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London hotel project is part of luxury retailer’s new focus on upscale experiences
The Paris-based parent company of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and other fashion houses will build a hotel in London's Mayfair area
Paris-based retailer LVMH plans to develop a London hotel and spa as the company expands beyond luxury goods into upscale experiences.
LVMH, which owns such luxury fashion houses as Dior, Celine, Fendi and Louis Vuitton, is preparing to develop a hotel in the affluent Mayfair area of London.
Real estate developer O&H is working with LVMH to turn a Georgian building on Mayfair’s Grafton Street into a hotel with a spa, a restaurant and perhaps a Celine store, according to a publication called Business of Fashion.
LVMH already has a presence in Mayfair, where several of its subsidiaries, including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, operate retail stores. The company plans to entice guests of the hotel to shop at its nearby collection of luxury retail stores in Mayfair.
The hotel project, which would cost as much as £500 million, is scheduled for completion by 2022.
LVMH already has started to shift its focus from products to experiences by designing the existing hotels in the company’s Bulgari Hotels and Cheval Blanc chains to accommodate guests who want to spend time with friends or family members.
According to Forbes, 74 percent of American millennials put a higher priority on experiences than products.
“The future of luxury will not only be in luxury goods, as it’s been for many years, but also in luxury experiences, and we want to be in both segments,” Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, told Business of Fashion. [Harpers Bazaar] – Mike Seemuth