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The owner of Claridge Maybourne plans to almost triple the number of hotels in the next decade, expanding to Paris, New York, Miami and Dubai to meet growing 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 — aims to have 15 to 17 hotels by 2035, according to co-CEOs Gianluca Muzzi and Marc Socker. Half would only be a management contract and not owned by Maybourne.
“Before, (our focus) was mostly around hotels. . . to preserve their identity, but what we are doing now is establishing and strengthening the presence of the management company, Maybourne itself,” Muzzi told the Financial Times in an interview with Emorythe group’s new London hotel.
Maybourne, which is ultimately owned by the Qatari royal families 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, Paris, renovating the former Ministry defense of buildings. Muzzi said it would be “another historic landmark hotel, similar to the Connaught and Claridge’s in London”.
It is also planning another British hotel in a historic building in Hampshire, while hotels in Dubai and New York will be newly built. “We would end up, probably by the end of the decade, in maybe 15, 16 or 17 hotels. . . mostly in the gateway cities of the city,” Socker said.
He added that there are also plans to expand into Asia further into the future, to places like Singapore and Tokyo.
The expansion by the owners of some of London’s most famous 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 percent between 2019 and 2023, compared with a 27 percent increase for the market as a whole, according to property firm CBRE.
In Paris and Milan, prices rose by 42 and 60 percent, respectively, compared to a 37 percent increase for all hotels in those 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 used to be more of a (business to business) brand. Now we are coming out with a consumer brand and we are ready to enter these new commercial ventures.”
Socker said Maybourne will launch a “membership community” next year. This would provide exclusive access to some services and parts of its hotels. It will also license its spa and wellness brand to operate in other locations.
Maybourne has been undergoing expansion since the pandemic. The Emory, its first hotel in London in 50 years, has added its two international properties, Maybourne Beverly Hills and Maybourne Riviera on the Côte d’Azur.
The company, whose Qatari owner has been ua for years slow with Irish property developer and previous shareholder Paddy McKillen over the value of the stake in the business, reported turnover of £29.1m for the year ending December 2023, up 40 per cent on the previous year. Its pre-tax losses were £11.1m, up from £6.1m the previous year, thanks to interest costs on intercompany loans. Claridge’s has posted a pre-tax profit of £7.2m for 2023.
