There's no doubt about it: the world's leading hotels are increasingly turning their attention to top-of-the-range establishments, seeking to attract them into their fold through their collections, which include some of the latest creations. Emblems at Accor or Vignette at IHG. However, despite this new competition, the Preferred Hotels groupa long-established player in this niche, is demonstrating that an undiminished ability to attract new members.
Its network, which today includes more than 650 establishments worldwide, will be expanded in 2022 with the addition of new members, including nine projects have already been presented. These establishments are united by their top-of-the-range offering, but in different styles, ranging from a designer version of a mountain chalet in the United States - the Pendry Park City, which opens this month - to a paradise resort such as the TOA Hotel & Spa in Zanzibar, via a historic villa overlooking Lake Como, the Villa Passalacqua, whose walls once welcomed Napoleon and Winston Churchill.
But alongside these luxurious leisure hotels, Preferred Hotels will also be offering something much more urban. From September 2022, business travellers visiting Oslo will be able to stay in the Sommerro, a national monument transformed into a 231-room design hotel. This heritage preservation project, considered to be one of the largest ever undertaken in Norway, will see the metamorphosis of the former headquarters of the Oslo Lysverker electricity company. Located in the Frogner district, this 1930s Art Deco building has all the makings of becoming a major landmark. one of the trendiest spots in the Norwegian capital with its four restaurants and three bars, or its swimming pool-sauna-restaurant complex open all year round on the roof terrace. A first in Oslo. But the Sommerro also intends to make a name for itself in the MICE market, with meeting and event spaces for up to 150 people and a 200-seat theatre.
In the same spirit of heritage revisited, but this time in New York, Preferred Hotels will welcome a hotel in the winter of 2022 within the walls of what used to be the city's first stock exchange in 1729the Tontine Building. Appropriately named The Wall Street Hotel, the residential-style establishment will have 180 rooms and suites, a gourmet restaurant run by a Michelin-starred chef and a rooftop lounge. Also in the United States, another future member of Preferred, owned by the Pendry luxury group, is part of the revitalising Washington's port district. Located in The Wharf, Pendry Washington D.C., a 131-room design hotel, is due to open in the autumn. In addition to three bar and restaurant concepts, it will offer 450 square metres of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
The Group is also expanding in Asia, with the opening next summer of the Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel in Hong Kong. Until now, the Fullerton Hotels group had made its name in Singapore and Sydney thanks to its luxury hotels, both integrated into the historic walls of the former central post offices of these cities. In Hong Kong, it is a much more contemporary setting that the Fullerton group is preparing, but also an establishment positioned as an urban resort.
Located in the Southside district, this eco-responsible beach resort will have 425 rooms and suites overlooking the China Sea, four restaurants, a spa and outdoor pools. But its offer is also aimed at MICE events with indoor and outdoor spaces for meetings and events, including a 500 square metre ballroom.
In Europe, Preferred will offer next summer its first address in Berlinsly Berlin, in the Friedrichshain district, with a hotel in keeping with the tone of this trendy location. Blending nature and urban culture, the future sly Berlin will be housed in four renovated buildings, linked by open courtyards and a 220 square metre greenhouse that will house the restaurant and bar. In addition to 150 rooms and suites, some with private balconies, sly Berlin will feature a large rooftop sauna overlooking the German capital.
