THE HASSLER ROME has, possibly, been left slightly behind in the onslaught of luxury modernity that is Rome 2023. Within a few hundred metres of the Hassler there’s a Rocco Forte hotel and the iconic EDEN (Dorchester Collection). Down the 132 Spanish Steps and there are dozens of great places to stay. Soon Corinthia, Orient-Express and Six Senses will enter the scrum. What is a 125-year old icon to do?
Well, for a start, the family-owned property has passed down to the next generation of owners, twins Veruschka Wirth and her brother Roberto Wirth Jr, on the right in the image above. They are shown with a prize asset, their newly-announced Director of Sales & Marketing, Mariano Tribelhorn. He has an unrivalled network of professional contacts that reaches out from travel and tourism to lifestyle peculiars, especially in fashion. (He it was who held ILTM press cocktails in Cannes boutiques long before Aman, and the Ferragamos’ Lungarno hotels, got in that act, and at ILTM Shanghai he somehow once got permission to host in a secret shophouse.)
Now he moves to Rome. As he says: ‘The Hassler has always been an expression of luxury and excellence. Today, the task is to enhance the glorious past and bring this historic establishment into a new era, in keeping with the times, while respecting its DNA and the family tradition that characterises it’. Girlahead will report on how the new power triangle surges forward in the luxury stakes.
