THE LIGHTSTONE GROUP’s 2.5B MOXY BLUEPRINT
The Lightstone Group, a premier, New York-based, real estate development and investment company that manages, owns & operates 8 Moxy hotels franchises in 3 major cities (New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami), has established the blueprint of how to create chic hotels for evolving consumers. Their secret sauce is identifying that fundamentally, today’s consumers want a venue that is functional and not only has comfortable hotel rooms; but also has shared spaces for socializing; remote working or hanging out during the daytime and a place to relax, unwind or enjoy happy hour & entertainment at night. Each Moxy, in their portfolio, has these similar ingredients.
The Lightstone Group opened its first Moxy hotel in Times Square in 2017. Since then, it has replicated that success by opening locations in Chelsea and East Village in 2019 and followed by opening Moxy Williamsburg, Moxy Downtown NYC, Moxy Lower East Side, Moxy + AC Hotels DTLA, and Moxy South Beach.
The Moxy brand is part of Marriott Bonvoy’s Select Series of hotels. The innovative hospitality brand continues to grow in both the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. A key aspect of its growth is due to its experience-centric design, meshing well with the needs and wants of 2.5 billion millennials born between 1980 and 1999—which is the largest living generation on the planet today. The Moxy Hotels cater to this demographic’s desire for experiences, by thinking outside of the box, whether it’s checking in at-the-bar; free discount card for food & beverages per day; the modern lounges designed for work and recreation or the carefully-selected restaurant partners, the Moxy has everything to offer and more…
In the vein of thinking outside of the box, The Lightstone Group/MOXY has teamed up to bring pop-up shopping events in their Moxy hotels. The Lightstone group has partnered with HEED NYC, a Manhattan-based luxury lifestyle brand that produces footwear, eyewear, ready-to-wear handbags and other accessories. The Lightstone Group and HEED NYC have conducted the first HEED NYC pop-shops at the Moxy Hotels in the Times Square and Williamsburg locations and has laid the groundwork for further partnerships. In fact, HEED NYC will be doing a third pop-up event in the LA Moxy on Saturday, March 23, 2024 and more in the future. Taheed R. Watson, Creative Director of the luxury lifestyle brand noted, “One of the highlights of our most recent pop-up event, at the Moxy Williamsburg, was meeting the President of The Lightstone Group Mitchell Hochberg and his lovely wife. They were passing through and seemed to really enjoy our brand and the alignment to the Moxy brand. When I asked which hotel was his favorite, he simply told me that each of his hotels are like one of his ‘babies’ and how do you choose between your children.”
HEED NYC, founded in 2020, has the motto of “being unique, fearless, and free” and due to its Moxy synergy, it’s no wonder that Taheed feels that , “The Moxy Hotel brand is the new ‘IT’ brand for millennials and we’re happy to be partnering with The Lightstone Group.” The strong interest that millennials and the general public have shown in the Moxy-HEED NYC partnership has only reinforced Taheed’s confidence in his brand. Discussing future plans, Taheed explains, “Our plan is to extend our reach to other Moxy hotels both domestically and internationally. We also look forward to working with companies like Hotel CO 51, who is the largest franchise operator for the Moxy Hotels brand worldwide.”
The partnership with the Moxy isn’t HEED NYC’s first physical presence. The in-demand brand, as Taheed details, is “Very proud of our in-store relationships. We’ve currently partnered with 2 stores in NYC (Foravi in Upper East Side and OPR Eyewear in Hudson Yards), 1 store in the Hamptons (Pause for the little Thingz), 1 store in Charlotte, NC (House of Jade Sky), and 2 stores in Italy (1955 SRL and the 5 store resort, Palazzo Del Duca).” With a robust brand presence online and in-store, this is surely only the beginning for HEED NYC and Moxy Hotels.
HEED NYC + Moxy = The Perfect Mix.
