Five projects, hand-picked
for BNO Design
Benjamin — as promised. Five live or upcoming hotel projects I think fit BNO's lane: boutique, modern, and reachable before the design conversation has been quietly settled.
Two in New York, two in Hawaii since you opened that door, and one in Madrid for the Asturian in you.
For each one: the project, why I think it lands with you, the right person to reach, and the line I would open with. Sources are linked. Nothing has gone out — these are yours to carry. The hard part is finding them; you're the one who can answer the questions when they reply.
Chapter One
New York
Two on your home turf
01
Only YOU Hotel New York
West 45th Street · Times Square · 138 keys · Opening Q4 2026
Project
Palladium Hotel Group's Only YOU brand makes its first US move — a Spanish lifestyle brand stepping into Manhattan's theatre district. Announced, designer not yet public. Cinco Días
Fit for BNO
A Spanish lifestyle brand entering New York needs theatre-district energy without becoming generic Times Square hospitality — the same overlap your Renaissance Times Square and Mondrian SOHO work already lives in.
Contact
Juan Serra — General Manager, Lifestyle & Luxury Business Unit, Palladium Hotel Group. Routes through brand-division leadership rather than the property GM. Best route via LinkedIn or Palladium corporate development.
How I would openHi Juan, we see Only YOU New York as a Spanish lifestyle brand stepping into one of Manhattan's loudest cultural corridors, where the interior has to carry intimacy and theatre at the same time. That is exactly where our New York work at Renaissance Times Square and Mondrian SOHO lives: public rooms with a strong point of view, built for a city that never arrives quietly.
02
Gramercy Park Hotel · Reopening
2 Lexington Avenue · Gramercy Park · Independent revival
Project
Closed since 2020; MCR acquired the lease in 2023 and is preparing a reopening. The current MCR phase has no interior designer publicly named — the window is wide open. Source
Fit for BNO
Gramercy needs an interior point of view that can hold private-club intimacy, old New York myth, and a modern hotel operation. Your Q&A Residential Hotel work is the clearest parallel: hospitality that feels residential without losing urban polish.
Contact
Tyler Morse — Chairman & CEO, MCR Hotels. As the leaseholder and operator for the reopening, the owner-side design decision sits with him. Best route via LinkedIn or MCR's corporate development channel.
How I would openHi Tyler, the Gramercy Park Hotel is not just another reopening; it is a chance to decide what New York intimacy means now. In our work at Q&A Residential Hotel, we built around that same tension between a private address and a public hospitality story, and Gramercy is the kind of brief where that discipline matters from the first room.
Chapter Two
Hawaii
Two since you opened the door
03
Coco Palms Resort · Redevelopment
Wailua · Kauai · 350 keys · Targeted 2026
Project
RP21 Coco Palms LLC / Reef Capital Partners are progressing a redevelopment of the storied Coco Palms site. The earlier Hyatt-era plan named Agor Architects but collapsed — the current RP21/Reef phase has no interior designer publicly named. A site with a real cultural sensitivity, and a real design opening. Source
Fit for BNO
Coco Palms demands restraint around memory, arrival, and a landscape that already has a story. Your Mondrian Scottsdale work is the cleanest parallel — modern hospitality that stays accountable to place.
Contact
RP21 Coco Palms / Reef Capital Partners — Victor Kimbell & Mitchell Burton named in the buyer-group reporting. Routes through the owner-developer entity rather than an operator. Best route via Reef Capital's company channel or LinkedIn.
How I would openHi Victor, we see Coco Palms as a design brief where memory has to lead and spectacle has to be earned. Our work at Mondrian Scottsdale sits in that modern resort lane, but Coco Palms asks for something more exacting: an interior language that lets Wailua remain the subject.
04
Areté Collective · Kahuku Point
North Shore · Oahu · Up to 250 units · 2027
Project
Areté Collective acquired ~60-65 acres carved out of the former Turtle Bay land for a lower-density North Shore development. Public coverage describes hotel-unit authorizations and active construction, with no interior designer named for this phase. SFGate
Fit for BNO
A sensitive place-led resort brief where interiors have to lower the volume, not compete with the land. Mondrian Scottsdale is the parallel: modern hospitality that stays accountable to landscape and atmosphere.
Contact
Rebecca Buchan — CEO, Areté Collective. Quoted in SFGate's project coverage. A developer route, not a REIT CEO or celebrity owner. Best route via LinkedIn or Areté's company channel.
How I would openHi Rebecca, we see Kahuku Point as a brief where the interior language has to earn its place before it earns attention. Our work at Mondrian Scottsdale sits in that modern resort lane, but here the stronger move is quieter: rooms and shared spaces that make the North Shore feel protected, specific, and never imported.
Chapter Three
Spain
For the Asturian in you
05
Mercer Madrid
Former Azucarera headquarters · Madrid · 2026 opening
Project
Mercer Hoteles' first Madrid property — a landmark 1905 building, opening 2026. Designer not yet named. Condé Nast Traveler
Fit for BNO
Exactly the kind of historic building where modern restraint has to feel intentional, not thin. Your Q&A Residential Hotel is the parallel: hospitality with a residential calm, precise public rooms, and no unnecessary theatricality.
Contact
Pedro Molina — CEO, Mercer Hoteles. Independent boutique group; named in CN Traveler's Mercer Madrid coverage. Best route via LinkedIn or Mercer Hoteles' corporate contact.
How I would open · escrito en castellanoHola Pedro, vemos Mercer Madrid como una conversión en la que la historia no debe convertirse en decorado, sino en estructura viva del hotel. En BNO, nuestro trabajo en Q&A Residential Hotel parte de esa misma calma contemporánea: espacios que parecen inevitables, precisos y profundamente habitables.
That's five. Each one took two to three hours of research — surfacing a live project, confirming the designer was still unannounced, mapping who actually decides, and writing the line I would open with.
If they're useful, there's a simple version of what I do next.
What happens next
Twenty of these, every month
What you just saw, on repeat — twenty hand-picked hotel projects each month, in your inbox, ready for you to carry the conversation. You're the one who can answer the questions when they reply. My job ends with the handoff.
Three founding spots · once they're taken, this isn't repeatable
—20 live or upcoming hotel projects each month, with the designer still unannounced
—Real decision-maker identified, with the right routing (owner, developer, or brand design lead)
—Opening line drafted in your voice for each — ready to send as is, or adapt
—Sources cited so every fact is defensible if asked
—No contract, no minimum. Cancel any month.
Reply with which two or three of these feel right — I'll send the simple version of how it works, and your founding spot is yours.
Either way — even a one-line "this one resonates, this one doesn't" tells me how to dial in the next batch.
Sean