"Haute-tels" - designer hotels
Filed under: Haute Home, Celebrities with Style
I'm calling them "haute-tels" because they are luxury resort hotels that are being built by fashion designers. Back in 2004, when Bulgari teamed up with Marriott/Ritz Carlton, there was no connection between fashion and travel, except for designers and models shacking up in fancy hotels on their glamorous globe-trots. But today, everyone from Betsey Johnson to Vera Wang is getting into the hotel and hospitality world. However, according to Forbes, industry analysts are skeptical because not only is the hospitality industry notoriously difficult (as if fashion isn't -- pshaw!), but diluting a specialty luxury brand is risky. Designers, though seem to want exactly that -- expanding their specialty reputation in shoes or leather or ballgowns into a "lifestyle brand."
Here are Forbes' 10 picks for designer hotels:
- Anouska Hempel has four hotels around the globe: Blakes London, Blakes Amsterdam, The Hempel (London) and Warapuru (Brazil). www.anouskahempeldesign.com
- Betsey Johnson's Betseyville is on the Pacific coast of Mexico. www.betseyville.com
- Bulgari Hotels and Resorts are currently in Milan and Bali, with more to open. www.bulgarihotels.com
- Casual footwear maker Camper has a hotel in Barcelona, Spain near their headquarters. www.camper.es
- Salvatore Ferregamo has teamed up with luxury hotelier Lungarno Hotels, with the newest property opened above a Ferragamo boutique in Rome. www.lungarnohotels.com
- In the playground for billionaires, Dubai developer EMAAR has invested $1 billion in Giorgio Armani's Armani Hotels, the first of which will open in Dubai in 2008. www.emaar.com
- Karl Lagerfeld has re-done a German castle into the Schlosshotel in Grunewald. www.schlosshotelberlin.com
- K Club in Barbuda, West Indies is the property of Mariuccia Mandelli, the designer behind Krizia. www.kclubbarbuda.com
- Though she doesn't own the entire hotel, Vera Wang has designed a suite in the Halekulani Resort on Oahu. www.halekulani.com
- Donatella Versace has built the palatial Palazzo Versace in Australia. www.palazzoversace.com.au.
