Hospitality: Established names in the making

Until the early 2000s, the luxury hotel industry in Sao Paulo kept a low profile. There was - and there still is - the prestigious Renaissance, inaugurated in 1997 and located in one of the city's most emblematic towers, the work of the famous Japanese-born Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake. A Renaissance which, with its 444 splendidly renovated rooms, dominates the city's urban and hotel landscape; but above all a Renaissance where contemporary Brazilian art is everywhere. On the 23rd floor, its superb high-altitude lounge is a real privilege, as it is only accessible to guests in club rooms, who will not have the opportunity to enjoy a caipirinha, very strong in cachaça, truly to die for.

The Emiliano, inaugurated in 2001, is credited with launching a new concept in Sao Paulo: the ultra-luxury boutique hotel. In the elegant Jardins district, this white building, decorated by the Campana brothers, offers 19 suites and 38 rooms, and was immediately included in the exclusive Leading Hotels of the World club. In 2005, it was the turn of the Fasano to open just a few streets away and also to be crowned with the prestigious Leading affiliation. Here, there is no intimidating lobby, but a bar where time is suspended in the grooves of the woodwork, the roughness of the leather, the softness of the Travertino marble and a Fasano style embodied by a symbol: a 1940s club armchair in honey-coloured leather.

Its 68 rooms quickly made a name for themselves in Sao Paulo. And with good reason: the Italian-born family, which has owned restaurants here since the early 20th century, is already a household name. So it was only natural that the heir to this dynasty, Rogério Fasano, made it a point of honour to put his stamp on the hotel offer in his home town. "I believe that in Brazil we still have a knowledge of the hospitality industry"explains Rogério Fasano, "a maître d' is a maître d', a barman a barman, not an aspiring actor or art student".

Rogério Fasano set himself a major challenge: to create some of the finest hotels in Latin America. Little by little, other Fasano hotels opened, starting in Rio, then Boa Vista and Punta del Este in Uruguay, before Belo Horizonte and Salvador. The leitmotif of all these hotels is a service that knows how to be considerate without being stuffy, a skilful blend of discretion and attention that can be felt perfectly in Rio, despite the radically different setting to that of Sao Paulo.

Facing Ipanema beach, the Fasano Rio, opened in 2007, was entirely designed by Philippe Starck. This gives the whole place a chic phlegm, with doors always open, light curtains fluttering in the sea breeze and Brazilian modernist furniture. But it's the rooftop that makes the hotel truly exceptional, with its swimming pool that looks like it overflows onto the sea, even though it's on the other side of the street.

LEGENDARY BEACH

A few kilometres further on is the Copacabana Palace, owned by the Belmond Group, formerly known as the Orient-Express. With its imposing, immaculate façade and majestic staircase, it is obviously "the" palace of Rio, such a symbol for the Cariocas that they are the first to stay there, dine or simply have a drink around the gigantic Art Deco swimming pool. Opened in 1923 in front of Copacabana beach, then occupied by fishermen's houses, it was for a time the only building to look out over the Atlantic. Completely refurbished and reopened in 2012, it now offers 241 rooms with old-fashioned, chic luxury, even for those located in the annex dating from the 1940s. To complete its offer, the hotel is home to one of the city's new stars, the Asian restaurant Mee, which was recently awarded South America's very first Michelin star.

The wonderfully located Hotel Pestana Atlantica sits just as proudly in front of this legendary beach, offering spectacular views from its panoramic rooftop pool. Of course, the recently refurbished lobby and rooms are not as stylish as their glorious neighbour, but it wouldn't take much to turn this 103-room, 113-suite hotel into a true palace.

LIMITED MOVEMENT

These blue chips are not about to be shaken from their foundations. Although many hotels have opened in anticipation of the 2014 football World Cup, Brazil remains a difficult market to conquer. Until the early 2010s, overcapacity limited new developments, with hoteliers concentrating on acquiring and converting existing establishments to increase their presence in the country. However, few international groups do not have major ambitions in Brazil's leading economic metropolises. On the one hand, to satisfy the ever-increasing number of business travellers and, on the other, to showcase their brands to the wealthy local clientele.

In Sao Paulo, the luxury hotel sector will see the opening of three new palaces. In 2017, Four Seasons will set up near the Parque da Cidade, while the Oetker Collection, which owns the Parisian palace Bristol, will open the Palacio Tangara near the lush gardens designed by architect Burle Marx. For its part, Rosewood, the owner of the Crillon, is preparing to give a second birth in 2018 to a historic building in the city centre - a former maternity hospital dating from 1904 - thanks to the combined talents of Philippe Starck and Jean Nouvel.

In Rio, although the Emiliano hotel will open its doors this year opposite Copacabana beach, it is above all the Barra da Tijuca area that is getting ready for the Olympics. Already in the starting blocks, a Grand Hyatt opened its doors in March. An AC by Marriott, a Pestana and a luxury hotel from the Trump Collection are expected to open in the summer. It is also in this district, just a five-minute walk from the main Olympic site, that a new Hilton was inaugurated in April 2015. Its conception and design have been designed to protect the environment. In the large lobby as in the rooms, noble materials such as onyx and wood are used with great gentleness. Of course, Rio's tourist attractions are a little far away. But there is a regular shuttle service to a beautiful nearby beach. So, for the Olympic Games, or for business meetings with the local oil companies, you can be sure, absolutely sure, that you've chosen the perfect base...