not mean Starwood Hotels owns the real estate beneath every 1 Hotel. Individual properties may be owned by institutional investors, development companies, joint ventures, or other real-estate owners. Starwood Hotels may operate a property under a management agreement and provide the brand, operating systems, sales support, design guidance, and guest standards. In mixed-use projects, hotel rooms may sit alongside separately owned 1 Homes residences. This asset and management structure allows the brand to expand without purchasing every property directly.

4. Who Founded 1 Hotels, and How Did It Begin?

Barry Sternlicht founded the 1 Hotels concept. Sternlicht had previously built Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide into a major lodging group and helped develop brands including W Hotels and the Westin Heavenly Bed proposition. After leaving that company, he pursued a new hotel concept through Starwood Capital Group.

1 Hotels was publicly introduced in 2006 as an environmentally conscious luxury brand. The concept responded to a perceived gap between conventional green lodging, which was often associated with reduced service or basic accommodation, and the design, comfort, dining, and service expected in luxury hotels. The intended proposition was not simply a hotel with conservation programs. Nature and environmental considerations were meant to influence building materials, interiors, food, water use, operating practices, and the guest’s sensory experience.

The financial crisis and difficult development market delayed the original rollout. As a result, the announcement date and operating launch date differ significantly. The first property, 1 Hotel South Beach, opened in 2015 in the Miami area. It was followed later that year by 1 Hotel Central Park in New York City. Those hotels established the brand’s two foundational formats: a large destination resort and a compact urban hotel.

5. What Is the History of 1 Hotels?

The history of 1 Hotels is best understood as a long concept-development period followed by a more rapid international expansion.

Concept development and delayed launch

Barry Sternlicht announced the idea for 1 Hotels in 2006. Initial plans contemplated environmentally focused luxury hotels and residences in several United States markets. The global financial crisis disrupted hotel financing and development, preventing the concept from expanding on its original timetable. This makes 2006 the appropriate date for the brand’s introduction, while 2015 marks the beginning of actual hotel operations.

First openings in 2015

1 Hotel South Beach opened in Miami Beach after the conversion and redevelopment of an existing beachfront property. Its scale, pools, beach access, dining, wellness services, and residences demonstrated that the environmental concept could be applied to a substantial luxury resort.

1 Hotel Central Park followed in New York. Its smaller urban format translated the same identity into reclaimed wood, planted elements, natural textures, locally influenced dining, and proximity to Central Park. Together, the first two hotels gave the brand both resort and city credibility.

Establishing an urban portfolio

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge opened in 2017, strengthening the brand’s New York presence. Its waterfront location and views of Lower Manhattan helped connect the hotel to a distinctive neighborhood and landscape. The opening also expanded the brand’s meetings, rooftop, residential, and social-space proposition.

1 Hotel West Hollywood opened in 2019 on Sunset Boulevard. This extended the brand to the United States West Coast and reinforced its relevance to entertainment, design, business, and leisure demand.

International expansion

The opening of 1 Hotel Haitang Bay in Sanya, China, marked an early move into Asia and showed how the concept could be adapted to a tropical resort market. Toronto subsequently became the brand’s first Canadian destination. Additional United States openings in San Francisco and Nashville broadened the city portfolio.

Resorts, conversions, and Europe

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay opened in Hawaii following the extensive conversion of a former resort in Princeville, Kauai. The project gave 1 Hotels a prominent nature-based destination property and deepened its resort and wellness positioning.

1 Hotel Mayfair opened in London in 2023 as the brand’s first European hotel. The project was significant because it brought 1 Hotels into a major international luxury gateway and demonstrated the concept in a dense, high-value urban setting.

A wider global platform

Expansion during the mid-2020s added or advanced hotels in markets including Seattle, Melbourne, Tokyo, and Copenhagen. These openings shifted 1 Hotels from a predominantly North American brand toward a more geographically diversified portfolio. At the corporate level, SH Hotels & Resorts adopted the Starwood Hotels name in 2025, positioning 1 Hotels within a broader international brand and loyalty platform.

The resulting brand is shaped by both its delayed beginnings and its selective growth. It remains much smaller than the major global luxury chains, but it now operates across multiple continents and in several distinct hotel formats.

6. What Industry Segment Does 1 Hotels Occupy?

1 Hotels operates in the full-service luxury lifestyle segment. Three parts of that classification are important.

Luxury refers to the brand’s overall service level, room and suite quality, destination locations, restaurants, wellness facilities, concierge support, and pricing position. Resort properties may also provide villas, expansive suites, beach services, recreation, and private experiences. The brand is not select service or limited service.

Lifestyle describes the emphasis on design, social spaces, food and beverage, neighborhood connections, cultural programming, and a recognizable brand personality. The atmosphere is generally less formal than that of a traditional grand hotel. Public areas are intended to function as active places for dining, working, meeting, and socializing rather than merely as circulation spaces.

Nature-led design distinguishes the specific expression of the lifestyle concept. Planting, reclaimed timber, stone, daylight, organic forms, locally sourced decorative objects, and muted natural colors are recurrent features. In hospitality terms, this is often described as biophilic design, meaning design intended to strengthen human connections with natural systems and materials.

This industry segment should not be confused with a universal star rating. Star and diamond classifications are assigned at the property level by different authorities, and the systems vary by country. Individual 1 Hotels may receive different ratings even though the brand broadly competes in luxury hospitality.

7. How Is 1 Hotels Positioned in the Market?

1 Hotels occupies the upper end of the lifestyle hotel market. It competes for guests who expect the space, service, food, wellness, and location associated with luxury lodging but who may prefer a contemporary, environmentally conscious atmosphere to formal traditional luxury.

The brand’s functional proposition includes high-quality rooms, full-service restaurants, bars, fitness and wellness facilities, meeting venues, concierge services, and access to important business or leisure destinations. Its emotional proposition is a sense of calm, connection to nature, and participation in a more environmentally aware form of travel.

Design is central to that position. Natural materials and greenery are not treated only as decorative additions. They recur across rooms, public spaces, restaurants, signage, uniforms, water systems, and guest communications. This creates stronger visual consistency than would be achieved through isolated environmental programs.

At the same time, 1 Hotels is not a fully standardized chain in which every building looks and operates identically. A resort in Hawaii, a city hotel in London, and an urban property in Tokyo must respond to different climates, buildings, regulations, and guest patterns. The brand therefore combines recurring design and operating principles with property-specific architecture and local references.

Its relatively selective footprint also affects positioning. 1 Hotels does not provide the destination coverage of the largest luxury groups. Instead, it concentrates on major gateway cities and leisure destinations where its design narrative can be visible. For travelers, this can make the brand feel more specialized, although it reduces the convenience of finding it in every market.

Analytically, 1 Hotels can be understood as translating sustainability from a back-of-house operating concern into a visible luxury lifestyle identity. That does not establish that every stay has a lower environmental impact than every alternative. It does mean that environmental design and operating choices are unusually prominent in how the brand competes.

8. Where Does 1 Hotels Operate?

North America is 1 Hotels’ original and most established region. Its United States presence includes major urban markets and resort destinations, with properties associated with Miami Beach, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Nashville, Seattle, and Hawaii. Toronto provides a Canadian presence. These markets collectively established the brand’s city, beach, entertainment, business, and nature-resort formats.

The New York portfolio has particular strategic importance because Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge demonstrate two different expressions of the brand within one major gateway city. South Beach remains important as the first operating property and as a large resort and residential development. Hanalei Bay supports the brand’s destination and wellness credentials, while West Coast hotels connect it with technology, entertainment, and Pacific leisure demand.

Europe became a more important growth region with 1 Hotel Mayfair in London, followed by expansion into Copenhagen. London gives the brand access to international business, luxury leisure, and high-end retail demand. Copenhagen is closely aligned with the brand’s design and environmental narrative, although the two hotels respond to very different urban settings.

Asia-Pacific includes resort and gateway-city markets. Haitang Bay in Sanya established a presence in China, while Melbourne and Tokyo expanded the brand into major international cities. These openings are strategically significant because they move the portfolio beyond a predominantly North American customer and development base.

Future projects and signed developments should be distinguished from operating hotels. Hospitality pipelines can change because of construction schedules, financing, ownership decisions, and management agreements. The most reliable interpretation is that 1 Hotels has a growing multicontinental footprint, but it remains geographically selective rather than universally distributed.

9. What Does 1 Hotels Provide?

Accommodation

1 Hotels provides guest rooms and suites designed around natural textures, subdued colors, planting, wood, stone, and locally influenced objects. Larger resort accommodations may include expansive suites, terraces, or villa-style units. Layout, room size, views, and outdoor space vary materially by property.

Selected developments also include 1 Homes branded residences. These are distinct from ordinary hotel rooms and may be sold to individual owners. Residence owners can receive access to hotel services and amenities according to the rules of the specific development.

Dining and beverages

Full-service restaurants, bars, lounges, cafés, rooftop venues, and in-room dining are common across the portfolio. Food programs frequently emphasize seasonal ingredients, plant-forward options, local suppliers, and reduced food waste. Restaurant concepts and chefs are property-specific, so no single menu or dining format applies across the entire brand.

Wellness and fitness

Fitness centers are a recurring part of the offer, while spas and broader wellness programs are available at selected properties. Resort hotels may provide treatment rooms, pools, movement classes, outdoor exercise, and nature-based programming. Some hotels work with specialist wellness partners, but the scale and provider differ by location.

Leisure and destination experiences

Resort properties can offer beach access, pools, water activities, hiking, cultural programs, and destination excursions. Urban hotels instead emphasize neighborhood access, rooftop spaces, design programming, local food, and concierge planning. These services depend heavily on the destination and should not be assumed at every hotel.

Business, meetings, and celebrations

Many 1 Hotels provide meeting rooms, ballrooms, terraces, private dining spaces, and audiovisual support. This allows the brand to serve corporate meetings, social events, weddings, and product launches. Event planners may also find sustainability-related menu, waste, sourcing, and production options, although facilities vary by property.

Guest services and technology

Typical services include concierge assistance, housekeeping, luggage handling, local transportation support, guest relations, and destination planning. Digital booking, mobile communication, and parent-company membership benefits complement the on-property experience. Higher-touch services, private transfers, and dedicated residential support are offered where appropriate rather than as universal standards.

Environmental operating features

Commonly visible practices include filtered water, reusable or reduced packaging, reclaimed materials, recycling and waste-management programs, energy and water controls, and guest communications about conservation. Certifications and measured environmental performance differ by building, ownership structure, and jurisdiction.

10. Why Do Guests Choose 1 Hotels?

1. A recognizable nature-led design language

One reason travelers may choose 1 Hotels is the consistency of its visual and sensory concept. Reclaimed wood, stone, greenery, natural light, organic forms, and tactile materials create a clear alternative to polished corporate minimalism or formal traditional décor. Design-oriented leisure travelers and guests seeking a calmer urban environment may place particular value on this approach.

2. Luxury services without excessive formality

The brand combines full-service facilities with a relatively relaxed atmosphere. Guests can access restaurants, wellness, concierge assistance, events, and carefully designed accommodations without the ceremonial style associated with some traditional luxury hotels. This may appeal to travelers who value high service levels but prefer approachable staff interactions and informal social spaces.

3. Locations in major cities and leisure destinations

The portfolio includes central urban neighborhoods, waterfront settings, beach locations, and nature-oriented resorts. Business travelers may choose city properties for proximity to commercial districts and meeting demand, while leisure guests may select South Beach, Hanalei Bay, or Haitang Bay for resort facilities and destination access.

4. Visible environmental considerations

Environmental practices are made tangible through materials, water systems, planting, food sourcing, waste initiatives, and guest-facing communication. Travelers who want sustainability to be more visible in the hotel experience may find this proposition relevant. Such features should be evaluated property by property, since building performance and local operating conditions vary.

5. Wellness integrated into the stay

Fitness, healthy menu choices, natural light, restful room design, spas at selected properties, and outdoor programming support a wellness-oriented stay. This can matter to leisure guests, business travelers maintaining routines, and resort visitors seeking restorative experiences. The brand’s wellness proposition is broad rather than exclusively clinical or retreat based.

6. Active restaurants and social spaces

1 Hotels treats food, rooftops, lounges, lobbies, and event venues as important parts of the property rather than secondary hotel amenities. These spaces often attract local residents as well as overnight guests. Travelers who want an active social environment without selecting a nightlife-centered hotel may find that combination useful.

7. Access to a broader hospitality platform

Repeat guests may value central reservations, membership recognition, and access to the wider Starwood Hotels ecosystem. The network remains smaller than those of the largest international hotel groups, but the parent platform can provide a degree of continuity across 1 Hotels destinations and related brands.

11. Who Does 1 Hotels Serve?

Affluent leisure travelers

Couples, individual travelers, and friends use 1 Hotels for city breaks, beach trips, and destination holidays. Design, dining, wellness, views, resort facilities, and neighborhood access are typically the most relevant parts of the proposition. The brand may be especially attractive to guests who want luxury amenities without a highly formal atmosphere.

Business and corporate travelers

Urban properties serve executives, entrepreneurs, media and entertainment professionals, and other business travelers. Central locations, work-capable rooms, restaurants, meeting spaces, fitness facilities, and concierge support address practical travel needs. The lifestyle setting can also be useful for informal meetings and corporate entertaining.

Families and multigenerational groups

Larger rooms, suites, residences, pools, beach access, recreation, and destination activities make selected resorts suitable for families. The strength of the family offer varies substantially. A full resort generally provides more family-oriented space and programming than a compact city hotel.

Wellness and environmentally conscious travelers

Some guests are drawn by natural materials, plant-forward dining, spas, fitness, outdoor access, or the brand’s environmental commitments. These travelers are not necessarily seeking a dedicated wellness retreat. They may simply prefer those considerations to be integrated into an otherwise conventional luxury trip.

Groups, event guests, and residence buyers

Meeting planners, wedding parties, and social groups use the brand’s event rooms, restaurants, terraces, and resort spaces. Separately, 1 Homes developments address buyers who want private residential ownership associated with the hotel’s design identity, services, amenities, and management platform.

12. What Defines the 1 Hotels Guest Experience?

The 1 Hotels experience usually begins with an arrival environment that introduces plants, raw or reclaimed materials, handcrafted objects, and natural textures. Rather than using a highly polished palace aesthetic, the brand generally favors an earthy, residential, and contemporary atmosphere.

Guest rooms continue this design language through wood, stone, linen-like fabrics, greenery, subdued lighting, and nature-referencing artwork. Filtered water and reduced reliance on disposable items make environmental choices visible during the stay. The precise products and systems differ by property.

Service is intended to be attentive but conversational. Concierge and guest-relations teams help with restaurants, local activities, transportation, wellness appointments, and destination planning. Resort hotels can deliver a higher level of leisure programming, while urban hotels focus more on neighborhood access and social venues.

Public spaces are central to the journey. Restaurants, lounges, rooftops, planted lobbies, and communal work areas encourage guests to spend time outside their rooms. This supports the lifestyle positioning and gives local residents reasons to use the hotels.

Wellness appears through fitness facilities, food choices, room atmosphere, access to nature, and spas at selected locations. Loyalty recognition and digital communication can add continuity for repeat customers. However, the experience is not identical everywhere. Resort scale, architecture, climate, local ownership, and conversion constraints create meaningful differences among properties.

13. What Distinguishes 1 Hotels From Other Hotel Brands?

Environmental identity as a central brand system: Many hotels operate conservation programs, but 1 Hotels makes environmental themes part of the name, design, materials, food narrative, communications, and guest experience. The concept is therefore more visible than a conventional corporate sustainability policy.

Biophilic luxury design: Planting, reclaimed timber, stone, natural colors, and organic forms provide a consistent visual signature. These elements distinguish the brand from luxury hotels built primarily around ornament, fashion, technology, or historical formality.

A combined city and resort portfolio: The brand is not limited to eco-resorts or remote natural settings. It applies its concept to dense urban markets as well as beaches and island destinations. This broadens the customer base and tests the identity across very different building types.

Adaptive reuse and conversion capability: Several properties have involved the redevelopment or conversion of existing buildings. Reuse can support both development economics and the environmental narrative, although each project’s actual impact depends on its construction scope and operating performance.

A specialized rather than mass-market footprint: The portfolio is smaller and more selective than those of major multinational luxury chains. This supports a focused identity and destination strategy, but it also means fewer choices for travelers who prioritize worldwide network coverage.

14. How Should 1 Hotels Be Understood Today?

What remains central

Nature, material reuse, wellness, contemporary design, and informal luxury remain central to 1 Hotels. The brand continues to use greenery and natural textures as both functional design components and signals of its environmental positioning. Full-service restaurants, social spaces, fitness, and destination access remain important commercial features alongside the mission narrative.

What has changed

1 Hotels has evolved from a delayed United States concept into a multicontinental brand. Its earliest identity was established through South Beach and New York, while later openings added California, Tennessee, Hawaii, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Australia, and Japan. The portfolio now includes more conversions, resorts, mixed-use developments, and residences.

The corporate context has also changed. The transition from SH Hotels & Resorts to Starwood Hotels gives 1 Hotels a more prominent parent identity and a platform shared with Baccarat Hotels and Treehouse Hotels. This can support international development, distribution, owner relationships, and loyalty recognition.

What the name signals today

To a traveler, the 1 Hotels name reasonably signals an upper-end lifestyle hotel with natural materials, extensive greenery, wellness elements, active dining, and visible environmental practices. To an owner or investor, it signals a differentiated luxury brand that can be applied to urban hotels, resorts, conversions, and residential projects.

Important limitations

The brand should not be reduced to the label “eco-hotel.” It is a commercially operated luxury hospitality business with restaurants, pools, spas, events, and energy-intensive buildings. Nor should every property be assumed to provide the same amenities or environmental performance. The most accurate interpretation is a luxury lifestyle brand that makes nature and environmental responsibility unusually prominent, while adapting the execution to each building and destination.

15. Frequently Asked Questions

When was 1 Hotels founded?

The 1 Hotels concept was publicly introduced in 2006. Its first operating property, 1 Hotel South Beach, opened in 2015. Both dates are relevant: 2006 marks the creation and announcement of the brand, while 2015 marks its commercial hotel launch.

Who founded 1 Hotels?

Barry Sternlicht founded 1 Hotels. He also founded Starwood Capital Group and previously led the earlier Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. The current 1 Hotels brand was developed through the hospitality company formerly called SH Hotels & Resorts.

Who owns 1 Hotels?

The 1 Hotels brand belongs to Starwood Hotels, which is controlled by Starwood Capital Group. This does not mean the parent company owns every hotel building. Individual properties can have separate real-estate owners while Starwood Hotels supplies the brand and hotel management.

Is 1 Hotels part of the former Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide?

No. The modern parent company adopted the Starwood Hotels name in 2025 after operating as SH Hotels & Resorts. It is separate from the former Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which Marriott International acquired in 2016.

Is 1 Hotels a luxury hotel brand?

Yes. 1 Hotels operates in the full-service luxury lifestyle segment. Its positioning is based on high-end accommodation, dining, wellness, service, destination locations, and design. Individual property ratings can vary, so the brand segment should not be treated as a universal star classification.

Where does 1 Hotels operate?

1 Hotels operates primarily in North America, with an expanding presence in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its markets include major United States cities and resorts, Toronto, London, Copenhagen, Sanya, Melbourne, and Tokyo. The portfolio remains selective rather than globally ubiquitous.

What does 1 Hotels provide?

The brand provides rooms and suites, restaurants and bars, fitness facilities, wellness services, meeting and event spaces, concierge support, and destination experiences. Resorts may add pools, beaches, spas, recreation, and larger accommodations. Selected projects also include 1 Homes branded residences.

Why do travelers choose 1 Hotels?

Travelers may choose the brand for its natural-material design, relaxed luxury atmosphere, visible environmental initiatives, wellness offer, active restaurants and social spaces, and locations in major cities or leisure destinations. The relative importance of each factor depends on the property and purpose of travel.