RH branches out into hotel business

CORTE MADERA, Calif. — RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, is one of several brands crossing over into the hospitality industry to showcase its wares, the Washington Post reports. It joins companies in the décor or design business like Ikea, West Elm, Muji and Versace in the trend when it opens RH Guesthouse in New York this fall. “Hotels are the new showrooms for retail,” Professor Chekitan Dev of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration told the Post. “It’s a dynamic, interactive, profitable showroom.” Entering the hotel business can be a risky move, however. “The hotel still has to be great,” cautions industry consultant Bjorn Hanson. “In some ways, some of these brands have higher challenges because they can be so good at what they do as their core activity that the expectation is that their lodging will rise to the same excellence as their competitors.”