Catching Up with Virgin Hotels Collection’s Maya Latinovic

Virgin Hotels Collection is “striving to be one of the best hotel companies in the world when it comes to travel trade,” Maya Latinovic, the company’s vice president of global sales, told TMR. 

Latinovic joined Virgin in early 2022 after 12 years in sales at Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and another few years with Marriott’s EDITION brand. Around that same time, CEO James Bermingham took the helm and oversaw the birth of Virgin Hotels Collection as the parent company of sister brands Virgin Hotels and Virgin Limited Edition. As part of that reorganization, Latinovic was hired to lead the new global sales team that has been working to make the business more travel advisor friendly.  

TMR spoke with Latinovic about each brand’s experiential offerings and what the company’s future holds for travel advisors and their clients. 

Two Brands, One Mission

Through two different brands, Virgin Hotels Collection aims to deliver on one shared mission: helping guests experience the destination. While Virgin Hotels does this in major cities, Virgin Limited Edition has planted roots in off-the-beaten path locales. 

Virgin Hotels most recently opened its London-Shoreditch hotel in summer 2024, for a total of eight properties that also includes New York, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Nashville, Edinburgh, and New Orleans. 

As a lifestyle brand, Virgin Hotels pulls its surroundings into the hotel with its dining and activities, giving guests a taste of the city they’re visiting – something that Latinovic said leisure and business travelers alike are hungry for nowadays, and Virgin caters to both. 

“Whether it’s a celebratory occasion in Nashville or a business meeting in Dallas, shopping in New York City, a music festival in Chicago, or just a weekend getaway in Las Vegas to gamble, we really have it all,” she said.  

Each Virgin Hotels property has an entertainment director coordinating special events on site. Last year, a popular one was Mariah Carey’s Black Irish Holiday Bar in New York City, a festive pop-up that transformed the NoMad hotel’s fourth floor pool bar into a winter wonderland. 

“Through our food and beverage, music, culture, we really try to infuse our properties with that local culture and feeling,” Latinovic said, “so not only do guests love staying with us but we hope that locals also feel like it’s a home and a place where they want to come hang out.” 

Virigin Limited Edition delivers experience in more exclusive and intimate ways. The nine retreats and private islands owned by Sir Richard Branson – in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe – each have only about 20 rooms. 

The approach here is more excursion-based: safaris in Kenya and South Africa, cycling in Mallorca, tennis on Nekker Island, skiing in Switzerland, and so on. For example, Virgin recently announced a partnership with luxury tour operator LeBlanq to offer a curated, three-night culinary and cycling itinerary at Son Bunyola Hotel & Villas in Mallorca in March 2025. 

‘Our Guests Are Young at Heart’

Latinovic is trying to combat the notion that Virgin is only for a younger demographic – instead, she says that, like 74-year-old founder Richard Branson, they are “young at heart.” 

Though guests typically range between 35 and 55 years old, it depends on the specific property and ultimately on the purpose of the trip, whether for work, relaxation, or adventure. 

No matter the age, Virgin’s clientele seek value and will pay for a more enriching experience – making them more likely to use a travel agent, Latinovic noted. 

“We skew older than people expect for both brands,” she said. “Our guests are very aspirational, and they really like to go for premium items and goods when they can.” 

“With the help of our travel advisors, understanding their [clients’] needs and their likes coming into their stay, we really can personalize it,” she added. “We’re small enough where we really can cater to every single individual guest’s needs, [such as] celebrations. So, the more we find out from our partners, the better we can create an experience.” 

Expansion, More Advisor Tools

Virgin Hotels plans to open a Denver location in 2027 and a Miami property at a currently undetermined time. On the VLE side, Latinovic said there are “exceptional, iconic” destinations in the works that the company is excited to announce soon. 

Virgin Hotel Collection is also building a travel advisor portal that it hopes to be completed within the next year. The program will streamline education and bookings on each property. In addition, the company is beginning to roll out new points and rewards programs for meeting planners and travel agents. 

Until then, advisors can take advantage of Virgin’s VIP concierge and sales desks, as well as the sales team in place through Virgin’s partnership with Preferred Hotels & Resorts. 

“We understand the needs of travel advisors and how they like to work,” Latinovic said. “We’re really trying to streamline that process, from the point of sale through the checkout of the guest and make it as seamless as possible both for the travel advisor and for the hotel guest.”