Does the covid period, and all the frustrations it may have generated in terms of fine journeys, play a part in the current momentum in the luxury hotel sector ? From the looks of things, there's every reason to believe so. " More than ever, our customers are prioritising more meaningful journeys and time spent with loved ones, seeking experiences that reflect their personal values and enhance their overall quality of life.said Tina Edmundson, Global Head of Brands and Marketing at Marriott International. Our collective mindset has changed, moving away from the perception of travel as a luxury product towards an activity that is vital to our general well-being." .
According to Javier Águila, President of Hyatt's Europe, Africa and Middle East region, " global luxury travel market experiences remarkable growth as recovery continues" . This growth comes just at the right time for this American group, which expects to increase its sales by 30 % its luxury portfolio in the region by 2025. However, Hyatt is far from alone in its desire to strengthen its offersince Meliá Hotel also intends to grow by 40 % over the next three years, with a third of its planned openings worldwide between 2023 and 2026 in the luxury segment.
And there are countless other examples of multi-brand groups making their mark in this segment in the face of pure players as Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula or Rosewood. Whether it's the Radisson group, which now has a well-established brand with its Radisson Collection, or Accor which, since the middle of the last decade, has ticked the 'luxury' box at the top of its list of priorities.
Takeover of prestigious brands such as Raffles and Fairmontpartnerships with Banyan Tree resorts and the luxury all-inclusive specialist Rixosbrand relaunch Orient Express on land and on rail, extending luxury lifestyle with SLS, Delano and SO/: all mixed together, the french group has risen to the top of the luxury hotel world by number of establishments. After Paris and the trendy SO/ Paris or Doha with a luxurious combo Raffles-Fairmont in the emblematic Katara Towers, other developments will further enhance its global offering, including the iconic Raffles at the OWO in London, the SO/Uptown Dubai and the Sofitel Shanghai North Bund.
With almost 300 hotels and 85,000 rooms in this segment, the French group is now virtually on a par with IHG's luxury offering, ahead of Hyatt and even more so Hilton, whose portfolio barely exceeds 30,000 rooms. And yet, Hilton has been working hard to catch up for some time now. "After a year of phenomenal growth in 2022, including the expansion of Conrad Hotels in the Americas, we are excited to continue the momentum in 2023 with the opening of the first Waldorf Astoria in Cairo, our first LXR property in Bali and the development of a new Conrad in Orlando, Florida."explains Dino Michael, senior vice-president in charge of the American group's luxury brands.
While the Conrad brand is also expected to open in Rabat, Shenzhen and Singapore in 2023, Waldorf Astoria will accelerate its breakthrough in the coming years by adding several major cities to its roster, including Tangiers, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Osaka. But above all, there are two new jewels on the horizon for 2025: the return to the game of its original hotel, the legendary Waldorf Astoria in New YorkAfter several years of refurbishment, this London hotel has a unique location, at the heart of Admiralty Arch, a monument to British history just opposite Buckingham Palace.
Whether Hilton, Accor, IHG or Hyatt, all these groups are still a long way from Marriott, the undisputed world leader with a luxury portfolio of almost 500 establishments. With all its brands - Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, WLuxury Collection, EDITION, JW Marriott and Bulgari Hotels -The American hotelier has almost all the offerings of Accor and IHG on its books, and has no intention of stopping there, with 35 openings planned for next year.
Business travellers will find new, exclusive hotels, often with prestigious event spaces, in many of the world's major cities. The Ritz-Carlton has announced new hotels in Melbourne, the St. Regis in Chicago, Belgrade and Riyadh, while JW Marriott will be offering new establishments in Berlin, Dallas, Madrid and Xi'an. Marriott's luxury and lifestyle offering will be enhanced by W Hotels in Prague, Budapest, Edinburgh, Sydney and Milan, while EDITION, developed in partnership with lifestyle hotel pioneer Ian Schrager, will add hotels in Rome, Tokyo, Singapore and Doha.
Classic and elegant luxury, chic but relaxed luxury, seaside or urban luxury: the a proliferation of brands with differentiated positioning is part of the current proliferation of new exclusive hotels. Over the last decade, for example, the IHG group has acquired a number of brands - Six Senses, Regent and Kimpton - which have fuelled its current expansion, adding to the existing number of exclusive hotels. Vignette CollectionA new brand created to welcome independent establishments with character.
The British group is pulling out all the stops at its disposal to consolidate its leadership. Six Senses, for example, opened a hotel in the heart of Rome at the end of last summer, while Kimpton moved to Majorca. This year, the Carlton in Cannes will move from InterContinental to Regent Hotels, symbolising the brand's new dynamic.
At the same time, the Vignette Collection, which aims to reach the 100-hotel mark in less than a decade, is gradually taking off. Already present in Europe in Vienna and the Algarve in Portugal, the brand has announced that it will be opening in Lisbon next year with the arrival in its fold of the Convent Square Hotel, a 121-room establishment that revisits a former convent from the XIIIe century in the heart of the Baixa district. A setting imbued with spirituality that will carry the voice of the Vignette Collection, if not for centuries, then at least for years to come.
Still in this lively district of the Portuguese capital, but this time in a much more contemporary style, an Andaz, by Hyatt, is expected in 2024 with a trendy hotel with a rooftop, one of today's must-haves. With its " impressive pipeline of luxury properties" According to Javier Águila, Hyatt is also a " leader in luxury hospitality" . In this context, while Andaz will be heading to Doha next year, in the West Bay business district, several new Park Hyatts will also be opening, in 2023 in Marrakech and JohannesburgIn 2024, the brand will return to London with a 203-room hotel on the banks of the Thames, in the Nine Elms district.
But alongside these historic brands, Hyatt's expansion in Europe is also supported by a new luxury and lifestyle brandThompson Hotels. After entering the European market this year in MadridIt is now expected to arrive in Vienna at the end of 2024, as part of an ambitious project. In other words, a hotel integrated into the new high-end KaDeWe department stores' currently under construction in the Austrian capital. At the same time, another Hyatt brand, the Unbound Collection, will continue its development. Already including the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz and the Martinez in Cannes, it will welcome the following hotels in mid-2023 one of the very first establishments in the Finnish capitalthe Grand Hansa Helsinki. Also on the programme is a 41-room boutique hotel in the Swiss Alps, at Crans-Montana.
Luxury hotels know how to vary their pleasures to meet the diverse expectations of their customers. " In today's market, luxury and exclusivity can no longer be defined from a single point of view, which is why our brands are seeking to approach the world of luxury in different ways"says Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Meliá Hotels International. The group's upcoming hotels in 2023 include an exclusive Melia Collection lodge in Tanzania's Ngorongoro, two Paradisus all-inclusive resorts in the Canary Islands and a Gran Meliá with 99 private villas in Nha Trang, Vietnam. As for its lifestyle-oriented ME brand, it will continue its urban expansion next year in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as in Malta, at St Julians, in a building designed by the firm of the late Zaha Hadid. All this before heading for Lisbon in spring 2024, with a hotel perched near Eduardo VII Park.
The Portuguese capital, with the future ME by Melia, the Vignette Collection and, from IHG, a Six Senses revisiting two 17th-century palaces by 2025.e Since its foundation in the 19th century, the city has become one of Europe's most attractive destinations for luxury hotels. With Milan, no doubt. Italy's main economic metropolis is preparing to see a blossoming of top-of-the-range establishments revisiting its heritage. In 2025, for example, a Rosewood hotel will occupy the walls of the Palazzo della Banca Commerciale, built in the 19th century to house the Banca Commerciale.e In 2024, Marriott's lifestyle brand W will move into a 1920s building in the heart of the fashionable Golden Quadrilateral.
Starting this year, business travellers will be able to discover two new prestigious addresses with a Gran Meliá housed in one of the city's most emblematic Renaissance buildings, the Palazzo Cordusio. For its part, the Radisson Collection, having revamped the hotel as a the former headquarters of the Touring Club Italianobuilt in 1914, will be adding a second address in the Italian business metropolis later this year. Located close to the new Santa Sofia M4 metro station, in the Corso Italia district in the centre of Milan, the Radisson Collection Santa Sofia Milan will also be the result of the metamorphosis of a historic site, in this case the former headquarters of Allianz Italia.
Since its debut in 2018, the Radisson Group's spearhead in the luxury segment continues to expand its offering in the EMEA region. By the end of the year, it will have 32 hotels in 19 countries, with seven openings in 2022 alone, in BerlinThe Radisson Collection will also have hotels in Bilbao, Tirana, Tallinn and Pula in Croatia, as well as Istanbul and Riyadh. Other hotels joining the Radisson Collection in 2023 include the Radisson Collection Royal Astorija in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Radisson Collection Basilica in Budapest, Hungary, opposite Saint Stephen's Basilica. Travellers will also be able to discover the brand in France, in Old LyonWith the completion of the modernisation of a renowned boutique hotel, the Cour des Loges. Medieval architecture, Michelin-starred cuisine and intimate comfort: a winning combination.
