Armani Group develops global joint venture with Symphony Global for Armani Hotels & Resorts

Following the success of Armani Hotel Dubai and Armani Hotel Milan, the Giorgio Armani Group’s partnership with Symphony Global LLC, Mohamed Alabbar’s private investment firm, enters a new phase with the creation of a joint venture to develop a portfolio of Armani Hotels & Resorts in selected international destinations. Alabbar is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in creating and developing businesses across the real estate, hospitality, retail, technology, and consumer goods sectors.

The agreement grants worldwide exclusivity for the development of Armani Hotels & Resorts, complementing the Italian Group’s existing and established hospitality projects. The joint venture will be based in Milan and Dubai, the creative, strategic, and operational centres of the partnership, strengthening the collaboration’s global reach and long-term outlook, the statement notes.

The collaboration builds on the ongoing success of Armani Hotel Dubai, located in the Burj Khalifa, followed by the Armani Hotel on Via Manzoni in Milan, now recognised for its influence on contemporary luxury hospitality. The long-term commercial performance and international reputation of this property, the Italian Group founded in 1975 notes, have further elevated Armani’s hospitality model, laying the groundwork for this new phase of global expansion.

The business concept underpinning the joint venture, personally shared with Giorgio Armani, is based on the development of two distinct types of hotel: on the one hand, the established model of luxury Armani Hotels, such as those already operating in Milan and Dubai; on the other, a high-end Armani Hotel model characterised by a younger, lifestyle-oriented atmosphere, to cater for new generations of travellers, especially in the ‘new’ continents, with the ambition of meeting the growing global demand for high-end hospitality.

The joint venture, with a 20-year term plus a 10-year renewal, will pursue a highly selective growth strategy, focusing on hotels that meet the most exacting criteria in terms of location, design quality and high-value hospitality services.

Each project will be developed as a complete lifestyle environment, with Armani involved in every aspect of architecture, interiors, furnishings, materials, lighting and service standards, while also drawing on the Giorgio Armani Group’s extensive experience in translating its aesthetic into residential and mixed-use projects, already present in cities such as New York, Miami, and London.

“This joint venture builds on a partnership that has already proved its strength over time,” Giuseppe Marsocci, CEO of the Armani Group, confirmed in the statement. “The success of Armani Hotel Dubai and Armani Hotel Milan, together with the upcoming Armani Hotel at Diriyah Gate, Riyadh (planned for 2027), clearly demonstrates how our design philosophy and our approach to hospitality have strong appeal to today’s global luxury client. […] The consolidation of our collaboration with Mohamed Alabbar is in keeping with the long-term partnerships that have always characterised our company and the ‘Armani’ business model, such as those with Luxottica and L’Oréal, all highly valued partners with a decades-long perspective.”

“I have always admired Giorgio Armani as one of the great visionaries of our time. His approach to design- enduring, rigorous and deeply human- has influenced generations, including me,” said Mohamed Alabbar. “What makes this partnership so strong is the alignment of values: an uncompromising pursuit of quality, a deep respect for guests, and a belief that true luxury lies in the way people feel,” concluded the entrepreneur, who is also the founder of Emaar, one of the world’s leading real estate and hotel development companies, known for creating distinctive destinations such as Downtown Dubai, Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, as well as the founder of Noon, the Middle East’s leading digital commerce platform. Finally, Mohamed Alabbar is a major shareholder in Americana, one of the region’s largest food and beverage operators.