Virgin Hotels

The Virgin Group: from mobile phones to spaceships

Virgin is a leading branded venture capital organization and one of the world's most recognized and respected brands. Since it was conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has created more than 300 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 30 countries, in business sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, financial services, media, music, fitness, Formula 1 racing and even space tourism. We believe in making a difference. Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. These core principles combine to create global branded revenues that in 2009 exceeded $21 billion.

The Virgin brand's power

There's no place for modesty here – Virgin is recognized and respected across the globe and has an estimated 60 million customers worldwide, with a new one added every 6 seconds. We have been voted the most admired brand in the UK, the best company to work for in the UK, the 4th best marketed brand in the world and, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, one of the world's 25 most innovative companies. In short, we have an exceedingly powerful brand with which our customers are eager to engage. These customers are loyal and their high value perception of Virgin increases the power and effectiveness of our marketing across the board. Top tier press coverage of the Virgin brand equates to over $1.6 billion per year in media value.

Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer in 1970 and shortly afterwards opened a record shop in London. In 1972 he built a studio where the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded Tubular Bells. He went on to sign the Sex Pistols and many other household names and to make Virgin Records one of the world's top record companies. In 1999 Richard was knighted for "services to entrepreneurship." He believes leadership and entrepreneurialism are essential to tackling some of the world's toughest social and environmental problems. In 2006 Richard pledged 100% of profits of Virgin transportation companies to renewable fuels and resource efficiency businesses and research, and in 2010 he launched the Carbon War Room to mobilize capital, innovation, expertise and entrepreneurs to advance climate change efforts.