Sir Richard Branson answers a question from Susan Lennon during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego. Photo by Andréa Cimini.

Sir Richard Branson offered only a few more details on the launch of his latest brand, Virgin Hotels, but the engaging entrepreneur captivated approximately 2,000 attendees during the keynote address Tuesday at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego.

Branson hobbled and was helped to the stage by four “lovely ladies”—flight attendants from Virgin America—after recently injuring his knee while skiing, he said. Seated, Branson then spent 40 minutes answering questions from local San Diego news anchor Susan Lennon and a handful from the audience of hotel industry professionals. The topics ranged from his new hotel brand to his plans for space travel.

On the new hotel brand, he said the first property wouldn’t open for two years, which was an update to the news from the launch at September’s Lodging Conference when Raul Leal, the brand’s new chief operating officer and president, said the first would open in 12 to 18 months. Branson offered little more insight on potential locations, saying that Washington D.C. was a prime target and the company had some sites it was considering.

Photo by Andréa Cimini

He did say one of the first locations of the new four-star lifestyle brand would not be in the targeted gateway cities, but in the mountains of New Mexico, close to the Spaceport the state and his Virgin Galactic company are in the process of building. Each property would not have a Virgin stamp on it, he said, but instead be unique, the brand bonded by the experience offered and quality of service.

Branson explained the Virgin brand was “perfectly suited” for this latest launch with a captive audience. The hotels would be fun, entertaining for the guests, who could “order breakfast at three in the morning if they want,” and watch sexy movies, a clear tweak of Marriott’s recent news about removing adult content from in-room programming.

Branson acknowledged many other celebrities had “fallen flat” in the hotel industry, but he wasn’t afraid of failing. “Screw it, let’s do it,” he said, repeating his famed mantra.

“I think why Virgin has been successful is we have fantastic teams who believe in the company,” Branson said. “People are what matters.”

He also being able to offer the perk of space travel to loyal guests was something that might help. That’s the idea of Virgin Galactic, which has already sold almost 400 tickets, at $200,000 apiece, to travel into space.

“The reason I want to go: the Earth is tiny and space is infinitesimal,” he explained. “To experience things only a few people have. I love pushing barriers.”