Borja Escalada, CEO of RLH Properties, talks about the new trends in tourism and the company’s plans for 2023.
AN: Borja, what is the outlook for luxury hotels in the coming years?
Modern luxury, which not only refers to the physical space, but also to the experiences and emotional contacts that are generated with the destinations that are visited, will continue to develop more and more. The demand for spaces of this type is increasingly growing; not only because there are more people with high purchasing power, but also because customers are allocating more resources to live these kinds of experiences.
Earlier generations, like the Baby Boomers and Generation X, focused more on having than living. Our parents and we ourselves worry, first of all, about having a house to start stabilizing ourselves.
Today, the new generations —millennials and centennials— are more focused on living experiences. They don’t have their own house, but they rent, but they have already lived the experience of going on seven safaris and staying in ultra-luxury hotels.
The pandemic was also a market catalyst. People have realized that material goods generate endorphins for a certain period of time, while memories and memories produce more endorphins and a continuous feeling of happiness. Travel creates lasting memories and people are aware of that. When we were confined to our homes or when we lost loved ones, we realized that material goods were really of little use to us and what we are left with is the time we spend with our loved ones, the experiences we live and the contact we have with others. other cultures, geographies and ways of living.
The tourism that can best satisfy these demands is luxury, because it is the one with the most capacity, due to its own rates, of create unique experiences and great emotional bonds with guests.
Furthermore, I think that the offer of this type of travel is still limited, because there are few brands that offer unique experiences, and opening a One&Only Mandarina or a Four Seasons hotel requires a lot of time.
On the other hand, since before the pandemic, luxury and ultra-luxury hotels had been developing an important residential component to offer owners and guests the opportunity to stay with the comforts of a luxury hotel, but in a more private and spacious space. . And this trend will continue. The pandemic revealed the conviction of having a second residence to escape from the daily routine. The perfect combination is not having to take care of that residence and that, at a given moment, that residence generates economic returns or offsets its costs. Here, the answer is to have a residence with a hotel brand, so that the hotel takes care of having it ready for when the owner wants to use it. And when you’re not using it, you can rent it as part of the hotel’s inventory.. This is an industry that will continue to develop and has grown in recent years.
AN: What can we expect from RLH Properties for next year?
We will focus on continuing to create value for our guests, shareholders, employees and the environment, and we will do this by designing new experiences and investing in our current assets, to offer the best to our guestsand to continue growing our portfolio.
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In recent years we have invested 180 million dollars in asset remodeling and we have just completed the remodeling of the Fairmont hotel in Mayacoba, with a new beach club. Now we are focused on the Rosewood Mandarina, in the Riviera Nayarit. It is under construction and its opening is scheduled for 2024.
Before the end of this year we are going to launch the residential component of Rosewood Mandarina: luxury apartments that offer a unique experience and give the guest the ability to connect with the destination.
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