Rosewood Le Guanahani St. Barth is set to become an Airelles this November. Here's why that rebrand has me questioning the luxury brand's direction.
I get where you come from but also want to say: that's really a rich people problem on that one. Not even a points/miles one!
(I do look forward to whatever this 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth' is...)
I'll give Airelles benefit of the doubt until they start selling branded residences like Aman. Aman makes ~500 million revenue per year from all its hotels worldwide, and 2.25 billion per year from its branded residences. The hotel brand/room is necessary only in so far as it sells the branded residences (like how US airlines operate planes so they can sell miles).
I would like to call BS on this narrative that Aman has lost its way with residences. Aman has its issues (I see some of them at Aman Sveti Stefan, where I am currently staying), but blaming them on residences misunderstands the history of Aman. The very first Aman, Amanpuri, was conceived only as residences, with the hotel as an afterthought. Zecha built residences from the beginning.
The original "residence" side were, at most, side-gigs. Zecha-era Aman licensed the name, collected a small percentage of sale prices, and let developers carry the land, capital and risk. It was margin on top of a hospitality company. The tail can't wag the dog.
Doronin's version is a development business: OKO Group controls the sites, builds the product, and captures the sale proceeds themselves. Now the tail IS wagging the dog. It's why Zecha-era Amans focus on building resorts in remote locations, while Doronin-era Amans are built in major cities: you can sell a lot more branded residences in a major city.
"super niche" indeed! Wish Rosewood would've pulled out from Bahamas, instead; their property in Nassau (Baha Mar) did not impress; felt like Vegas (not in a good way, if there is a good way.)
I just reread your review of Airelles courchevel from a few years back bc my son and I going to France in February.
The rates are astronomical now compared to when you booked… availability is sparse too. Bummer.
Airelles have great service, something it seems Caribbean hotels aren't known for
We heard about this a few weeks ago and were also really surprised by it. There are quite literally no details about any of it yet, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. You could really say the say thing about Cheval Blanc's property in St. Barths (if we're being honest) and they are doing just fine as a brand. Hopefully it's the same here.
Proper training, combined with:
-Competitive pay
-Good corporate culture
-Clear, defined policies for staff and guests
-Front of line empowerment
-Structured oversight combined with an appropriate and real-time feedback system
-Actual consequences for non-compliance…
Can make pretty much any “customer service” business, be it airline, hotel/resort, even a retail store into a world-class experience. A lot of companies are good at perhaps three of those, very few are effective at achieving them all. There’s no reason Airelles can’t be successful if they bring their whole success package to the Caribbean. Do they want to do that, or just expand? That’s what I see as the real question which I think echo’s Ben’s.
They took over Chateau Messardiere and much of it wasn’t renovated but they completed it over a few years. They got this.
Ben, with that in mind, would you still be willing to book one of their other hotels in the next year if you had to pay for it?
I was just about to book a trip that involved a Airelles hotel, and I’m wondering how quickly things start to fall apart… if they do.