BOND Five Star USA

Networking with America's Leading Luxury Hotel Designers
June 19-22, 2025
FL, USA
1-on-1 Meetings and Networking with America's Top Luxury Hotel Designers
Every year, North America’s most in-demand luxury hotel designers leave their projects and offices behind for a few days and head to BOND Five Star USA.
These are the people behind the luxury hotel projects you’d love to be a part of with the power to influence who gets specified and who doesn’t.
To get a proper handle on this, you need to see who’s coming.
Reserve Your Spot – Last Year Sold Out!
America's Top Luxury Hotel Designers. Guaranteed.
North America’s busiest and best luxury hotel designers are giving us 3 days of their time to come and meet manufacturers who are passionate about what they do and who can help them deliver what their clients want.
This is your chance to sit down, one-on-one with the designers and architects who are driving North America’s biggest and best luxury hotel projects.
3 whole days and nights away from project deadlines and office distractions means time and space get to know each other properly. And that’s where the most meaningful, long-term business happens. Always.
You just need to get here.
Five Star USA regular attendees include:

Sarah Bonsall
Regional Director, Technical Services & Development
Six Senses Resorts & Hotels

Hogan Chun
Design Director | Senior Associate | SouthWest Regional Hospitality Leader
Gensler

Bradley Barnett
Associate Principal & Director
Rockwell Group

Eloisa Bustos
Director of Design
Virgin Hotel Group

Heather Gray
Senior Designer & Project Manager
Parker Torres Design

Coletta Conner
Managing Principal
Forrest Perkins

Kathy Logan
Principal
Cooper Carry

Nina Grondin
Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Curioso
Luxury Hotel Projects Throughout North America
BOND Five Star USA is not like any other hotel design event: it’s how we qualify our ‘buyers’ that sets us apart. Every single designer and architect that’s invited must:
- Be a Principal or above
- Work nationally in scope
- Evidence a portfolio of live, confirmed luxury hotel projects throughout North America.
That’s how we deliver an unmatched event experience and ensure your best possible ROI.
This is NOT a trade show
You know exactly who’s going to be here before you arrive and you will have a number of guaranteed, pre-scheduled 1-to-1 meetings with the ‘buyers’ of your choice. And that’s just the start.
You are all together for 3 days and nights at a luxury resort, so there’s time and space to meet everybody and it’s this abundance of natural networking that opens up a world of possibilities. Because there’s a real community feel here and everyone’s more relaxed and open and any number of conversations can light up the luxury hotel project trail right in front of you – you’ll see!
We will deliver North America’s true luxury hotel project influencers with time and space to get to know each other properly.
The rest, frankly, is up to you!
Save your place

Sublimely prepared event with wonderful people, fantastic contacts, and undivided attention to every detail. The planning, communication and follow up was 2nd to none. By far the best of any event that I have ever attended.

Lee Fuhrman
Program
Seminar timings and/or content may be varied at our discretion.
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
Thursday, June 19
Friday, June 20
Synopsis
In today’s environment, trust is highly critical across all aspects of business and society, as well as a fundamental element for success. High trust is coveted, universal, timeless, and highly profitable. Throughout this presentation, Milton Pedraza, CEO of Luxury Institute and co-author of High Trust Worth, will focus on the fundamental importance of trust in achieving business success and present High Trust Worth – an empirically proven system built on five key pillars: Authenticity, Expertise, Empathy, Kindness, and Creativity. Milton will provide a step-by-step approach and recommendations for empowering a High Trust Worth culture within your organization to achieve significant benefits such as increased engagement, higher productivity, improved customer loyalty, and dramatically better financial performance.
Biography
Milton Pedraza is the founder and CEO of the Luxury Institute. He is globally recognized as one of the world’s leading luxury industry experts, as well a leading private investor and entrepreneur in a new category he has coined as Creator Empowerment Technology. In the last 22 years, Luxury Institute has served over 1,100 luxury and premium goods and services brands with leading-edge research, consulting and training solutions developed by the best, most successful minds in the industry. Today, Luxury Institute has the largest global networks of top-tier luxury executives, experts, HNW and UHNW individuals and families. Milton is the co-author, with Erica Wertheim Zohar, of “High Trust Worth: The New Currency of Business is not Money, it’s Trust.” High Trust Worth is a revolutionary new system for measuring and mastering trust in all organizations that is taking the business world by storm. Milton has served on the boards of top-tier luxury brands, as well as tech startups. He is a member of the Advisory Board at The UHNW Institute and is a frequent speaker at corporate events worldwide. Milton is the most quoted global luxury industry expert in top-tier media. Prior to founding the Luxury Institute, his successful career included executive roles at PepsiCo, Colgate, Citibank and Cendant.
Synopsis
In luxury hospitality, art is not just decoration—it is a critical element in creating unique, immersive guest experiences and defining a property’s identity. This lecture explores how art contributes to the perception of luxury by transforming spaces into cultural and aesthetic landmarks. Through case studies from the United States and abroad, the presentation examines successful integrations of diverse artistic expressions, from large-scale installations to curated collections, that enhance a hotel’s brand and guest appeal. This presentation also shares strategies to incorporate art into high-end hospitality projects, using it as a key differentiator to elevate the guest experience and solidify market positioning.
All the above went through my mind. Let me tell you about the decisions made, the mistakes, the uncertainty, the lessons and the outcomes.
Biography
David Guerra is an independent curator, art dealer/consultant, and professor originally from Havana, Cuba, and currently based in both Boston, Massachusetts, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the founder of MARCA RIBE, a dynamic platform dedicated to amplifying the creative voices of the Caribbean and fostering art curating and collecting within the region. He has advised both private and corporate collections regarding art acquisitions. His passion for innovation in the arts has driven him to collaborate on numerous festivals and exhibitions, first in Boston and now in the artistic landscape of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Currently, David imparts his expertise through seminars on Art Curating, New Trends in Contemporary Art, and the Art Market at the University of Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico.
Saturday, June 21
Synopsis
As climate change reshapes our environment, its impact on mental health is becoming increasingly evident. This talk will explore the intersection of architectural design, climate change, and mental health highlighting the pressing need for architects to consider these factors in their work.
We’ll begin by discussing how climate change-related stressors, such as extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and existential anxieties are contributing to increasing mental health issues. The talk will highlight the importance of greenspaces in mitigating these effects, showcasing research that demonstrates how access to nature can alleviate stress and improve overall mental health.
Architects are in a pivotal position to design spaces that promote mental well-being. This talk will propose that, in response to climate change, greenspace planning should be an essential component of luxury architectural design. By integrating natural elements into urban and residential environments, architects can create spaces that not only withstand climate impacts but also enhance the psychological resilience of those who inhabit them.
This session aims to encourage architects to prioritize mental health by seeing through a lens of mental wellness in their design process. By bolstering adaptation to climate change, greenspaces support both mental well-being and climate resiliency. In short, session attendees will answer the following question: How would you design if you designed for personal and planetary wellness?
Biography
James McKowen, Ph.D. is a Clinical Child Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is the clinical director of the Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) program focusing on the treatment of youth with addictive disorders. For the past 6 years, Dr. McKowen has been expanding his clinical and research interests in the impacts of climate change on mental health. He is co-chair of the MGH Climate and Mental Health Initiative, affiliate faculty at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE), associate at the MGH Center for Environmental and Health, and member of the Climate Psychology Alliance – Youth Subcommittee. He is trained in climate-aware therapy, conducts research on climate change impacts on vulnerable populations with psychiatric illness, and works with organizations to build effective behavioral strategies for improving sustainability.
Biography
More information will be announced soon.Sunday, June 22

I love the event. The intimate nature and the ability to make lasting connections with potential clients and vendors is incredibly valuable.
