Micky Rosen, Liran Wizman, and Alex Urseanu
The Dream Team

Words Ken BaronImages Steve Herud

They are the consummate locals and the ultimate hoteliers. Now united, Micky Rosen, Alex Urseanu, and Liran Wizman are a stunning new force to be reckoned with.

One of the most exciting things in the world of sports is when star players from different teams join force to form one unbeatable super team. In the world of hospitality, something very similar happened when Micky Rosen and Alex Urseanu, the longtime kings of Frankfurt with their transformative Roomers, The Pure, and Gerbermühle properties, teamed up with Liran Wizman, the visionary behind Amsterdam’s Sir Albert, which has given rise to iconic Sir properties across Europe.

For well over a decade, Rosen and Urseanu have set an aesthetic and entrepreneurial benchmark in their native Frankfurt, a city driven by finance and tradition. As pioneers in their hometown’s hospitality scene and partners since the early 2000s, they are known for transforming underused spaces into irresistible hotspots. Wizman, meanwhile, came up with the idea for Sir Albert in 2011: An upscale boutique hotel that combines luxury, clean design, and a distinct neighborhood feel. Today, one can walk into a Sir hotel in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, and Ibiza.

“From the very beginning, Alex and Micky were innovative hosts,” says Wizman, who is quick to note their overlapping passions and skills. “We are, on both sides, local heroes. We love our cities and bringing people together.”

Rosen agrees, stressing that Provocateur is the perfect place for the two hospitality forces to unite. “Where should this idea better work than in Berlin, where the whole world comes together?”

The three also quickly found accord on the man who would run their Golden Phoenix restaurant at Provocateur. “Duc Ngo surpasses himself with his Chinese-French-inspired cuisine,” notes Urseanu of the Berlin-based chef. “Everyone here loves him and we are so proud that he has helped transform Provocateur so quickly into the special place that it’s become.”

Wizman concurs, but is quick to add that finding out what kind of surroundings excite guests most and then helping them achieve those things is what creates truly unique hotel experiences. With the first Sir property, Sir Albert, for example, “people were questioning the decision not to open something directly in the city center,” Wizman says, “but if I visit a city, I want to be in the place where real people live.” That 90-room luxury boutique hotel is located in a former 19th-century diamond factory, steps away from Amsterdam’s renowned Rijksmuseum, and one of that city’s most famous fresh markets, the Albert Cuyp market.

Like Sir Albert, Provocateur resides in a neighborhood of locals who love their community. It’s a place dotted with typical old Berlin “altbau” buildings that characterize the Art Nouveau quarter of Charlottenburg, which is famous for its bookstores, galleries, grand cinemas, cafés, and the Kufürstendamm shopping street. In short, it's a dream setting for this dream team of hoteliers.