Founders of Death & Co and The Ramble Hotel debut new hospitality brand, Midnight Auteur, and its inaugural hotel in Savannah

03.04.2024 - 12:20 / traveldailynews.com / Theodore Koumelis

The cocktail-centric hospitality company, Midnight Auteur, unveils its first boutique hotel in the Hostess City of the South, opening early 2025 

SAVANNAH, GA – Midnight Auteur, a new vertically integrated hospitality company created by the founders of the renowned Death & Co brand and the celebrated Ramble Hotel in Denver, unveiled a first look at their forthcoming luxury boutique hotel, Municipal Grand, scheduled to open in Savannah’s North Historic District neighborhood in early 2025. Municipal Grand marks Midnight Auteur’s first official venture in the luxury boutique hotel space.

Midnight Auteur was born from the successful partnership between The Ramble Hotel and Death & Co, which began almost six years ago when the storied bar opened its second location in the lobby of The Ramble Hotel. With a shared intention among founders to build and operate hotels that immerse guests fully and seamlessly between social spaces and retreat – offering a setting fit for both celebration and sanctuary – the new hospitality company was created. The cocktail anchored experience at The Ramble Hotel, one in which the lobby is interchangeable with the bar, resulted in numerous accolades and awards, including Esquire’s Best Bars in America in 2019, North America’s 50 Best Bars in 2022 and named among Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Hotel awards.

“We hold a deep, and slightly obsessive, reverence for the all-day lobby bar, which is really the foundation of Midnight Auteur,” said Ryan Diggins, partner and CEO at Midnight Auteur. “We love the idea of immersing our team and our guests in a vibrant, celebratory experience that only a hotel lobby bar can appropriately capture. The community created and hospitality shared over a coffee or cocktail is something we’re passionate about, and look forward to bringing to Savannah.’’

Led by Co-founders Ryan Diggins, David Kaplan, and Alex Day, who have more than four decades of combined hospitality experience in respective areas of expertise, Midnight Auteur deepens its impact within the hospitality industry through a vertically integrated approach that includes the ownership, development, and operation of cocktail-anchored boutique hotels.

“Our collaboration in Denver has been incredibly rewarding, and since opening The Ramble Hotel, we’ve spent years evolving the ideas started within its walls,” said David Kaplan, partner at Midnight Auteur. “We were very lucky to find this property in Savannah, which will enable us to bring our vision to life in one of our favorite cities in the world. While it may be a lofty ambition, we hope to create a space that can serve as Savannah’s living room.”

Municipal Grand, lobby, rendering (Photo: AAmp Studio).

Located at the vibrant corner of