LVMH sells El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara for $82.2M to Justin and Tyler Mateen's partnership, exiting US market

LVMH sells El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara for $82.2M to Justin and Tyler Mateen's partnership, exiting US market

French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE has sold its only US hotel, the El Encanto in Santa Barbara, California, for $82.2 million. The 90-room property, located in a coastal getaway northwest of Los Angeles, is being purchased by a partnership of brothers Justin and Tyler Mateen and Culver Capital [1].

The sale price per room, approximately $900,000, is comparable to other recent resort transactions in coastal California, where strict government regulations and a scarcity of land create high barriers to entry [1]. Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a hotel brokerage based in Newport Beach, commented on the transaction, stating, "It may look expensive today, but 10 or 20 years from now it looks like a good deal" [1].

The El Encanto’s new owners plan to manage the property themselves, meaning it will no longer be part of the Belmond chain, a group of resorts that LVMH purchased in 2019. The Mateens have a growing portfolio of real estate and technology investments. Justin Mateen was a co-founder of the dating app Tinder [1]. The brothers recently paid $69 million for a shopping center on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and bought an office and retail complex on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for $211 million [1].

A spokesperson for LVMH declined to comment on the transaction but mentioned that LVMH-owned Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts plans to open a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, in 2028 [1].

References:
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-07/lvmh-to-sell-santa-barbara-s-el-encanto-hotel-for-82-2-million