Skift Travel News Blog

‘Dinner’ by Heston Blumenthal, which recently opened in Dubai at Atlantis The Royal, offers guests a “relaxed” dining experience driven by spectacle and storytelling. As consumer expectations rise, chefs are constantly upping the ante for not just their cuisine, but also the dining experience in order to stand out to guests.

The menu explores “the tastes and flavors of Britain dating back as far as the 13th century, from the farmers’ table to the royal courts of England,” according to the restaurant. Similar to the elaborate feasts of middle ages in Britain, Blumenthal uses the element of surprise to delight and entertain guests.

As guests enter, a giant pineapple rotisserie ‘escapement’ (clock) greets diners and features an intricate spit pulley system that also turns the roasting fruit. It was based on a 16th century clockwork design used for the British Royal Court. “Pineapples, historically, were unbelievably expensive, they were seen as unbelievable luxury… and so ours will signify adventure, exploration and discovery,” Blumenthal notes.

Dinner’s Meat Fruit is an example of edible history that employs surprise to turn a traditional medieval dish from the 1500’s called Pome Dorres, or “apples of gold,” into contemporary cuisine. One of the Blumenthal’s most iconic dishes, it is essentially chicken liver parfait disguised as a mandarin, and requires three cooks to work five hours every day to construct. No one ever said fine-dining was easy.

The restaurant has already received a Michelin Star “Special Award”, which was also bestowed to two other restaurants at Dubai’s Atlantis The Royal.

At the Skift IDEA Awards, we are looking for the projects defining the future of hotels and the guest experience, including in-person experiences and activations that utilize a physical environment to impact an end user. 

If you have an exciting project to share, head over to the Skift IDEA Awards and submit your entry today.

As the world of fashion paid homage to the life and legacy of polarizing fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld at the 2023 Met Gala and its accompanying exhibition, it appears that Lagerfeld’s influence will long continue with The Karl Lagerfeld Macau scheduled to open in the summer of 2023.

Designed in collaboration with Lagerfeld, the five-star hotel forms part of The Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau on China’s Southern Coast, and according to the website is the only hotel that has been entirely designed and conceived by the late fashion legend.

The designated tower, which embodies Lagerfeld’s vision is owned and operated by SJM Resorts and boasts 271 rooms and suites. The hotel also features a book lounge inspired by Lagerfeld’s Parisian home library, and The Mesa restaurant, headed up by award-winning chef José Avillez.

This post is a part of Skift Ideas, which highlights exciting new creative projects, campaigns, designs, and future-making ideas across the travel industry. Skift will also feature a number of leading projects across travel at our 5th annual Skift IDEA Awards, which has become the travel industry’s most coveted achievement for excellence in innovation, design, experience, and now, automation.

Learn more at: https://live.skift.com/skift-idea-awards-2023/

Mondrian Singapore Duxton, a 302-room luxury hotel, has seen its opening delayed by a couple of months. The Straits Times has a fun profile by Louisa Lim of all the frenzy behind-the-scenes in how the joint venture by hotel group Accor and lifestyle brand builder Ennismore aims to get the five-star hotel just right.

An interview with Robert Hauck, the hotel’s general manager, explains how the brand — founded in 1996 by Ian Schrager and featured in the TV series Entourage and songs by rapper 50 Cent — needed to be customized for the local market, such as by obtaining art from Singaporean artists like illustrator Andre Wee.

To make the property a local hit, the manager has hired celebrated talents to lead the house restaurants Christina’s and Canyon Club. These include the 39-year-old Jacquelyn Yvonne Chan, a former Olympian for Malaysia, and the 59-year-old Lim Tow Seng, a tattoed ex-convict whose life has been documented on TV. A fun detail:

“Mr Hauck had vowed to track down “Ah Seng” after spotting him on German television. It took him three months to locate the 59-year-old at his workplace, a bak kut teh shop, and offer him a job.”
He reminisces about the moment: “Ah Seng was very shy and very reluctant. I asked why and he said, ‘I’m afraid… You know, I’m afraid people will look down on me.'”
Today, Ah Seng is the manager for Bistro 126, the hotel’s staff restaurant, and a walking poster child for Mondrian Singapore. “He practically ignited the whole campaign for us,” says Mr Hauck.

— Louisa Lim, for The Straits Times

The article echos themes about how lifestyle and luxury hotels need to emphasize locally-relevant and distinctive offerings and create experiences to talk about that were discussed in this video by Ennismore Founder Sharan Pasricha at Skift Global Forum 2022.

Subscribers can read the Straits Times article on Mondrian Singapore Duxton here.

In full-year 2022, the Loews Hotels chain of 25 luxury properties generated $345 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — a measure of profit — on revenue of $721 million, its parent company reported on Monday.

The hotel unit’s adjusted earnings were roughly 51 percent higher than the pre-pandemic 2019 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $227 million.

CORRECTION: This post originally misstated Loews Hotels’ adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for 2022 and its relationship to the 2019 figure.

Using a different metric, Loews Hotels’ performance was even more impressive. In full-year 2022, the chain generated $161 million in net income compared to a loss of $28 million in 2019.

For the year, Loews Corp., a New York City-based conglomerate that runs insurance, energy, and hotel business units, generated $1 billion in net income from $14 billion in revenue.

Loews Hotels’ results significantly improved due to higher occupancy of 79 percent and average daily room rates of $257, as travel rebounded from the impacts of the pandemic, the company said.

Here are the 2022 figures:

In 2019, the brand was getting an average nightly rate of $288 and had 84.6 percent occupancy across its system.

In recent months, higher hotel revenues were partially offset by increased operating expenses due to the higher demand levels and resumption of additional pre-pandemic services.

On January 1 Alex Tisch became the president and CEO of Loews Hotels — succeeding his cousin once removed Jon Tisch, who became executive chairman and remains co-chairman of the board. Alex, a fourth-generation family member, joined Loews Hotels in 2017 and was named its president in September 2020.

Jumeirah Group said on Monday it had bought the Le Richemond, a five-star hotel on Lake Geneva. The move signaled that the luxury hospitality company based in the United Arab Emirates is focused on growing worldwide in key gateway cities.

Le Richemond is the fifth European property to be acquired by Jumeirah, which operates a 6,500-key portfolio of about 25 luxury properties across the globe.

“As the gateway to the mountains of Europe, Geneva is strategically significant for us as we look to diversify our portfolio in major cities with both summer and winter resort destinations,” said Katerina Giannouka, the recently appointed CEO of Jumeirah Group.

Giannouka said she plans to hire architects and designers to renovate Le Richemond — pushing it further upscale and turning it into an “ultra-luxury” hotel by 2025.

Marriott International revealed on Monday its full-year totals for hotel development in 2022. The most notable figures highlighted a further push by the world’s largest hotelier into the luxury and extended-stay segments.

The operator of brands such as Ritz Carlton, Bvlgari Hotels, W, and Edition last year signed deals to develop 42 luxury hotels — a company record — adding to its nearly 500 open luxury properties. These luxury hotels represent nearly 8,000 rooms.

Growth in Extended Stay

Marriott also had continued momentum at the lower end of the spectrum in 2022, which represents most of the nearly 8,300 properties it had open worldwide as of late December.

In 2022, the company’s extended stay brands — Residence Inn by Marriott, Element by Westin, and TownePlace Suites by Marriott brands — made up a record 30 percent of the company’s signings.

Interest in extended stay from developers is partly driven by consumers seeking more space, “driven by the blending of work and leisure trips,” Marriott executives said.

“The select service and extended stay segments continue to generate significant growth for the company, particularly in the U.S. and Canada,” said Noah Silverman, global development officer, U.S. & Canada, at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles.

In 2023, the company will particularly look at “underserved secondary and tertiary markets” for additional extended-stay growth, Silverman said.

Overall, last year was a robust year for Marriott’s pipeline expansion. It signed 726 management and franchise agreements, representing nearly 108,000 rooms. About 20 percent of these deals were conversions rather than new development.

Marriott joins other hotel companies in having a backlog of getting signed hotels built open. Last year, the company only added 394 properties, representing roughly 65,000 rooms, growing its worldwide network by 4.4 percent. But given the enormous size of its pipeline, that rollout could’ve been faster if key inputs for construction and financing hadn’t been disrupted by labor dislocations and rising interest rates.

For more context, see how the great merging between people’s work and personal lives has led Blended Travel to Come of Age, one of Skift’s Megatrends for 2023.

For context on the consumer dynamic driving the boom in luxury, see Skift’s 2023 Megatrend “A New Super Luxury Goes a Step Further.”

Entrepreneur Richard Branson and Virgin Group announced a reorganization of their hotel brands on Thursday. Virgin Group, which owns a half-dozen luxury Virgin Hotels, will take control of Branson’s private collection of hotels, retreats, and islands (including Branson’s own much-hyped Necker Island), marketed as Virgin Limited Edition.

Both brands will now fall under Virgin Group’s new parent brand, Virgin Hotels Collection. James Bermingham, current CEO of Virgin Hotels will become CEO of Virgin Hotels Collection on April 1, leading all the brands. Jon Brown, CEO of Virgin Limited Edition, will step down in March.

This year Virgin Group plans to open a Virgin Hotels property in New York, followed by one in Glasgow, bringing the number of Virgin Hotels to eight. It will also open an ultra-luxury property, Son Bunyola Hotel, in Mallorca, under the Virgin Limited Edition brand.

The company’s pipeline for future years includes Virgin Residences Miami and Virgin Hotels Denver, both in 2025.