Flying high

The premise of the International Luxury Travel Market (iltm) is simple: to work out where the well-heeled want to go over the next 12 months. Thousands of travel agents descend on the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes for the industry’s flagship trade show every December, plotting out client itineraries with major hospitality groups. This year there is near-unanimous agreement about the destination of choice. “Japan has been on steroids,” says Rainer Stampfer, the president of global operations for hotels and resorts at Four Seasons. “And it will do very well again in 2025.” He was bullish about the outlook for South America too, with Four Seasons opening locations in Belize and Cartagena, Colombia, next year. “I was just in Buenos Aires and there’s an incredible buzz,” says Stampfer.

On three vast floors, exhibitors range from behemoths of luxury travel such as Rosewood or ihg to cruise operators trying to tempt a new generation to sea. Aman’s presence, with its glowing box of shoji screens, spotlights a 2025 opening in Baja, Mexico. Finland’s representation shows originality, announcing a forthcoming modernist-inspired hideaway, Kotona Manor, in the Finnish Lakeland. The Gulf States impress: Saudi Arabia’s genial men in thobes touted undersea marvels and historic oasis cities; Dubai highlights the city’s dining and cultural scenes. monocle also bumps into a delegation from Sharjah, the more bookish (and alcohol-free) emirate, which is mulling whether to plant a flag at iltm next year. It’s currently putting the finishing touches on a crop of quaint new hotels.

Most of all, there is optimism at iltm. Cristiano Rinaldi, the president of the Singapore-based Capella Hotel Group, is about to open a property in Taipei, undeterred by looming threats to Taiwanese democracy. With openings from Kyoto to Macau over the next year, he says that he is also confident that travel remains a priority even as high-end retail spending in Asia slows. “There doesn’t seem to be a decline in purchasing luxury experiences,” says Rinaldi. — L

The cruise-ship pioneer
Anna Nash, president, Explora Journeys

How the msc Group-owned company is elevating the cruise experience.

What marks Explora out from other luxury cruise operators?
We like to avoid the word “cruising”. What we offer is a floating hotel whose home is the ocean.

Could you tell us about your ship ‘Explora I’?
We have about 450 suites onboard and each has a terrace and a sea view. The horizon is your constant companion.

How are you enticing a new generation of travellers?
We’re already seeing a younger demographic joining us. They like the fact that they only need to unpack once and the hotel will take them to a different destination every day with ease.

Where are your areas of growth?
We currently have two ships on the water. The next to launch will be Explora III in 2026, followed by two more ships – one in 2027 and another in 2028. We have expanded our footprint and are going into northern Europe. Then, during the autumn season, we’ll be on the US east coast.

So, what sets Explora Journeys apart from other cruise operators?
We are a part of the world’s largest shipping organisation, msc Group, which is a family-owned company with a seafaring heritage going back more than 300 years. We’re learning a lot from the brand but we’re also launching an entirely new category on the water. So there are still things that we have to learn but we can rely on the backbone of our family company.
explorajourneys.com

The patient innovator
Dan Ruff, CEO, Belmond

The head of the lvmh-owned hospitality brand on “slow luxury” and the importance of disconnecting.

How is business?
I have been in this role for a year and a half but with Belmond for seven – and 2024 has been a record year. We have done a lot of work to push our “slow luxury” strategy and it’s really bearing fruit.

What has changed to spur that growth?
It’s not really a matter of change – more of a continuous climb, both from the market perspective and in terms of what we’re delivering to guests.

So what is it that you’re doing?
We are focusing on “slow luxury”, which is what Belmond has done since the get-go. Take, for example, the launch of the Eastern and Oriental Express. The train is based in Singapore and does three-day loops around Malaysia. It has been a great experience for our guests.

Where are your target markets for 2025?
We’re launching an extraordinary train called the Britannic Explorer out of London that will do three-night trips through England and Wales. We’re also going to finish a remarkable hotel renovation [Splendido] with designer Martin Brudnizki in Portofino in 2025. Then we’ll open Villa Beatrice right next door in the summer, with its five suites looking out across Portofino’s two bays.

When you look around here and see the big chains insisting that they’re the best in class, what do you think?
By definition, not everybody can be at the top of the market but we’re focused on excellence. It’s a personal thing. Our guests are looking to see the world differently.

As the demographics of luxury travel change, who are your guests?
They continue to get younger. That doesn’t mean younger people are taking over our hotels, trains, boats or safaris – we just have more multi-generational travel and a more balanced demographic. We see a lot of younger travellers in pairs and families joining us. So it’s a mixed group.

How do you adapt your offering for a younger clientele who grew up in the digital age?
It’s a remarkable experience for them to truly disconnect. I’m not saying that when you come to our properties we take your phones and lock them away. We’re just giving people opportunities and they take them.
belmond.com

The generous host
Sébastien Bazin, CEO, Accor

The French hotel boss on making it in hospitality and what’s next for the industry. 

Is everyone in travel moving at the same speed?
No. The world is in a rocky place and it won’t get much better over the next six months. Look at the EU, France and, of course, Russia, the US and China. Despite that, the world’s hospitality groups are seeing record numbers. I expect more of the same for 2025. It’s linked to the emerging middle classes but also to new opportunities in India, Africa and elsewhere.

Is it good for operations that not everything is booming at once?
When you open a hotel, you make a five-to-seven-year bet on a destination. If that market goes down for a couple of years, you don’t stop. Accor never leaves a country, even a war zone. You adapt and probably slow your growth but you’re committed to whatever you signed up to.

Accor is global but it’s also a French company. Does being French matter?
Let’s face it: half of the luxury products on Earth are of French origin. The way we do hospitality, dining and gastronomy all plays into a certain French way.

I’m keen to hear about Orient Express, your forthcoming luxury brand that includes trains, a yacht and a network of hotels.
It’s such a precious brand. It means Agatha Christie, libraries, film, garlands and perfume. We’re starting with three hotels: La Minerva in Rome, the Palazzo Donà Giovannelli in Venice and one in Istanbul. We managed to find [and restore] an original Orient Express train from 1928, which was lost in Poland. And we have decided to go into yachting.

How will that work?
Look at wealthy Americans. When they go to Europe, they always do the same thing: two days in Cannes, two days in Monaco, then Nice or St Tropez. I said, “Let’s bring a yacht to the airport and take them down the coast.” It will have 40 to 50 suites; we could have had 200 but we wanted to offer the same sense of luxury as having your own 80-metre boat. It will start sailing in 2026.

Accor hires people with no university qualifications. I recently met the GM of a leading hotel in Tokyo who started his career at 16 as a porter. Do we need more people like that?
Hospitality schools are important because you need expertise but half of the people we hire don’t come from that background. You need a good heart, a good stomach and a willingness to face the unknown.

Last question: are people having fun? I see bars closing early in many corners of the world right now.
Yes, we’re having fun but it depends on where you are. I spent a few years in San Francisco but was there recently and nobody was on the street. We’re playing hard in the Middle East: Dubai is a lot of fun and Abu Dhabi is getting to be. And we’re playing, of course, in southern Europe. If you accept the need to move and not stay in your comfort zone, you’ll have fun somewhere.
accor.com