Luxury, tropical vegetation galore, art and design, exclusive event spaces: Rosewood, owner of the Crillon in Paris, marks its arrival in São Paulo in style. The luxury brand has set up shop in the heart of Brazil's leading business metropolisjust off Avenida Paulista. And yet the complex that houses it stands in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city. The Cidade Matarazzo is an urban oasis with a strong commitment to sustainable development - the project claims to be one of the most ecological in Brazil - and includes buildings from the early 20th century that have been transformed into private residences, top-of-the-range shops and entertainment venues. Among these, a former chapel and the former Matarazzo maternity hospital, one of the main maternity hospitals in the city of Paulista, add to the hotel's chic.
Tropical elegance and luxury
A number of personalities have been involved in the birth of Rosewood Sao Paulo, including entrepreneur Alexandre Allard for the real estate project, but above all two world-renowned French stars: Jean Nouvel for the design of the vertical garden tower that houses some of the bedrooms and flanks the historic buildings, and Philippe Starck 57 Brazilian artists and craftsmen - including Caligrapixo, Vik Muniz and Virgilio Neto - worked under his direction to create a permanent art collection of 450 works; a true museum of contemporary art celebrating the country's natural beauty, its flora and fauna, but also its cultural and historical wealth. " It was a real honour to help bring to life such a unique hotel project in one of the world's most dynamic cities.said the hotel's general manager, Edouard Grosmangin. The team behind the Rosewood São Paulo has spent a decade on this project to ensure that it honours and celebrates the city's heritage while breathing new life into the destination."
Residents of the city will be able to enjoy six lively dining venues, combining gastronomic experiences, jazzy lounges and relaxation with bars and restaurants on the edge of a lake. swimming pool bathed in greenery. This will be complemented later this year by a new wellness concept called Asaya. As for VIP business travellers, they will be able to enjoy the comfort and elegance of its 160 rooms and suites of the hotel. Located in the heart of the business metropolis, the Rosewood São Paulo also caters for corporate events with a vast meeting space 2,045 m2, including an 800 m2 ballroom and two modular meeting rooms for up to 40 people. There is also a pavilion dedicated to events, with a foyer and two meeting rooms overlooking a garden that can host outdoor cocktail parties for up to 400 people. To complete the offer, the establishment also lends its historic cinema and chapel for events of between 100 and 200 people.
Rosewood steps up its international expansion
Rosewood's arrival in South America continues the expansion of this brand, which was born in the United States with its first hotel in Dallas in 1979, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, but which has since grown to become one of the world's leading hotels. a global reach since its takeover in 2011 by the Hong Kong-based New World Hospitality group. Renamed Rosewood Hotel, this group began by expanding the footprint of its luxury brand in Asia with, from 2014, openings in Beijing, Guangzhou, Sanya and Hong Kong in China, and others in Bangkok, Phuket, Phnom Penh and Luang Prabang.
And there's more to come in Asia, with resorts in Hermana Mayor in the Philippines in 2023, Hoi An in Vietnam and the Okinawa archipelago in Japan in 2024, with an ultra-premium retreat comprising 55 beachfront villas. In addition to these leisure developments, the Group also plans to set up operations in in the business districts of major Chinese cities with openings planned for Ningbo in 2023, Shenzhen in 2025, Chendgu and Hangzhou in 2026, Shanghai in 2028 and Chongqing in 2030.
The group, which now has around thirty hotels around the world, is not only flourishing in its adopted home of Asia and North America. Since acquiring the Parisian palace Le Crillon in 2017, Rosewood has gone from strength to strength. conquering the world's major cities. Last October, the Group did the same thing in Madrid as it had done in Paris when it took over one of the jewels in the local luxury hotel crown, the Villa Magna, following its renovation.
Its expansion in Europe will continue this year with the opening of a hotel in Vienna, in a building that was once the headquarters of the Erste Group bank. Located in the historic centre of the Austrian capital, on Petersplatz, the hotel will offer 99 rooms and suites. In 2023, it will be the turn ofAmsterdam, Munich and Rome to discover the brand, as well as a resort in Porto Cervo, Sardinia and an address in Venice.
Metamorphoses of historic buildings in Europe
While in Amsterdam, Rosewood will be housed in a 17th-century building, the former Palace of Justice, on the Prinsengracht, in Rome and Munich the brand will set up within the walls of former banks. These include the headquarters of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro on Via Veneto in the Italian capital, with three buildings dating from the early 20th century transformed into 157 rooms and suites, and the headquarters of the Bavarian State Bank in the German metropolis, as well as the adjacent Palais Neuhaus-Preysing, which has been transformed into a 132-room hotel, also with a seminar room for 400 people.
Finally, in 2024, the Asian hotelier will add a second address in London with the expected transformation of theformer American embassy designed in the 1960s by architect Eero Saarinen. Overlooking Grosvenor Square, in the Mayfair district, The Chancery Rosewood will offer 130 bedrooms and a vast meeting area featuring a ballroom for 700 people.
While in Europe, the Rosewood group is benefiting from the refurbishment of buildings steeped in history, it is the much newer things. So, in the run-up to the football World Cup in Qatar, the luxury brand will be setting up shop in the heart of DohaThis will be housed in two towers with facades inspired by the coral reef. Still in the Middle East, where Rosewood is already present in Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, a second address will be added in 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a hotel integrated into the Diriyah Gate complex, next to the UNESCO-listed site of At-Turaif.
As for the Americas-Caribbean zone, in addition to resorts in Saint Barthelemy, Antigua, Hawaii and the Riviera Nayarit region of Mexico, Rosewood will be offering three brand new business hotelsOne in Mexico City, in the Polanco district, another in Houston, in the Uptown district, and the last in 2026 in San Francisco, in the Transbay District.
