Cross the champagne and caviar: Considered one of IHG’s most luxurious manufacturers is lastly getting again into the U.S. resort enterprise.

Regent Inns & Resorts plans to open Regent Santa Monica in California later this 12 months. The resort, previously a 347-room Loews-affiliated resort, will bear a big renovation that cuts the room depend by no less than half to carry the property as much as Regent’s ultra-luxurious requirements, IHG leaders instructed TPG this week forward of the announcement.

Regent Santa Monica is a return to the U.S. for the general model, which launched in Hawaii within the Nineteen Seventies and ultimately expanded to Beverly Hills earlier than 4 Seasons absorbed a good portion of the model’s portfolio within the Nineties. IHG considers the transfer extra like a U.S. debut for a reimagined Regent model.

It’s a busy month for Regent, opened the Carlton Cannes, a Regent Lodge, this week in Southern France and plans on opening the Regent Hong Kong later this month. Each of these lodges are former InterContinental-branded lodges (although the Regent Hong Kong was initially a Regent, so it’s a homecoming of kinds for that property).

Questioning the place precisely Regent suits within the ultra-luxury sector, recognized for manufacturers like Marriott’s St. Regis and Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria? IHG leaders divulged all the small print.

“We spent quite a lot of effort and time speaking to our proprietor companions all over the world about properties and lodges that may make it and whether or not that may be necessary to have a standard shared imaginative and prescient, which we completely do with this resort by way of imaginative and prescient and of what we need to carry to the subsequent era of luxurious,” Tom Rowntree, IHG’s vp of luxurious manufacturers, stated in an interview with TPG this week amid the Carlton Cannes opening. “That is type of a non-negotiable, I might say.”

Regent Santa Monica’s shoreline location is steps from the Santa Monica Pier, and a beachfront pool deck with a number of swimming pools, a vacation spot spa and a wellness middle are a part of the redevelopment plans. A high-end market, in addition to a celeb chef-anchored restaurant, are additionally within the works, however no additional particulars had been supplied.

Regent Santa Monica is anticipated to be an all-suites resort by the point of opening day, Rowntree stated. It would even be thought of the model’s Americas flagship.

“Regent Santa Monica Seashore is the beginning of a vibrant future for the model within the Americas, emphasizing our strategic deal with luxurious and way of life development globally,” Julienne Smith, IHG’s chief growth officer for the Americas, stated in an announcement.

Regent’s rebirth all over the world

Whereas additional particulars weren’t available on the upcoming California resort, one can look to the Carlton Cannes renovation as what may be in retailer for Santa Monica. The 332-room French resort underwent a two-year renovation emigrate from its InterContinental previous into the Regent vibe.

TPG toured the property in December whereas development was nonetheless underway and, whereas pictures wasn’t allowed on the time, it was clear the workforce was going to nice lengths to raise the property to new glory.

Excavators dug under the property so as to add a parking storage, spa, wellness middle and conference house whereas builders reworked a rear parking zone right into a backyard and year-round swimming pool. A workforce of 750 craftspeople labored on cautious particulars like Artwork Deco-inspired chandeliers and hand-placed marble scales on the foyer ground. A workforce of artisans who restored chandeliers on the Palace of Versailles labored to revive chandeliers within the Grand Salon.

From private remark, the 72 visitor rooms and suites with views of the Mediterranean will probably be sizzling commodities on the Cannes resort scene. Every boasted clear, minimalist designs with giant, marble bogs. How a lot did an overhaul like this price?

Rowntree declined to offer a particular quantity, however it was a price range excessive sufficient to think about the exact angle the parking storage incline might have with out operating the danger of scratching the fender of a low-sitting McLaren sports activities automotive.

“It is the restoration of a monument, in order that’s working with actual specialists of their craft on how they create again the previous glory of our resort,” Rowntree stated. “

The Regent Hong Kong is slated to make its personal debut this month, with related anticipation round its personal return to glory. The resort was operated as an InterContinental from 2001 till 2020, when it closed for renovations. Whereas the 2 latest Regent lodges had been as soon as InterContinental lodges, that doesn’t imply IHG vacationers ought to count on a wave of those InterContinental-to-Regent transformations to occur sooner or later.

“It’s not our technique to rebrand Intercontinental [hotels] to Regents,” Rowntree stated. “It’s simply that these two house owners had utterly matched with the path we had been taking Regent model.”

IHG’s ultra-luxury ambition

The brand new resort within the U.S. is the most recent in a fast ascent for Regent’s total resort depend. Whereas Regent’s first resort was in Hawaii, the model had scaled again to Asia and two properties in Europe by the point IHG introduced in 2018 it was the model’s new majority stakeholder. IHG leaders indicated a long-term plan on the time of the acquisition to beef Regent up from six lodges to greater than 40.

Regent is a part of IHG’s vital push into the luxurious and way of life resort sector. Till 2015, the corporate’s most luxurious model was InterContinental. Firm leaders acknowledged there wanted to be extra choices on this house to compete higher. Marriott has seven luxurious manufacturers whereas Hyatt has eight, in line with each firms’ most up-to-date annual reviews.

IHG now has six manufacturers in its “Luxurious and Way of life Assortment” due to the acquisitions of Kimpton, Six Senses and Regent in addition to the launch of the Vignette Assortment. Lodge Indigo and InterContinental additionally reside on this model cluster.

“Up till 2015, InterContinental Inns and Resorts was our solely luxurious resort model and an unimaginable model. It has been round since 1946 and actually is a pioneer of worldwide luxurious journey, and that continues right this moment — however it was our solely luxurious model,” Rowntree stated. “What we noticed coming from so much from our IHG One Rewards members was a requirement for having a better breadth and depth of luxurious choices that they might then each earn and redeem their factors.”

Six Senses is the corporate’s wellness- and sustainability-focused ultra-luxury model that’s rooted in resort locations however has more and more pushed into cities, with one resort in Istanbul and one other slated for Rome later this 12 months.

Regent is extra of the standard, ultra-luxury providing; although, Rowntree notes the revival of the model is aimed extra at increasing to youthful vacationers.

“What we acknowledge with Regent is the evolution of the luxurious client and that youthful mindset that they’re having and that the standard traditional lodges have to evolve and really meet the wants of the fashionable luxurious client,” Rowntree stated. “That’s the place Regent sits, and that could be a very clear ambition for the model.”

A number of the particular methods on courtroom these younger-minded luxurious vacationers weren’t instantly clear, however taking note of McLaren automotive heights when designing a parking storage in Cannes is clearly a place to begin.

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