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Claridge’s owner Maybourne is planning to nearly triple its number of hotels in the next decade, expanding into Paris, New York, Miami and Dubai to tap into booming demand for luxury travel.
The company, which owns and operates six hotels — four in London and one each in Beverly Hills and the French Riviera — is looking to have 15 to 17 by 2035, according to co-chief executives Gianluca Muzzi and Marc Socker. Half of these would be management contract only, rather than under Maybourne’s ownership.
“Before, [our focus] was mostly around the hotels . . . to preserve their identity, but what we are doing now is to establish and strengthen the presence of the management company, Maybourne itself,” Muzzi told the Financial Times in an interview at the Emory, the group’s new London hotel.
Maybourne, which is ultimately owned by Qatari royals Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will open a hotel and serviced apartments in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, renovating the former Defence Ministry building. Muzzi said it would be “another historical landmark hotel, similar to the Connaught and Claridge’s in London”.
It is also planning another UK hotel in a historic building in Hampshire, while Dubai and New York hotels will be newly built. “We would end up being, probably by the end of the decade, at maybe 15, 16 or 17 hotels . . . mainly in urban gateway cities,” said Socker.
He added there were also plans to expand into Asia further into the future, in places such as Singapore and Tokyo.
The expansion by the owner of some of London’s best known hotels comes as luxury travel continues to benefit from a post-pandemic boom.
In London, average daily room rates for luxury hotels rose by 42 per cent between 2019 and 2023, compared with a 27 per cent increase for the whole market, according to real estate company CBRE.
In Paris and Milan, rates increased by 42 and 60 per cent respectively, compared with 37 per cent growth for all hotels in these cities.
“Given the golden age of travel and [that] people are looking for new experiences, we want to create a strong management company and a strong lifestyle brand,” Socker said. “Maybourne before was more a [business to business] brand. Now we’re coming out with the consumer brand, and are prepared to enter into these new commercial ventures.”
Socker said that Maybourne would launch a “membership community” next year. This would give exclusive access to some services and parts of its hotels. It will also license its spa and wellness brand to be operated elsewhere.
Maybourne has been in expansion mode following the pandemic. The Emory, its first London hotel in 50 years, added to its two international properties, the Maybourne Beverly Hills and the Maybourne Riviera on the Côte d’Azur.
The company, whose Qatari owner has been in a dispute with Irish property developer and previous shareholder Paddy McKillen over the value of a stake in the business, reported turnover of £29.1mn for the year ended December 2023, up 40 per cent year-on-year. Its pre-tax losses were £11.1mn, widening from £6.1mn the previous year, owing to interest expenses from intercompany loans. Claridge’s recorded a pre-tax profit of £7.2mn for 2023.