The Emory. Images courtesy of Maybourne
Palatial stays
A new crop of uber-luxe hotels is courting travelers who want to live like modern royalty.
Coverage of luxury hotels have been hitting headlines with publications including The Guardian and The Times noting next-level extravagant openings accompanied by lavish price tags. More recently, Bloomberg's January 2024 article titled "how $1,000-a-night hotel rooms became the new normal" addressing ultra high-net-worth travelers turning to opulent destinations with accommodations fit for royalty.
In the UK capital, The Emory opened in April 2024 by the Maybourne Hotel Group. The luxury suite-only hotel is located in London Knightsbridge and comprises of 60 suites across nine floors. Its signature Penhouse Emory Suite occupies the entirety of the top floor and measures 3,229 sq ft. Designed with quiet luxury in mind, the decor signals a modern approach tailored to today's luxury guests.
September 2023 openings include Raffles London at The OWO and The Peninsula London. For the latter, room rates start at $1,600 per night, and suites start at just under $4,000. The Peninsula Suite is “the hotel’s most palatial accommodation,” the hotel says—and reportedly the largest private accommodation available in London. At 1,400 square feet, it includes a formal dining room, a private gym, terrace, and cinema. “It’s like a hotel within a hotel,” Sonja Vodusek, managing director of The Peninsula London, told Robb Report.
The Peninsula London
Luxury fashion house and jeweler Bulgari opened its new Rome hotel in September 2023. Room rates start at $1,500, but the crowning jewel is its premier one-bedroom suite—which costs €38,000 ($41,000) a night.
Upping the opulence with an added dose of grandeur, many hospitality moguls are transforming old castles into majestic accommodations. Palazzo Vil.n, opened in April 2023, “gives guests the chance to live like Roman nobility,” Travel + Leisure reports. Located in one wing of the Palazzo Borghese, the Italian noble family’s historic palace, the villa was imagined as “a Roman refuge for Arab sheikhs, Harry and Meghan, and Hollywood royalty,” the New York Times reports. To rent the entire villa, guests will need to shell out an average of €25,000 ($27,000) per night.
In Austria, the Almanac Palais Vienna, opened in April 2023, transformed a former palace into a hotel. And in Japan, two historic castles—Ozu Castle and Hirado Castle—are opening their doors to overnight guests for the first time.
