Le Crillon inspires a new luxury brand

New investment group, Starwood Capital, is launching a new international luxury hotel brand, inspired by the recently acquired Le Crillon hotel in Paris. The iconic Parisian hotel came to Starwood Capital as part of its acquisition of the Société du Louvre (whose controlled affiliates also include such high-profile brands as Taittinger champagne, Baccarat and Annick Goutal) in a deal which was completed in January this year. Starwood Capital says its new brand of sophisticated, European-style Crillon Hotels is to be represented throughout the world's top capital cities - everywhere from Beijing, Shanghai and Mumbai to Rome, London and New York. It is already in negotiation with potential partners in several destinations, says a spokesman.

While some industry commentators are sceptical that the exceptional qualities of style and service at the Hôtel de Crillon can be replicated elsewhere, or that the difficult-to-pronounce brand name will drum up enough global recognition, others point out that Starwood Capital's Barry Sternlicht has done it before, notably with the St Regis brand which he launched when he was CEO of Starwood International Hotels and Resorts.

When the St Regis brand was first launched, modelled on the New York hotel that was renowned within the USA, but not widely known elsewhere, there were also some doubters. Now, however, there 12 St Regis hotels open or under construction around the world, with more in the pipeline.

Starwood Capital Group believes the time is right to launch a new premium luxury brand like the Crillon, claiming that none of the existing luxury hotel brands currently offer the style of European luxury and class that Starwood Capital envisages - or indeed that Le Crillon has been providing for almost 100 years.

Banyan Tree expands into the Middle East and Caribbean
Singapore-based spa and resort group Banyan Tree is moving beyond the Asia Pacific region, with properties in the Middle East and the Caribbean due to open in the next two years. Its current portfolio includes hotels (under the Banyan Tree and Angsana brands), spas and galleries, where it sells quality local arts and crafts, in Thailand, Indonesia, the Seychelles, China, the Maldives, India, Australia, Sri Lanka and Laos.

The group's first Middle East property, the EUR171 million Banyan Tree Al Areen Desert Spa and Resort, will open in Bahrain in mid-2006 on a 2 million square metre site, owned by holding company Al Areem. Banyan Tree's development strategy calls for ten properties in the Middle East, with possible projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait and Morocco (Marrakech).

In Barbados, a new resort at the Black Bess Plantation in St Peter, with the group's signature pool villas and an 18-hole golf course, will open in 2008. It is part of a larger project under development by Bacassa Developments, which will also offer villa accommodation for rent and sale. Two projects are under discussion for Mexico (to open in 2007) and one in Greece (Pylos) for 2008.

But Banyan Tree is not abandoning its Asian roots, and new properties are also on stream for China, Thailand and Bali. Following the opening in September this year of the Banyan Tree Ringha on China's southwest border with Tibet - this the area that China has recently decided to call Shangri-La - a second hotel with 55 villas is earmarked for the nearby town of Lijiang, due to open in April. This is the picturesque centre of the Naxi minority people, already well-known to back-packers but untouched by the major international hotel chains. Other projects are in development in Sanya, Hainan Island, and on the Thai island of Koh Samui.