Meet The Hotel Group Paving The Way For Wellness And Sustainability

Olivier Jolivet has been the chief executive officer of COMO Group since 2017, overseeing the makes portfolio of 15 leading hotels throughout the world—from London to the Maldives. Most recently, Jolivet oversaw the brand’s first European start with COMO Castello Del Nero, a 12-century castle set on 740-acres of undulating green in Tuscany.

What sets COMO apart from other luxury manufacturers and how do you preserve a issue of variation from other luxurious resort brand names? Since its start, COMO Group’s shareholders have stayed the exact, which has offered a unusual feeling of security and the option to believe extensive term. It’s a aggressive advantage, especially when recruiting new talent. COMO is much more than just a brand name, it is a spirit and a lifestyle, which is why we’ve invested in trend, restaurants, wellness and activity, and will carry on to do so as we develop.

What is your approach to sustainability for now and in the foreseeable future? Our homes are located all all over the world and each destination faces its individual exceptional difficulties when it comes to sustainability.

Recent successes involve appointing a Sustainability Manager at COMO Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos to oversee assignments on the island, these as squander reduction, water preserving and our mission to remove single-use plastic bottles by 2023. Our Maldivian resorts, COMO Cocoa Island and COMO Maalifushi, are intensely associated in marine conservation initiatives, when COMO Uma Bhutan supports Clean Bhutan, a non-revenue organisation doing work to make the place zero-squander by 2030.

COMO Castello del Nero marks the manufacturers 1st venture into Europe—why Italy? What can you inform us about the approaching opening of COMO Le Montrachet in France? Italy is a desired destination that by no means goes out of model, and as an intercontinental way of living model, it’s nearly unachievable to steer clear of. Tuscany in individual is one of the most wonderful areas in the place, with its prosperous history, attractive landscapes, traditions and delicacies, it truly is of great intercontinental enchantment. Opening the region’s initial Asian-influenced wellness notion in the form of the hotel’s COMO Shambhala Retreat features some thing new and distinctive to these kinds of a favored spot.

COMO Le Montrachet, our up coming European project in the pipeline, is an thrilling a person for us. We’re opening the home in Burgundy, which is commonly regarded as the world’s most prestigious wine regions and COMO will be the initially worldwide hotel group to have a site there. It’s going to make on our track record for offering genuine, regionally influenced dining activities, and we have worked with prolonged-time design and style companion, Paola Navone, on the interiors to give it that distinctive COMO feel.

How do you equilibrium creating a brand name that is the two timeless and cutting edge? I think the key to a timeless hotel model is to have a solid manufacturer identity and adhere to obvious core values. Just one of our points of difference, for occasion, is the exclusive appear of our houses. When coming up with a hotel or restoring an current building, we have a deep knowing of what can and what are not able to be improved: we often maintain the unique and historic elements intact. This way we deliver guests with state-of-the-art facilities and elegant spaces that have a story to notify.

Bhutan is a rather unconventional state in the portfolio. What is the procedure when it arrives to getting and opening new properties? We position massive great importance on locale when building a new home, normally imagining about how a location links with our brand’s values. Bhutan has these kinds of a potent non secular power, which vacationers looking for reliable ordeals reply truly effectively to, so whilst it may well be considered uncommon, it’s essentially a section of the world that helps make a ton of sense for the COMO brand.

What does fashionable luxury look like? While luxury can imply unique matters to distinctive people, COMO’s plan of luxury is understated, complex, genuine and deeply intertwined with personalized wellbeing. We shell out a lot of notice to the architecture of our houses since we want to give our company area to dream and a pure atmosphere where by they can recharge, rest and reconnect with on their own. And for me, luxury has a thing to do with the link concerning house and intimacy.

What traits are you noticing in vacation at the moment and in lodge bookings? The pandemic led to a shift in people’s priorities, with health and fitness and wellness ranking larger than at any time. As a consequence, the craze toward wellness-led tourism has continued to soar and today quite a few enterprises are sharpening their wellness choices to preserve up with this. However, our wellness qualifications are unmatched COMO and COMO Shambhala are revolutionary.

Privateness and intimate locations are also of utmost important for luxurious travelers, and we discovered an greater demand from customers for COMO’s private villas and residences, as well as private, unique activities catering for modest groups of friends or family members.

Right now, discerning tourists eschew luxury for luxury’s sake and are much more intrigued in immersive, significant activities that make them feel aspect of a broader tale: the story of the destination they’re identifying.

What gives you hope at this moment? The turmoil of the earlier few several years has taken a toll on everybody, no issue wherever in the earth or what marketplace they get the job done in. Assembly persons deal with-to-confront was extremely hard, and producing electronic connections was the only way. Now that the earth is opening up again, resuming in-man or woman meetings and connecting with men and women from all about the globe and listening to their inspiring stories, is energising and won’t be taken for granted yet again.