Can individuality be scaled? Elie Khouri shares a blueprint for luxury hospitality from Dubai to Paros

Elie Khouri, the French-Lebanese executive and founder of Dubai-based investment vehicle Vivium, is betting he can scale individuality across hospitality, design and art. At 62 he has launched boutique hotel brand Luura, opened a 39-suite property in Paros this summer, founded design group Atelio and partnered with Sotheby’s International Realty to expand luxury-property interests—all while turning a private collection of works by more than 300 artists into a public institution.

"I don't reinvent myself," Khouri says, underscoring a career built on iteration rather than reinvention as he moves from media executive to serial entrepreneur.

Khouri’s approach is deliberately holistic. After growing Omnicom’s Middle East media operations from eight employees to more than 2,000, and serving as CEO of Omnicom Media MENA, he launched Vivium in 2017 to invest in property, hospitality and design. He describes Vivium’s investment areas not as separate asset classes but as an ecosystem: "Property teaches me about place and architecture; design adds materials and craftsmanship; art supplies cultural depth. Combine them, and you have a hotel, a showroom or an art institution."

Luura is the clearest test of that thesis. Its inaugural 39-suite hotel on Paros aims to challenge what Khouri calls “standardised luxury.” He says the major brands are suffering because they become “too commercial, too much the same – copy and paste.” Originally on the island to develop villas, he changed course after concluding, "What's the point in doing beautiful things and then letting go of them?" Luura’s model rejects franchising: Khouri intends to retain an ownership interest in every hotel as he grows the brand to multiple sites.

Atelio, launched more recently, applies the Vivium philosophy to furniture, art and collectible design. Its A/P Room platform is explicitly designed to provide designers from the Middle East and North Africa with a vehicle to be discovered and to sell beyond the region—part of Khouri’s broader mission to export ideas from the UAE rather than merely import them. He credits the country with giving him “the freedom to be an entrepreneur,” having lived there for 35 years.

Khouri’s projects are rooted in personal curation as well as capital. He gutted and rebuilt a mansion at Jumeirah Bay within the Bulgari Residences as a laboratory for his aesthetic: vintage Brazilian furniture alongside contemporary art, arranged according to his edit. He is also developing the Elie Khouri Art Foundation in the UAE to transform two decades of collecting into a public-facing institution.

Context and background

• Career milestones: born in Beirut in 1964; early entrepreneur during the Lebanese civil war; bachelor and master degrees from the American University of Beirut; joined BBDO in 1988; founder and managing director of OMD MENA in 2001; CEO, Omnicom Media MENA in 2006; founded Vivium in 2017.
• Recent ventures: Luura (hospitality), Atelio (design group), A/P Room (design platform), partnership with Sotheby’s International Realty, and the forthcoming Elie Khouri Art Foundation.
• Collection: more than 300 artists represented in Khouri’s private collection under development for public access.

Khouri acknowledges he no longer needs to work, but insists motivation is not financial. "The question is not about making money," he says. "The question is about making a difference. I will not stop because I always want to create something and make it amazing." Those remarks frame his next moves: Luura is already looking beyond Greece to Italy and Spain, with a second Paros property and an Athens outpost in development, while Atelio and A/P Room aim to amplify regional designers internationally.