EXPANSION - RACHAEL PALUMBO, VICE-PRESIDENT, GLOBAL BRAND MARKETING, NOBU HOSPITALITY: “THE YOUNGER GENERATION RESPONDS TO CHEF NOBU'S AUTHENTICITY”
The marketing professional discusses the intersection of celebrity, cuisine, and luxury hospitality as the brand continues its worldwide expansion. |
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EXPANSION - RACHAEL PALUMBO, VICE-PRESIDENT, GLOBAL BRAND MARKETING, NOBU HOSPITALITY: “THE YOUNGER GENERATION RESPONDS TO CHEF NOBU'S AUTHENTICITY”
The marketing professional discusses the intersection of celebrity, cuisine, and luxury hospitality as the brand continues its worldwide expansion. |
Catégorie : Monde - Interviews et portraits
- Interviews - Les Leaders du secteur
Interview de Sonia Taourghi le 15-01-2025
 Rachael Palumbo, vice president, Global Brand Marketing, Nobu Hospitality
Crédit photo © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
From its origins as a culinary partnership between master Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and actor Robert De Niro to its current status as a global luxury lifestyle brand, Nobu Hospitality's journey mirrors Palumbo's own evolution in the industry. With over three decades of experience, her path led from a dining room hostess position at a five-star Boston hotel to leadership roles at One&Only Resorts before joining Nobu Hospitality as one of just three employees tasked with expanding the hotel side of the business.
Our conversation spans the evolution of luxury hospitality, the challenges of scaling an intimate brand, and the art of engaging with a new generation of travellers. As Nobu Hospitality prepares to unveil several high-profile openings in 2024 and 2025, Palumbo offers insights into how the company balances its storied heritage with its growing hospitality ambitions.
Journal des Palaces: Your journey to luxury hospitality has been guided by serendipity. How did that lead you to Nobu?
Rachael Palumbo: My entry into hospitality was entirely unplanned – I was actually preparing for law school when I took what I thought would be a temporary position as a hostess at one of Boston's top five-star hotels. That role opened my eyes to the magic of hospitality, leading me through various roles in private events, catering, and sales over three decades. After seven and a half years in ultra-luxury with One&Only Resorts, where I first experienced Nobu's restaurants in Cape Town and Dubai's Atlantis, the opportunity to help develop Nobu's hotel business was truly once-in-a-lifetime.
We started with just two casino hotels in Las Vegas and Manila, and I joined when there were only three people in the company – the CEO, COO, and I. What really drew me was the vision of our founders, particularly the partnership between Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro, and how they've maintained their dedication to authentic hospitality while constantly evolving.
How has Chef Nobu's philosophy influenced the brand's evolution from restaurants to hotels?
What sets Nobu apart is the profound influence of Chef Nobu Matsuhisa himself. His journey – filled with failures and triumphs – inspires us daily. He embodies authentic hospitality, constantly evolving and adapting while truly putting guests first. Every time I sit with him, I learn something new. His wisdom isn't scripted; it's deeply authentic and often profound. Chef Nobu and Robert De Niro maintain incredibly young, adaptable mindsets despite their years. They're not just figureheads – they're actively involved in shaping our approach to hospitality.
Chef Nobu's Instagram account has over 400,000 followers, many of whom are young people who connect with his authentic approach and contemporary cultural connections. He's out there wearing athleisure, creating new concepts like Sushi Club, and constantly innovating. The younger generation, particularly Gen Z, responds to this authenticity – my daughter thinks he's one of the coolest people in hospitality.
The transition from restaurants to hotels seems like a natural evolution, but how did you manage that expansion?
The transition wasn't as immediate as we hoped. We started with creative marketing approaches, including our tagline 'Dine with us, Stay with us,' and even considered playful ideas like featuring hotel rooms on the restaurant menu under 'The stage is yours' – though that particular concept didn't get approved!
Our success has come from thoughtfully targeting our restaurant database through platforms like Seven Rooms and OpenTable, introducing the hotel experience organically. We make the connection tangible by having hotels offer special welcomes to restaurant guests, serving oshibori and appetiser tea, giving them a taste of the full Nobu hospitality experience.
This approach has been so successful that we've expanded from three hotels to 19, with 24 more in development. Even more exciting is our expansion into residences, with 15 projects now featuring residential components. For instance, in Toronto, we have two towers with 624 residences and a hotel, while in Abu Dhabi, we're seeing strong interest in co-ownership models.
The brand seems to be evolving beyond hotels into residential properties. What's driving this development?
The residences represent an exciting evolution for us. We've discovered that our residential guests truly buy into the Nobu lifestyle – they want that connection to the brand and all it represents. We see fascinating variations in how these properties are used in different markets. In Toronto, for example, we have a significant rental market within our 624 residences.
In contrast, our Middle Eastern properties, particularly in Abu Dhabi, where we had the highest residential sales, are largely used as personal residences through co-ownership models. These owners often treat these as their fifth or sixth property, preferring to keep them exclusively for personal use rather than renting them out.
Our residential offerings have significant benefits – priority reservations at our restaurants worldwide, special hotel rates across our properties with inclusions like breakfast, and access to the full spectrum of Nobu hospitality services. For the hotels, these residence owners represent an ideal audience deeply connected to our brand values and lifestyle. This expansion into residences has become so successful that most of our new projects now include a residential component, something we actively discuss with potential new owners. It's another way we can share the vision that Chef Nobu and Robert De Niro established, extending the Nobu experience from a meal to a complete lifestyle.
What's the thinking behind your digital marketing strategy, as it seems to break luxury hospitality conventions?
When I first suggested TikTok, there was considerable scepticism. But what's fascinating is that some of our younger audience doesn't even know who Robert De Niro is, so we need different approaches to reach them. My team of 30-somethings quickly proved TikTok's value. One of our most successful videos features our videographer giving an authentic, unplanned tour of our Atlantic City property – he wasn't even showered after his flight from Australia! It garnered tremendous engagement precisely because it wasn't overly curated. We're learning to embrace authenticity, showing real moments like a bartender dropping a glass. This approach aligns perfectly with Chef Nobu's own social media presence, which resonates strongly with younger generations who appreciate genuine content over perfectly polished presentations.
With such ambitious expansion plans, how do you maintain the intimate feel that made Nobu famous?
While we've grown significantly – from three hotels to the 11 represented here at ILTM, and 32 more open and in development – we maintain our boutique approach through strong owner relationships. Many of our owners have multiple properties with us, which speaks to the strength of these partnerships.
The residential aspect allows us to offer the Nobu lifestyle beyond just a hotel stay, with benefits like priority restaurant reservations and special rates across our properties. We're careful to maintain the personal touch that Chef Nobu and Robert De Niro established in their first restaurant ventures, ensuring that whether you're dining, staying, or living with us, you're experiencing that same level of authentic hospitality.
What's next for Nobu Hospitality?
We're opening in New Orleans this month, our third collaboration with Caesars Palace, featuring 64 rooms in the French Quarter, and we're particularly excited about our Rome opening in summer 2025, featuring 116 rooms on the Via Veneto, near the Spanish Steps. The restaurant will open ahead of the hotel in April, a strategy that worked well for us in Toronto.
Looking ahead, we're keen to expand our presence in European markets, particularly France. While we have strong followings in the US, UK, and Middle East, we're actively working to build awareness in the French and German markets. We've been exploring opportunities in Paris and the South of France – Chef Nobu himself loves spending time in Paris and Saint-Tropez - and we might bring a Nobu pop-up to ILTM next year, leveraging our amazing team from our Monaco restaurant – something like "Nobu La Plage"!
Ultimately, everything we do reflects our founders' vision of creating not just hotels and restaurants but complete lifestyle destinations that maintain the intimate, personal touch that made the original Nobu restaurants so special.
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