Hampshire Hotels & Resorts owns hotels in the US, Canada, the UK, India and Thailand, with over 3,000 rooms in Manhattan alone. Its chairman and CEO is the Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist and arts patron SANT SINGH CHATWAL, and his children – Vikram and Vivek Chatwal – both play active roles in the organisation. LUCY REITER gets the lowdown on the new developments
IN common with many businesses, luxury and otherwise, we weren’t sure what 2012 would bring. As a bespoke luxury travel company, we knew the luxury market was growing (we’d had a successful 2011) and that there were some obvious trends, but we wanted to find out more. So, to gain a better picture of the luxury industry as a whole – and to share some of our own experiences – we decided to host our own luxury summit.
We based the event not in a conference room, but a hotel and resort that were a fitting context for a discussion on luxury. Having organised numerous high-end, off-site gatherings for our business clients, we fixed on a ski resort in Switzerland. We have worked with the fabulous Grand Hotel Park in Gstaad for over a decade: recently refurbished, in a resort synonymous with luxury and wealth and with plenty of ‘summits’ of its own, this seemed to be the perfect location.
New research illustrates a rapid change in user behaviour away from PC-browsing, especially for luxury brands. With smartphone shipments overtaking PC shipments for the first time, luxury brands need to adapt to a mobile-centric world. PETER MATTHEWS at Nucleus asks: Is this...
A concept is being launched where members of the public will be given the chance to decide every element of the development and running of up to 10 restaurants in cities around the world. Former two-Michelin-starred chef John Burton Race, along with Jonathon Davies, who won ITV’s Britain’s Best Dish in 2010, are spearheading the project, called The Restaurant Experience, where members pay a joining fee of £60 and are then able to vote on key decisions such as the location and food, the chefs and interior design. In return, they will receive privileges such as vouchers to eat in the restaurant. “There has never been an eating experience like this created before, where a restaurant, with all its soul, is chosen by the people for the people,” says Burton Race.
