Nikki Beach celebrates its 25th anniversary (and 20 years in Marbella)

Nikki Beach

In the beautiful and special seaside town from Marbella, Spaineveryone knows Nikki.

She is the woman behind the lavish birthday celebrations and family gatherings; the dazzling magician whose wand weaves together music, art and culture in spaces that are both intimate and welcoming; the gracious host who always has a place at the table for guests who quickly become family.

“Nikki” is Nikki Beachthe Costa del Sol beach club oasis that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But “Nikki” is also Nikki Penrod, the late daughter of founder Jack Penrod, who was determined not to let her daughter’s joie de vivre be in vain.

After a drunken car accident ended Nikki’s life at age 18, Penrod and his wife Lucia (now CEO of Nikki Beach) decided to honor their daughter’s memory by creating a safe space for people to cultivate community and foster moments of joy. The first Nikki Beach opened in Miami in 1998. After a series of other successful openings, Nikki Beach Marbella was unveiled to the public in 2003.

Twenty years later, Nikki Beach Marbella is still as hip as ever, literally and figuratively. On a recent weekend, the beachfront loungers were packed with sunbathers while stylish guests dipped their toes in the Mediterranean Sea. Cabaret performers lined the pool, before giving way to a boisterous percussion duo and a jazz saxophonist, a Nikki Beach signature. Seafood and Spanish platters ham were distributed in the open-air restaurant, alongside the beach club’s now-iconic “Sexy Salad.” And well-dressed waiters surprised guests with the heliophiliaa decadent mango and passion fruit dessert inspired by Nikki Beach Marbella’s home on the Costa del Sol, and the ‘journey of the sun’, a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings throughout the season.

Lucia Penrod explains that Nikki Beach has always had the motto “Celebration of Life” as the guiding principle for the venue’s activities and programming. But more importantly, a “celebration of life” is the feeling Penrod wants her clients to remember every visit. “Our incredible staff wakes up every day ready to ‘celebrate life,’ and it’s that energy, combined with impeccable service and a welcoming aesthetic that has helped us create a cult following,” she says.

THR I caught up with Penrod to talk about Nikki Beach’s birthday, his favorite celebrity moments at the club, and why true “luxury” starts with making everyone feel at home.

Congratulations on 25 years of Nikki Beach! How was the process of opening your first beach club all those years ago?

Nikki Beach was originally started in memory of a family tragedy, a tribute to a father’s love for his daughter. In 1997, when our founder and my husband Jack’s 18-year-old daughter Nicole from a previous marriage passed away in a car accident, we chose to honor and celebrate her life by transforming our existing business at One Ocean Drive, Miami Beach – (then called) Penrod’s Beach Club – into a beautiful oceanfront butterfly garden named Café Nikki in her honor. The energy of the garden was magical and naturally grew into the perfect place to relax and rejuvenate. to be and to be seenattracting young local surfers and aspiring models as well as a new affluent clientele, including many celebrities. One of our business philosophies is to listen to our customers and give them more of what they want. Expanding Café Nikki to the beach was a natural decision. In 1998, the first Nikki Beach was officially born.

Would you ever have thought that the Nikki Beach brand would be as big as it is today?

We never set out to create a global brand. We didn’t even think about expanding at first. It was actually at the request of our clients that we decided to open beach clubs in St. Tropez, then St. Barts, and we continued to grow from there. Twenty-five years later, we have built a multifaceted luxury and hospitality brand with 11 beach clubs, five resorts and hotels, a fashion division, special events, and Nikki Cares, a 501c3 non-profit charity. It’s incredible to think what the brand has become over the years. We’ve managed to transform a simple beach club business into a global luxury and lifestyle brand.

It’s really amazing to see that Nikki Beach has such longevity. Why do you think people keep coming back?

We were the first and foremost luxury beach club to transform into a luxury brand. At the time of our launch, most beach clubs were family-run seasonal operations. We were a truly innovative concept that helped this business model earn its own place in the hospitality industry. You can now find luxury beach clubs all over the world. We continue to innovate, modernize and renovate our properties year after year and implement exciting new programming within our six core pillars: music, dining, entertainment, fashion, film and art. Much of our success over the past 25 years can be attributed to our six signature elements that we seamlessly intertwine to create the magic of Nikki Beach. Each element is present every day in the way we run our business, creating an atmosphere that caters to the needs of foodies, culture seekers, art lovers and fashionistas around the world.

How has Nikki Beach evolved over the years? What are some examples of what’s happening? which may have worked more than 20 years ago and no longer work today?

We grow with our customers! Some of them have been visiting us since we opened our doors 25 years ago. Today, they come with their children and sometimes you will see three generations of the family having lunch together at the beach club. It is beautiful.

We have of course had to evolve over the years to stay relevant and meet our guests’ expectations. That’s the nature of the hospitality industry. Today, we are putting more emphasis on food and beverage. We are very proud of our international menus and the Michelin-starred events we have lined up this summer. We also have an incredible lineup of guest DJs and exciting brand partnerships. Rather than hosting themed events that were once very popular, we are going back to our roots and perfecting the daily experience that is Nikki Beach.

What has been your most memorable celebrity moment in the last 25 years at Nikki Beach?

Naomi Campbell’s birthday party in St. Tropez is one of the most memorable events I’ve attended over the years. We hosted her birthday party in conjunction with the property’s opening in 2002. She requested an all-white theme and the party was filled with celebrities in head-to-toe white.

We have also hosted some truly impressive New Year’s Eve singers in St. Barts over the years. It was incredible to be able to see Mariah Carey, Beyonce and John Legend perform for our guests in our intimate beach club space.

Nikki Beach Marbella is celebrating its 20th anniversary and Nikki Beach Miami is celebrating its 25th anniversary. What do you expect from the next 25 years?

I am extremely excited to see where the brand will be in 25 years. We already have so much to look forward to. We continue to grow, with upcoming openings within our resort division in Muscat, Baku and Antigua over the next two years. I am very excited to bring our Nikki Beach Celebration of Life to newcomers. journey markets and to offer our loyal customers new destinations in which they can discover Nikki Beach.

We have a great and dedicated team – most of our people have been with us for 10 or even 20 years, and I look forward to continuing to grow our Nikki Beach family around the world. It’s a privilege for me to be able to build this legacy.