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During my time at the latest 2017 edition of the ILTM Conference in Cannes, I had the pleasure of attending LVMH’s annual announcement of the group’s latest news and developments in their hotel projects. It is always exciting to take part in a tradition that sees this heritage-bound French luxury group reveal their plans on how to continue defining luxury and the art of welcoming in the future.
I was honored to witness this all-star cast of hoteliers and luxury experts, who came from all over LVMH’s broad hotel portfolio, from Paris to the Maldives to Saint-Tropez:
- Anne-Laure Pandolfi – Communication and Innovation at LVMH Hotel Management
- Renato Chizzola – General Manager in Cheval Blanc Maldives
- Romain Meiran – ex-General Manager of Cheval Blanc Courchevel and upcoming GM of the soon-to-be-opened urban hotel in Paris
- Olivier Raveyre – General Manager of La Pinède in Saint-Tropez
- Jean-Philippe Laugier – Brand Director of Sales for Cheval Blanc
- Eva Sitarz – Director of Sales and Marketing at Cheval Blanc St. Barths
- Arnaud Martin – Director of Sales at Cheval Blanc in Paris
2017: A crowning year for Courchevel
2017 has been a very good year for Courchevel. We were awarded 3 Michelin stars, which was very important for us in terms of gaining recognition of our work over the last ten years. 2018 should be a very good year because we will have very good snow. We did significant renovation work in our rooms, specifically in our apartments, which will benefit from all we did over the last year in terms of new interior design and technology. Our top product, the apartments, will be even better.
Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France
You all know what happened to St-Barth. We were significantly impacted. We took advantage of this drama to merge Cheval Blanc Isle de France and its neighbor, Taïwana, which we purchased a year ago. This will enable us to totally revisit the resort in terms of interior design, but also in terms of product offerings. We will add a kid’s club, revisit the spa, add a hairdresser, redo our F&B offerings. So you will have a brand-new Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France in one year.
Cheval Blanc Randheli in the Maldives
Our baby in Maldives, which we opened 4 years ago keeps innovating and improving. Every year we add new service, new games, and new tools for our team to deliver even better service. Cheval Blanc Randheli Private Island is, in our opinion, truly the best island in the world in terms of the level of service which is fully dedicated by our team to our guests on this beautiful island.
La Résidence de la Pinède in Saint-Tropez
In Saint-Tropez, we were very lucky to find a great team, starting with Olivier but also with his team, including Arnaud Donckele, still the world’s youngest chef to receive 3 Michelin stars for the last 2 years. We are working with an architect with whom we have been working for a very long time within the group: Jean-Michel Wilmotte. We are revisiting La Pinède its history and at the same time, revisiting the rooms with Roger Capron, the artist who designed the artwork within La Pinède. For the opening next summer, we will have half of the rooms totally redone.
White 1921 in Saint-Tropez and Courchevel
We won’t forget our White 1921 hotels, which are located at the very heart of Saint-Tropez and Courchevel. These two properties are different pieces in our LVMH hotel brand. They’re more about affordable luxury for the younger crowd and are very innovative Learning from this, we are working on a new project for White 1921.
White 1921 – Chambre privilège – Courchevel
Coming soon in Paris
In Paris, Romain will open hopefully within 2 years (2019). We are working with Peter Marino, an interior designer from New York. He is not an expert in hospitality, but what we like is that he is an expert in residential spaces. He did a lot of work with the group in retail, doing all the boutiques for Vuitton, Dior, Bulgari, and other brands of the group. He is very innovative, and we truly believe that the offer we will have in Paris will be very different from the competition.
Known for his international expertise on luxury hotels through his magazine, Laurent Delporte shares his vision and experiences in the world of hotels on his site DELPORTE Hospitality. He decodes the behind-the-scenes action in the sector: from food and beverage facilities, accommodations, architecture, to the quality of services. He offers interviews, advice, and articles as pragmatic resources that industry professionals and private individuals can refer to in their search for information.
