The Garden Room at The Lanesborough hotel, Knightsbridge

The Garden Room at the Lanesborough hotel is one of the world’s most glamorous cocktail destinations. Darius Sanai celebrates the end of London’s lockdown with a glass of fine wine and a cocktail

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be on the other side of the luxury hospitality industry? We love the service at the world’s great hotels and restaurants, from Lombok to London. But to be in the hospitality industry, to be serving demanding, wealthy, privileged, and often entitled customers literally 24/7?

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

There are LUX readers who will know the answer, perhaps because they own a hotel or group of restaurants, or trained in the industry before becoming senior executives. From my own conversations (and my limited experience of working in the industry at a very low pay grade when I was younger) there is one thing that unites any institution with great service, and that is the love of providing great service. All those stories about staff going home and cursing and sticking pins in dolls of their customers? Not really, not in the greatest hotels and restaurants. You have to love what you do, however exhausting.

And that’s what I realised I had missed when walking through the doors of the Lanesborough in London last week, my first entry into a luxury hotel since last year, unprecedented in my current life. If you are fortunate enough to be able to stay and visit such establishments – not confined to marble and gold taps luxury, but anywhere at the peak of the hospitality industry – you will have missed being with people who genuinely love and get a thrill out of looking after their guests. This goes as much for the old couple who welcome you in to sit on a table (that’s right) in the mountains of northern Iran and treat you with a banquet of tea, local fruits and Petit Beurre biscuits as it does for a luxury hotel.

But if you are visiting a luxury hotel, there are very few that will give you better service than one of the Oetker Collection, comprising among others the Eden Roc, the Bristol in Paris, and the Lanesborough in London.

Read more: Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel on the emotional power of scent

Stepping into the doors of the Lanesborough, being ushered at a distance down the up-lit marble hallway to the grand stairs leading down towards the Garden Room – the outdoor space that they are now permitted to open – was, after London’s lockdown, a luxury experience in itself.

Even if you wouldn’t dream of smoking a cigar, you would be tempted by the cigar wall on your right downstairs and the subsequent cigar library – with delicious looking cigars dating back for decades – on your left as you enter the Garden Room.

It’s a kind of combination of a bar and a terrace. A short selection of excellent wines served in cut crystal glasses, heavy enough to make a thud when you put them down on your table. (Note to the sommelier: while each of the wines is superb in its own right, you have three Sauvignon Blancs as the first three wines on your list.) A Chablis Lechets Bernard Defaix was an excellent match to our dinner of crispy squid, very nutty homemade hummus, garden salads, and a sea bass with olive and tomato (and truffle fries) that flung us, metaphorically, to the Cote d’Azur in June.

This is a cocktail bar above all else, and a virgin mojito (always a hard drink to make brilliantly, without the balance of the Havana Club) was sweet-sour mint perfection.

And the service: it felt like the staff had been waiting for months of gruelling lockdown just to get back to work – which may or may not be true, but they made us feel it was true, which is the suspension of belief of every luxury experience.

The Garden Room may not be for the stogiephobic – although semi-outside, it has the waft of well-aged Havanas in its DNA – but aside from that it is a London destination, now reopened, with glamour. That’s what we have been missing, and as glamour is almost by definition provided by other people, it’s impossible to recreate at home in a lockdown. The Garden Room has it by the magnum.

Find out more: oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/

The lobby of Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg

In the final edition of our luxury travel views series, LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai enjoys the Parisian elegance and ease of Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg

Location, location, location. What is the nearest luxury hotel to the epicentre of Paris shopping, the original Hermès flagship store on the corner of rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré and rue Boissy-d’Anglas? I would understand if you were thinking Crillon, Ritz or Bristol, but you would be incorrect. The Faubourg is so close that you could fish a Birkin out of the Hermès window display with a fishing pole and a hook.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

The frontage, in a road now closed to traffic for security reasons as it is so close to the Élysée Palace, belies the grandeur of the entrance hall when you walk inside. The welcome is swift, efficient and friendly, as you would expect from this significant European luxury hotel group.

The Faubourg Suite

My room was well-appointed in a very Parisian style: vintage mirrors, Vogue photography, plenty of plush. With the rue Boissy-d’Anglas closed to traffic, it was also wonderfully quiet for a city-centre room.

Read more: Life coach Simon Hodges discusses the complexities of familial relationships

I had declined the offer of dinner with a business contact, as I had some research to do ahead of a meeting the next day, so I slipped downstairs with my iPad and found a place in the bar, a cosy, jazzy little room at street level.

The Blossom restaurant

Sometimes, on travels, after a number of meals offered where different levels of cuisine are showcased, there is nothing you feel like more than a Caesar salad, which the bar provided with no qualms and in very Gallic style, with corn-fed chicken and proper fries on the side. Paris is near enough to Burgundy to justify choosing a medically necessary Macon-Uchizy from the excellent 2016 vintage as an accompaniment.

My meeting the next day was not at Hermès but at a brand located next door. A 90-second commute. Now, that’s luxury.

Find out more: sofitel-paris-lefaubourg.com

This article originally appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2020/2021 Issue. 

is new high-end delivery service provided by private-jet catering company On Air Dining

With restaurants still closed across the UK, One Fine Dine offers an easy and creative alternative to enjoying a fine dining experience at home

One Fine Dine is a new high-end food delivery service provided by On Air Dining, but don’t let the name put you off. Headed up by Daniel Hulme (who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants across London and catered for superyachts), On Air Dining provides luxury dining experiences for private jets. This latest initiative aims to bring the same level of quality and finesse into UK residents’ homes.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

The menus span breakfast, lunch, dinner and canapés along with options for wine pairings and dietary requirements. Different from a traditional recipe delivery box, the separate elements of each dish are cooked and prepared by expert chefs, and then boxed up and delivered with instructions for heating up (if required) and plating. It’s not exactly ‘cooking’, but it still provides some level of creative satisfaction as you carefully arrange edible flowers, delicate dollops of purée and zig-zags of balsamic glaze to create the perfect-looking dish. It doesn’t really feel like cheating as the dishes are complex and would be difficult to make unless you’re highly-skilled in the kitchen.

Read more: Four of our favourite historic country hotels to visit post-lockdown

Our favourite picks from include the vegetarian scotch egg served with truffle, seaweed wrapped cured salmon with pickled radish, North Atlantic blackened miso cod with a rich and earthy shiitake broth, and for dessert, granny smith apple pie with crème anglaise followed by the chef’s handmade petit fours.

For more information visit: onefinedine.com

The Rosewood Beijing is one of Grand Luxury’s handpicked hotels

Grand Luxury is a curated hotel booking site and a concierge service through which clients can arrange exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. LUX speaks to the company’s founders, brothers Ivan and Rouslan Lartisien about handpicking their hotels, delivering first-class service and making the impossible possible

Ivan and Rouslan Lartisien

LUX: How did you take Grand Luxury from a start-up to a global business?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: From a 3-person company in a maid’s room to a 100-person company based in Paris, London, Dubai, Mauritius, Philippines, Romania and Italy, Grand Luxury has changed entirely in just 10 years. To better serve our individual clientele, we strive to continuously exceed the boundaries of personalisation. We are now the 2nd largest booking force for luxury hotels in Milan, London, Paris, Marrakech. In 2018, we have also become the leading EMEA agency on the luxury segment. The explanation might come from the fact that since the very beginning we have always been truthful to our original values.

Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine

LUX: You handpicked all of the 350 hotels in the booking collection, did you visit them all and what were you looking for?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: We have visited 90% of our hotels and rely on a network of travellers we know since the very beginning for the rest. We also have a team dedicated to visiting hotels on a regular basis but the final choice is always on one of us two.

We are mixing objective and subjective considerations. First of all, the hotel must meet the core standards of a 5-star deluxe hotel. But there must be a rather unique feeling, a special “je ne sais quoi” that will make you feel you are entering in a one-of-a-kind property. A Grand Luxury Hotel might not even feel like a hotel anymore. During our selection process we must have the conviction that we are about to engage in the promotion of a most unique place and enchant our existing clients and of course the new comers to Grand Luxury who we shall lure to our exceptional universe.

Grand Luxury clients receive exclusive perks at hotels they book through the site such as the Baccarat Hotel in New York

LUX: What defines first class service?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: For us, luxury starts on-line and off-line when one of us engage on a conversation with the client. Everything has its importance: from the property we had curated, to on-line photos, content and suggestions to enhance the trip. We then ask many questions, not in a formal and mechanic manner but in a way our engagement seem natural and genuine. It’s quite irrational but when you show interest and express empathy, it works.

Luxury used to be materialistic, brand-driven, “stuff”-centric. Today it is more about the “moment”, the parenthesis you open to break away from your daily routine or your busy occupation. From being a Mom of 3 teenagers to a woman who looks after her for that one week and away from the family.

To this end we select, inspect and curate places that are truly exceptional. Not from a physical stand point but from our client’s perspective and for what they really want or need.

Luxury is also about the “results”, the outcome of a trip: be it to celebrate a milestone event or to explore family roots, or simply get away and reunite with your spouse, your mom or your best friends.

LUX: How do the current trends in booking patterns differ from when you started 10 years ago and does it vary across culture?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: To be honest, on some aspects – it did not change so much. We have been quite constant in our strategic vision as we had decided to focus on two salient points: a highly restricted selection of the best hotels in the world, and very personalised service, all of this with a digital twist! The combination of the very best hotels and quality service allowed us to reach a high ratio of repeaters. What has changed in the market is the quest for more experiential travel and the growing desire to experience a destination as locals. That is one of the reasons why Grand Luxury has completely revamped its website, it will be rolled out at the end of the year to embrace these new market trends. Of course, we have to adapt to the cultural aspects.

Read more: How Hublot’s attracting a new generation of customers

LUX: What are the top 5 guest demands?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: Unlike some long lasting and rather terrible clichés, wealthy customers are not capricious and impatient. Their demands (we prefer to use the word requests) reflect who they are and what is important for them (in general or for this specific holiday). If this is a family reunion for a special occasion, all details count from smooth arrivals to small attentions for each member of the family and to make sure you meet these expectations, there is only one technique: ask many questions and anticipate! Do not leave anything to chance (this is good for every single client). Many contact us not to simply find a great holiday spot for them, but for a reason and over the years we had many situations e.g. this famous film director who needed a quiet place anywhere in Europe likely to inspire his writing therefore had to have a solid historic feel without being difficult to reach! This gentleman, a widower for a few months, who wanted to visit all the places he had been happy with his wife before she passed after a sudden leukemia. Imagine the amount of emotion behind his request.

This father who wanted to reward his only daughter for graduating brilliantly. Not a regular five-star palace hotel guest but who had decided to spend well over what he would normally do, to celebrate this milestone event in his family. This very rich family (2 children age 8 and 10) who decided to spend a whole month in Paris and give the children a true education in art, history, culture. They wanted to have a young university teacher every day, capable to take the children on a different experience in a nice, supporting yet demanding manner.

And one day, we had this Australian billionaire who wanted to propose on the third floor of the Eiffel Tower. He wanted to have it for himself and the woman of his life. We managed to obtain a yes from the very traditional institution at a rather high price. Our client was a bit hesitant to spend so much and we knew he was open to an alternative suggestion. In a day we managed to contact the Musée Rodin and to privatise the famous museum for an hour after closing. Champagne had been arranged next to Le-baiser (the kiss) one of the most moving piece of Rodin and of course it work very well as she said yes and was incredibly touched by the gentleman’s surprise proposal.

LUX: Can you tell us more about some of the sought after experiences Grand Luxury can arrange?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: We always try to work on experiences that will work on emotion, memories and take you more deeply in the cultural essence of a country. For instance in Paris, we worked on a specific program about French gastronomy. We picked the clients at 5am at his hotel, brought him to a very nice bakery in the heart of the old Paris to see before the opening of the shop how the croissant and baguette are made, taste it fresh out of the oven. Then the client took a basket of bakeries and was brought on a Riva on the French Seine to eat on a nice private breakfast-cruise, with Champagne of course as you are in France. Then, the client was brought back to his hotel just in time to see the arrival of the food supplies at the Michelin-Star restaurant.

The Royal Mansour in Marrakech is another of Grand Luxury’s hotels

LUX: How is luxury travel evolving?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: The big change we’ve seen in the last few years is the way people expect to experience a destination. Today, all of our clients from around the world want to feel like a local when they visit a destination, so we bring them experiences that will show them the heart and soul of the place. We have guides in each destination who are really knowledgeable about certain aspects of a place, so we’ll call the guide that best fits the preferences of the guest. In terms of hotels, we’ve seen that more and more people want a more residential feel in the place they stay, so they have a kind of home to go back to in the destination. This is something we’re seeing more and more of with luxury travellers.

The Grand Luxury app functions as a digital personal assistant

LUX: Is technology increasingly important to travellers or do they want to be off the grid and why did you launch the app to accompany the online site?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: Technology for us at Grand Luxury Hotels is absolutely essential. It has never been used to replace staff but to increase value for our clients. The App is a perfect example. It is a unique opportunity for our customers to have their own assistant directly in their pocket. A transfer, the best new trendy restaurant close to your location, flowers or caviar in your room in less than 30 minutes, a great ballet or musical to go to in the evening! We make it easy for the customer to choose and book among our curated list of partners. And for us, technology is here to answer to clients who want easy and quick options. But if they want to speak to their dedicated adviser, they can of course chat with him/her anytime through the app!

LUX: What can users expects to see with the upscale concierge service?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: Anything, there is no specific limit. It Is all about the client’s needs and wishes. 3 years ago we set a special trip for a small group of opera fans which was meant to end in Prague. On the last night we booked Don Giovanni at the Estates Opera House (where Mozart debuted the famous opera). We had told our clients that a supper would be served after the show but we did not mention where. We had actually arranged for our group to have dinner on stage … with the cast!

On another occasion we had set a wedding anniversary in Venice. The clients (a very nice couple in their 70s) had decided to treat themselves to a long weekend in Venice. Nothing too original so far – but as they head to the restaurant for a dinner we had booked for them, we sent them by boat to a small palazzo instead, where their family and close friends were waiting for them (we had arranged the group to travel a day after and of course made sure their were completely invisible so another of our Venice property was chosen) the family had asked us to surprise their parents, they also wanted to pay for the stay and finally add a fun touch and a small show at the palazzo to also recognise how exceptionally loved the couple was.

LUX: Where will Grand Luxury be in 5 years?
Ivan & Rouslan Lartisien: 5 years ago we had approximately 10 employees. We are now almost 100. The only limit is our imagination. We already have so many plans for the coming months : full relaunch of our website under a completely new design, deepen our offering with far more experiences to offer, launch our new website www.grandluxurycruises.com … Just for one year. What is sure is that Grand Luxury wants to position Itself as a luxury brand offering 360 degrees offer in the travel industry.

Discover Grand Luxury’s list of hotels: grandluxuryhotels.com

In Kenya at Sanctuary Olonana, Abercrombie & Kent guests have the opportunity to go on walking safaris and take survival lessons led by Maasai warriors. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

Luxury travel is evolving, but who’s driving the change? Millennials, says Abercrombie & Kent Founder Geoffrey Kent. Welcome to the age of transformational travel.

The first generation of digital natives, millennials, as defined by the Pew Research Center, were born between 1981 and 1996. This age group – which we increasingly need to recognise for their affluence and significant spending power – have led the way in redefining what the term ‘luxury’ itself means.

Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine

Prior to late 2007, luxury was linked to ostentatious spending and opulence. Within the travel industry this equated to first-class flights, five-star hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and designer souvenirs. After the global recession, a major shift occurred, and luxury has become much more experiential.

‘Experiential travel’, and its evolutionary step of ‘transformational travel’, are the industry’s biggest trends. Millennials have rejected the term ‘tourist’. They don’t want to visit a destination to trod well-worn tourist trails, eat at restaurants that cater to non-residents and have pictures on the menu, or meet the same type of people they see in their local coffee shop on the way to their 9:00 am meeting. Millennial travellers want total immersion in a destination and want to make connections with interesting local personalities.

The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in the Yunnan Province, China. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

In the last decade, as an industry, we have seen this generation beginning to travel in style despite economic uncertainty. Just-published studies reveal that millennials see travel as more important than buying a home, paying off debt or investing in a car. Wary of investing for the long-term, they spend freely on travel, seeing it as an investment in themselves.

Read more: An aesthetic adventure in India’s chaotic capital Delhi

The next step beyond experiential travel, which is becoming ubiquitous and therefore unappealing to millennials, is transformational travel. In an excellent article, Vogue magazine has called transformational travel, ‘experiential travel, but a step further – defined by a shift in perspective, self-reflection and development, and a deeper communion with nature and culture’. More than memory making, it is the type of travel that inspires an inner journey and leads to life changes when travellers return – and exactly the type of travel worthy of investment by these 20 and 30-somethings.

There is nothing new in the transformative power of travel, or young people looking to step out of their comfort zones as they develop and grow as global citizens. Think of the Grand Tourists (young aristocratic men touring Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries) or the Beat Generation on epic American road trips. Change – through the broadening of one’s horizons – is palpable when one travels.

Geoffrey Kent outside a safari tent in Manyara, Tanzania. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

In 1958, when I was 16, I rode a motorbike from Nairobi to Cape Town. On this 3,000-mile journey of self-discovery along some of Africa’s most dangerous roads, the mantra that I would build my life and business upon came to me: adventure by day, security and luxury by night. More than 55 years after founding A&K, I still like to push my boundaries (by day) and like to encourage travellers to expand their horizons.

In southwest China, A&K guests meet with the ‘Living Buddha’ at the Songzanlin Monastery in Shangri-La in Yunnan province, a Tibetan autonomous region. This exclusive, one-to-one interaction gives A&K guests a profound understanding and insight into this traditional culture.

The Lion King is many children’s first introduction to Africa. At A&K, we’ve arranged for millennials and their young families to watch the film on a large screen in the middle of the bush, followed by walking safaris and survival lessons from Maasai warriors – the live-action version of “the circle of life.”

Do these kinds of experiences have the power to transform a person’s life… I think so.

To find out more about Abercrombie & Kent’s luxury travel experiences visit: abercrombiekent.co.uk