Two things he likes best: to travel and to be pampered. Ivo knows better than anyone else where to book a room or suite.Text: Ivo Weyel
Online editing: Fleur de Jong
It has been going on for a while now, that hotels and B&Bs are no longer enough just to spend a night in. The new magic word is "experience," or "experience," in the sense of a unique experience or unique experience, an added value to satisfy the increasingly spoiled guest. An example is sleeping in someone else's bed. Well of course that is by definition the case when staying somewhere, but meant is the bed of a celebrity. In the suite where Madonna laid her head to rest tiredly, Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned with Richard Burton (and drank two bottles of vodka a day, one for him, one for her), where Churchill sat painting the view, or where John Belushi overboxed. The latest addition to this series is Nelson Mandela's bed, in the Johannesburg house he bought after his release. The house was once supposed to be a museum, but it became too expensive and could not be made profitable. It has now become a boutique hotel, where much is still in its original place, supplemented by new furniture and more modern comforts. Who also remained is Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Nelson's private cook. Room 9 ("President") was his personal bedroom and number 5 ("Nel," Mandela's nickname in prison) hangs full of personal memorabilia, such as letters he wrote to his children from Robben Island. This Sanctuary Mandela, as it is called not without some dramatic sense of canonization, is not necessarily luxurious (the mattress is not to write home about) or magnificently located (in an expensive residential area) or great in drink and food (so don't whine if you don't like Ndoyiya's stew that much, as it is mwoah), but that doesn't matter in this kind of experience; after all, today's accepted definition of new luxury is no longer expensive stuff pur sang or a butler per room, but the once in a lifetime experience. An escorted visit to the nearby Mandela Museum is included in the room rate.
Sanctuarymandela.comPhoto: Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design
Another hotel experience: the hotel boat. Okay, we already have the ss Rotterdam, a former ship of the Holland-America Line, which now serves as a hotel, as well as the cruise ship Sunborn moored in the London harbor. And the Ritz-Carlton chain has its own extremely luxurious ship on which to vacation. But all that is trumped by the Aman hotel group, which recently announced its Project Sama (Sanskrit for "rest"), being the construction of an unprecedentedly luxurious 183-meter yacht with just 50 terrace suites. It will not sail until 2025, but no doubt it will be possible to sign up for it starting next year (enthusiasm is already huge). The calming Aman atmosphere that everyone knows from the hotels is reflected in a real Japanese Zen garden on board plus a kind of Beach Club that gives direct access to the water from the aft of the ship, so no more walking or jumping boards, but just paddling straight out. The only thing disturbing the tranquility are the helicopters that will regularly land on the two helipads to land one guest after another. A special detail is that the ship is being designed by the Dutch company Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design, the boat design firm of designer Sander Sinot. Aman was once the first to introduce the so-called hotel villas, by way of stand-alone hotel suites, which was later adopted by just about all luxury hotels and has now become something of a commonplace in the most opulent resorts. Won't be long before the next big hotel name comes up with its own barge. After all, Aman's example always follows well.
Aman.comPhoto: RJR Photography
You always have boss over boss. Hotels tumble over each other to generate media attention and do so at the highest (read: most expensive) level by, for example, shouting from the rooftops that they have the most expensive suite in the world in their house. The highest bid is now hovering around a ton per night, for the Damien Hirst-designed Empathy Suite - empathy with what, with whom? - at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, with the understanding that a two-night minimum stay is required. Free stays are also possible (it is Vegas, after all), but then a minimum of one million must be gambled away. The two-story suite of over eight hundred square feet is full of original artwork by Damien Hirst. Doesn't really make you happy either. Next year, a new hotel will open in Vegas that has clearly had enough of all this competitive bidding and is simply betting at the very highest level. The name is still being kept secret (it's part of the Resorts World chain), but prices are already being trumpeted: construction will cost $4.3 billion, the entry price for the smallest room $1,500, and there's already a pre-book pre-share deal up for grabs of $300,000 for two nights in the finest suite. And hey, I'd do it if I were you, because whoever doesn't grab this deal will soon have to shell out $180,000 a night. Hm. Perhaps then the adage that experience is the new luxury is not quite right after all?
Rwlasvegas.comPhoto: Palms Casino Resort
The spring issue of MASTERS celebrates regained freedom after two years of corona. Its value is underscored by developments in Eastern Europe, where the freedom of an entire people is at stake. We live in a new reality, but we can plan again, eat out, meet people. The world is turning again! Only: which way? Time for new bridges, new initiatives. To which this edition of MASTERS offers inspiration.
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