Travel today needs the right karma, a ‘feeling’ that makes everyone, from investor to worker, FEEL BETTER. See above. Eric Cuvillier’s image of the Charles Garnier Suite at INTERCONTINENTAL PARIS LE GRAND show the view, out to the adjacent Opera Garnier. The photo instills in Girlahead a feeling of joy. Other stakeholders who surely appreciate this include Qatar’s Constellation, the owners; Pierre-Yves Rochon, the designer; IHG, the operating company; Christophe Laure, the hotel GM, and all of the 456-room hotel’s 300 team members who come into contact with this room.
This is a very special hotel, for a myriad of reason. Right now, it is hosting a pair of Ukrainian refugees on their way from their bombed homeland to their daughter in England. Thank you Christophe Laure for immediately offering a room, and breakfast in the unique Café de Paris in this time of desperate need. A momentary experience of warm hospitality will have a momentous lasting effect.
Ah, experience. April Hutchinson wrote on Walpole British Luxury that ‘Experiential had long been part of the lexicon of the luxury travel sector before the pandemic. Now it’s making its way back with renewed authenticity and hopefully regaining some of the meaning it lost due to ubiquity and appropriation‘. She takes experiences to a new level, to include ESG and community awarness, and giving back. What about, she suggests, a social credit system so travellers can contribute to elements a community is known to need, in exchange for loyalty points at the hotel, or special amenities?
And how about this for another out-of-the-box experience concept, travelling on a wellness plane? Miami’s SETAI, RITZ-CARLTON TURKS & CAICOS and AMAN NEW YORK (opening in May of 2022) are among hotels already partnering with the Wellness Jet concept about to be announced by Boston MA-based Magellan Jets and wellness provider Botanika Life. Watch this space.
Experiences can be global, or destination-specific. Think staying high up in the 100-year old converted Cape Town city grain silos that are now THE SILO HOTEL, integral with the Museum of African Art. Hear Luis Pinheiro, here:
