From fashion takeovers to chef residencies and immersive brand activations, The Ned has built a reputation for partnerships that go far beyond the expected.
Georgia Howie, Global Head of Commercial Partnerships, reveals how a focus on creativity, authenticity and experience is shaping a dynamic programme that keeps guests engaged, surprised and always coming back for more.
The Ned has become known for collaborating with a wide range of brands, artists and creators. How important are partnerships to your overall brand strategy, and what role do they play in shaping the guest experience?
Partnerships are a hugely important part of The Ned experience. At their best, they allow us to introduce our members and guests to brands, creators and experiences they may not otherwise discover, while also bringing something new and unexpected into our spaces.
Our approach is always experience led rather than purely commercial. Whether it’s an in-room collaboration, a fashion activation, a chef residency, a wellness experience or a cultural event, we look for opportunities that add genuine value and enhance what makes The Ned special. For our members in particular, partnerships help create a constantly evolving calendar of experiences, ensuring there is always something new to discover, while maintaining the sense of quality, creativity and exclusivity that people associate with The Ned.
Can you tell us about some of your most recent, successful collaborations?
We’ve been fortunate to work with an incredible range of partners across hospitality, fashion, food and drink, wellness and culture.
Recent highlights include our Christmas partnership with The Macallan, which saw the brand take centre stage throughout our festive programming with the co-designed tree a particular highlight, alongside larger-scale activations such as the Guinness Bar pop-up. In fashion, collaborations including Balmain’s rooftop summer celebration and our Paul Smith Sunset Session transformed our spaces in a way that felt both immersive and true to the character of the brands.
In our hotels, we’ve enjoyed creating thoughtful in-room experiences, including collaborations with Net-A-Porter across both London and New York, bringing an additional layer of discovery directly into guest rooms.
Across our US properties, we’ve continued to build a varied programme of events, from intimate member experiences with brands such as Mulberry, featuring on-site monogramming, and luxury cashmere house Falconeri, through to larger hospitality and sporting moments. This week, for example, we hosted a FIFA Club World Cup yacht experience in partnership with Don Julio, bringing together sport, entertainment and hospitality in a uniquely Ned way.
We’ve also seen great success with chef collaborations and dining experiences. InterStellar, a 1 MICHELIN BBQ chef from Austin, Texas is a recent example that generated significant excitement among both members and the wider hospitality community, demonstrating the appetite for experiences that combine exceptional food with cultural relevance. It was such a huge success that we’re bringing it back again this year.
With so many potential collaboration opportunities available, what criteria do you use when deciding whether a partnership is the right fit for The Ned?
The first question we ask is whether the partnership will genuinely resonate with our members and guests. We look for brands that share our values around quality, creativity, craftsmanship and experience.
We also consider whether the collaboration brings something new to our audience. The most successful partnerships feel natural rather than forced; they should enhance an existing aspect of The Ned experience or introduce a compelling new one. Finally, we look at the long-term relationship potential. Some of our strongest partnerships have evolved over several years, allowing us to continually innovate together and create increasingly meaningful experiences for our community.
How do you strike the balance between working with exciting, high-profile brands while ensuring every collaboration still feels authentic to The Ned’s identity?
Authenticity is essential. While we are fortunate to work with globally recognised brands, profile alone is never enough. Every collaboration has to feel relevant to The Ned, our spaces and our audience. We achieve this by focusing on shared values and ensuring there is a strong creative narrative behind every activation and always work closely with our partners and our internal teams from Marketing and comms to operations across our hotel, to create experiences that feel bespoke to The Ned rather than simply transplanting an existing campaign into our venues.
Ultimately, we want guests to feel that the collaboration enhances their experience of The Ned, rather than distracting from it. We find that when that balance is achieved, the result is pure magic.
Many of your partnerships extend beyond traditional hospitality offerings. How do collaborations across areas such as wellness, retail, food and beverage, or culture help create more memorable and engaging experiences for guests?
Today’s guests are increasingly looking for experiences that extend beyond traditional hospitality. They want discovery, access and a sense of connection to our brand with brands that are shaping culture.
That is why our partnerships span everything from member perks within our app and wellness experiences, through to retail pop-ups, in-room collaborations, cultural programming and large-scale food and beverage activations. By bringing together different worlds under one roof, we’re able to create experiences that feel richer, more immersive and more personal.
The breadth of our partnership programme means a guest could discover a new fashion brand through an event, enjoy a chef collaboration at dinner, experience a wellness activation the following morning and receive a curated in-room experience during their stay. That variety keeps the experience fresh and helps ensure there is always something new and unexpected for members and guests to engage with.