Pass the Champagne and caviar: One of IHG’s most luxurious manufacturers is lastly getting again into the U.S. lodge enterprise.
Regent Hotels & Resorts plans to open the Regent Santa Monica Beach in California later this yr. The lodge, previously a 347-room Loews-affiliated lodge, will endure a major renovation that cuts the room depend by a minimum of half to convey the property as much as Regent’s ultra-luxurious requirements, IHG leaders instructed TPG this week forward of the announcement.
The Regent Santa Monica Beach is a return to the U.S. for the general model, which launched in Hawaii within the Seventies and ultimately expanded to Beverly Hills in California earlier than Four Seasons absorbed a good portion of the model’s portfolio within the Nineteen Nineties. IHG considers the transfer extra like a U.S. debut for a reimagined Regent model.
It’s a busy month for Regent, which opened the Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel this week in southern France and plans on a grand opening on the Regent Hong Kong in June. Both of these inns are former InterContinental-branded inns (although the Regent Hong Kong was initially a Regent, so it’s a homecoming of types for that property).
Wondering the place precisely Regent suits within the ultra-luxury sector, identified for manufacturers like Marriott’s St. Regis and Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria? IHG leaders divulged all the main points.
“We spent a lot of time and effort talking to our owner partners around the world about properties and hotels that will make it and whether that might be important to have a common shared vision, which we absolutely do with this hotel in terms of vision and of what we want to bring to the next generation of luxury,” Tom Rowntree, IHG’s vice chairman of luxurious manufacturers, mentioned in an interview with TPG this week amid the Carlton Cannes opening. “That’s kind of a nonnegotiable, I would say.”
The Regent Santa Monica Beach’s shoreline location is steps from the Santa Monica Pier, and a beachfront pool deck with a number of swimming pools, a vacation spot spa and a wellness heart are a part of the redevelopment plans. A high-end market, in addition to a star chef-anchored restaurant, are additionally within the works, however no additional particulars had been offered.
The Regent Santa Monica Beach may also be thought-about the model’s flagship within the Americas.
“Regent Santa Monica Beach is the start of a bright future for the brand in the Americas, emphasizing our strategic focus on luxury and lifestyle growth globally,” Julienne Smith, IHG’s chief improvement officer for the Americas, mentioned in a press release.
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Regent’s rebirth world wide
While additional particulars weren’t available on the upcoming California lodge, one can look to the Carlton Cannes renovation as what may be in retailer for Santa Monica. The 332-room French lodge underwent a two-year renovation emigrate from its InterContinental previous into the Regent vibe.
TPG toured the property in December whereas building was nonetheless underway, and whereas images wasn’t allowed on the time, it was clear the crew was going to nice lengths to raise the property to new glory.
Excavators dug under the property so as to add a parking storage, spa, wellness heart and conference house whereas builders reworked a rear parking zone right into a backyard and year-round swimming pool. A crew of 750 craftspeople labored on cautious particulars like artwork deco-inspired chandeliers and hand-placed marble scales on the foyer ground. A crew of artisans who restored chandeliers on the Palace of Versailles labored to revive chandeliers within the Grand Salon.
From private remark, the 72 visitor rooms and suites with views of the Mediterranean will likely be sizzling commodities on the Cannes lodge scene. Each boasted clear, minimalist designs with giant, marble loos. How a lot did an overhaul like this value?
Rowntree declined to supply a particular quantity, however it was a price range excessive sufficient to take into accounts the exact angle the parking storage incline might have with out operating the chance of scratching the fender of a low-sitting McLaren sports activities automobile.
“It’s the restoration of a monument, so that’s working with real specialists in their craft on how they bring back the former glory of our hotel,” Rowntree mentioned.
The Regent Hong Kong is slated to make its personal debut this yr, with related anticipation round its personal return to glory. The lodge was operated as an InterContinental from 2001 till 2020, when it closed for renovations. While the 2 latest Regent inns had been as soon as InterContinental inns, that doesn’t imply IHG vacationers ought to anticipate a wave of those InterContinental-to-Regent transformations to occur sooner or later.
“It is not our strategy to rebrand InterContinental [hotels] to Regents,” Rowntree mentioned. “It’s just that these two owners had completely matched with the direction we were taking Regent brand.”
IHG’s ultra-luxury ambition
The new lodge within the U.S. is the most recent in a fast ascent for Regent’s total lodge depend. While Regent’s first lodge was in Hawaii, the model had scaled again to Asia and two properties in Europe by the point IHG introduced in 2018 it was the model’s new majority stakeholder. IHG leaders indicated a long-term plan on the time of the acquisition to beef Regent up from six inns to 40.
Regent is a part of IHG’s important push into the luxurious and life-style lodge sector. Until 2015, the corporate’s most luxurious model was InterContinental. Company leaders acknowledged there wanted to be extra choices on this house to compete higher. Marriott has seven luxurious manufacturers whereas Hyatt has eight, based on each corporations’ most up-to-date annual studies.
IHG now has six manufacturers in its Luxury and Lifestyle Collection due to the acquisitions of Kimpton, Six Senses and Regent, in addition to the launch of the Vignette Collection. Hotel Indigo and InterContinental additionally reside on this model cluster.
“Up until 2015, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts was our only luxury hotel brand and an incredible brand. It’s been around since 1946 and really is a pioneer of international luxury travel, and that continues today — but it was our only luxury brand,” Rowntree mentioned. “What we saw coming from a lot from our IHG One Rewards members was a demand for having a greater breadth and depth of luxury offerings that they could then both earn and redeem their points.”
Six Senses is the corporate’s wellness- and sustainability-focused ultra-luxury model that’s rooted in resort locations however has more and more pushed into cities, with one lodge in Istanbul and one other slated for Rome later this yr.
Regent is extra of the standard, ultra-luxury providing; nevertheless, Rowntree notes the revival of the model is aimed extra at increasing to youthful vacationers.
“What we recognize with Regent is the evolution of the luxury consumer and that younger mindset that they’re having and that the traditional classic hotels need to evolve and actually meet the needs of the modern luxury consumer,” Rowntree mentioned. “That’s where Regent sits, and that is a very clear ambition for the brand.”
Some of the particular methods on courtroom these younger-minded luxurious vacationers weren’t instantly clear, however taking note of McLaren automobile heights when designing a parking storage in Cannes is clearly a place to begin.
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