Skift Take
Standard chief executive Amber Asher is one of the smartest people in hotels. But The Standard International has so much going on it, we wonder if the company can manage it all.
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Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.
Standard International, the hotel company behind The Standard Hotels and The Peri Hotel — and a majority owner of Bunkhouse House Group — is taking on a lot these days to meet CEO Amber Asher's aggressive expansion plans.
In 2019, the company had 14 hotels with about 1,500 keys. By the end of 2023, it aims to have 25 hotels and about 2,500 keys across three brands. That's a growth of about two-thirds.
The company began 23 years ago when impresario Andre Balazs debuted The Standard near the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood in Los Angeles with the help of backing from stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. The brand, with an upside-down logo, helped popularize the branded boutique hotel trend, and has since grown to multiple locations. Balazs stepped back from the company in 2017. The company has been majority owned by Sansiri, a Bangkok-based luxury real estate firm, since 2017, when it took a 30 percent stake, increased to about 59 percent in 2019. [UPDATE: This article originally said Sansiri was a majority owner from 2019.]I spoke with Asher for an update. The Standard has a growth pipeline internationally and i