November 5, 2010
St. Regis Hotels & Resorts is taking the concept of bespoke guest experiences a step further with the launch of its Aficionado program.
The chain has partnered with leading influencers and brands to tailor events and experiences for its customers. Available year-round, the program will spawn new experiences for each season.
“The Aficionado program allows St. Regis to not only offer guests the unparalleled luxury and bespoke service the brand is known for, but to also complete the guest experience with unique and memorable excursions and events,” said Paul James, global brand leader at St. Regis, New York.
St. Regis is a luxury chain within the Starwood Hotels & Resorts family that caters to upscale clientele drawn to its resorts and old-world-charm hotels.
Turn up service
Winter is the beginning of the St. Regis Aficionado calendar year.
The brand’s experiential effort for its art and literature season includes exclusive tie-ins.
For example, The St. Regis New York – where it all began in 1904 with John Jacob Astor IV founding the hotel – will host a private tour of financier J.P. Morgan’s library of rare books.
Luke Ives Pontifell, founder of Thornwillow Press and publisher of limited-edition, handcrafted publications, will lead the tour of the Morgan Library in midtown New York. One of the 120 works – rare writings, photographs and drawings – that St. Regis guests will get to see is “Mark Twain: A Skeptic’s Progress.”
Guests can also get to select a set of bespoke stationery or choose a book from Astor’s collection that will be reproduced by Thornwillow Press. They will also receive a Thornwillow Press limited-edition copy of “A Plea for Old Jokes,” an unpublished work.
This experience is open to guests through Dec. 31.
All guests will be driven in the St. Regis Flying Spur Bentley.
On the calendar this fall through Oct. 5 next year is the Bespoke Hawaiian Spa Experience at the St. Regis Princeville Resort’s Halele’a Spa.
Guests at this St. Regis will get a private consultation with Malie Organics Dana Roberts, who will create a customized program of Hawaiian remedies for the customer.
The tailored spa treatment will wrap up with a private dinner at the Kauai’i Grill, the resort’s signature restaurant that is run by famed restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
In addition, Colin Hazama, executive chef of the restaurant will lead a snorkeling- and-lunch tour along the Kauai’i coastline in a 45-foot Hawaiian sailing canoe.
Meanwhile, at Mexico’s St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, guests will be invited to a visit to Tequila, birthplace of the eponymous spirit, to witness the creation of the drink from scratch to end at Mundo Cuervo’s La Rojena distillery.
This tour will close with a special tasting of Reserve of the Family, spirits giant Jose Cuervo’s top tequila, before sitting down to a four-course dinner at the Punta Mita resort’s Carolina signature restaurant.
Finally, sports and food enthusiasts staying at The St. Regis Atlanta Nov. 24 through Jan. 3 will be invited to Fire & Ice Dinner Aficionado Experience at the sole hotel ice skating destination in Georgia.
A St. Regis butler will perform a signature Champagne-sabering ritual and celebratory toast to the evening. An hour-long private skating lesson on the Astor Holiday Rink will follow that covers a six-course prix-fixe dinner for two served by waiters skating on ice.
Plush growth
The Aficionado program kicks a period of hectic activity for the St. Regis brand.
The chain will open its 21st hotel, the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Puerto Rico, with a glamorous event Nov. 10 at the St Regis New York flagship.
“The resort marks the first St. Regis in the Caribbean, as well as doubles the brand’s global footprint from where it was just two years ago,” Mr. James said.
Further out, St. Regis will open properties worldwide including the St. Regis Lhasa Resort, which will be the first St. Regis resort in Tibet and also the first international luxury hotel in the territory.
Also, St. Regis will unveil new hotels and resorts in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, and the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius, off the coast of Africa.
As with all its hotels and experiences, the emphasis will be on luxury, bespoke service and refined elegance – the St. Regis mantra.
The Aficionado calendar of experiences fits within that line of positioning as the St. Regis jostles for luxury-traveler market share with other high-end hotel chains such as the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.
“When curating the calendar, St. Regis aims to offer exciting opportunities that satisfies the varying interests of all of St. Regis’ guests,” Mr. James said.
“From speed and sport to fashion and design, and food and wine to art and literature, the Aficionado program has a wide range of tailored experiences for all of St. Regis’ discerning travelers,” he said.
Peter Finocchiaro reported on this story.
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