Romethe sole object of their assent. Some of the finest names in luxury and lifestyle hotels have all made a date to visit the Italian capital. The latest announcement, and not the least, is that Accor will be bringing to life an Orient Express project, mythical name operated in partnership with SNCF for the development of exclusive hotels, the first of which is due to open this year at Bangkok.
For the occasion, the brand will be giving a new lease of life to one of the city's historic landmarks, the Grand Hotel de la Minerve. "Le Minerve is not just a hotel a cornerstone of Italian hospitality. Continuing its history and its role is a mission that we hope to pursue."This is what Paolo Barletta, CEO of Arsenale Spa, the property management partner of the Billi family that currently operates the hotel, describes.
Next door to the Panthéon and housed in a 17th-century mansion, the establishment will close in 2022 for 20 months of renovation work. It is expected to reopen around Christmas 2023, once it has been refurbished in line with the Orient Express brand. "This hotel will be an extraordinary addition to the collection of prestigious hotels we are targeting."said Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor.
Last year, the French group presented the new face of the Sofitel Villa Borghese, redecorated by Jean-Philippe Nuel. Accor will continue its Roman dolce vita, not only with its luxury brands, but also with its new lifestyle division. A Mama Shelter is due to open next May near the Vatican City, with 217 rooms, a rooftop and a summer garden, plus a restaurant overseen by chef Jean Edern Hurstel.
Also in this segment, Ennismore, Accor's partner with a shared ambition to develop the world's leading lifestyle hotel businesswill be opening a new hotel next spring The Hoxton. Expected to open last year in the Salario district, close to the Villa Borghese, its opening was postponed due to covid. With 192 rooms, this tenth hotel of the brand revisits a building dating from the 70s by a contemporary venuewith a bar and restaurant, outdoor terrace and meeting areas featuring the l'Appartement meeting concept.
The Italian hotel industry, on the other hand, is often family-run and independent, a new wave of hotels sweeps through Rome. One of the pioneers of the upmarket, trendy trend, the W brand will be setting up in the second quarter near Via Condotti and its fashion boutiques. Spread over two adjacent nineteenth-century buildings, the hotel will offer 159 rooms and suites, a rooftop bar and a culinary offering by Michelin-starred chef Ciccio Sultano. In the same niche, a nhow, from the NH Hotels group, has also been announced, its setting revisiting the city's imperial history in an iconoclastic way with, as decorative elements, august colourful statues and a revamped Vespa as an antique chariot.
However, more than lifestyle, it's the luxury sector, which is preparing to hold a forum in the Italian capital with a host of new openings which, in addition to the Orient Express already mentioned, will join local glories. These include the Grand Hotel, launched in its day by Cesar Ritz and now under the St Regis banner, the Eden Hotel in the Dorchester Collection, the Hassler - a Leading Hotel - as well as the two palaces in the Rocco Forte Collection - the Hotel de Russie and the Hotel de la Ville - and the Waldorf-Astoria and its three-starred La Pergola restaurant.
In this already competitive environment, the future Bulgari hotelexpected next year, has the modest ambition of being "the most luxurious ever built in Rome" according to Jean-Christophe Babin, the jeweller's CEO. Facing two of Rome's most emblematic landmarks, the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of the Emperor Augustus, the venue - a modernist building dating from the 1930s - will be given a contemporary makeover by architects Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel.
Another of the city's historic buildings, the former headquarters of the Central Bank of Italyon Parliament Square is also being converted into a luxury hotel under the aegis of the Corinthia group in partnership with investor Rueben Brothers. " Our aim is to create the most beautiful luxury hotel in Rome" said Jamie Rueben.
There's no shortage of ambitions in Rome... They will be rubbing shoulders with others, such as those of the IHG group, which is preparing to open two establishments at the end of this year. Its Six Senses brand of luxury resorts will open in Rome one of its first urban hotels at the end of 2021 in Piazza San Marcello. For the occasion, it will take over the walls of an eighteenth-century baroque palace and add 95 rooms and suites, a spa and restaurant, an outdoor courtyard with garden and a roof terrace, as well as a terrace for events.
In addition to this leisure hotel, in the fourth quarter the British group will install its flagship brand InterContinental on today's Rome Ambasciatori Palace. Situated on the emblematic Via Veneto, this establishment, which at the beginning of the 20th century was the home of the ambassadors who stayed in Rome, before becoming the library of the American embassy and then a hotel some thirty years ago, will have 160 rooms and suites and will be crowned by a panoramic terrace.
