Can a hotel be very large and still be luxurious? Yes it can. Many of the grand hotels of Europe are large. And even in India, the country’s most famous hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, is huge.
Deepak Ohri, one of the best known hoteliers in the Far East, has launched a new company that takes luxury to a different level. Guests travel by private planes, helicopters and yachts and the meals are at top restaurants like Gaggan and at such hotels as the Capella, which has won awards for being the best hotel in the world. But can a hotel be very small and still be luxurious? There are two answers to that question. The first is that it’s very difficult to deliver a luxury experience without scale. You need staff to pamper guests and most small hotels can’t afford too many employees. I was talking about this apparent paradox to Laurent Gardinier, who owns Domaine Les Crayères in the champagne town of Reims. I was blown away when I stayed there. Relais & Châteaux has had its ups and downs. Its larger properties can be disappointing. The single worst ‘luxury’ hotel I have ever stayed in was The Yeatman in Porto, Portugal, booked for me by Relais & Châteaux. For instance, not only is the best small luxury hotel in India a member of Relais & Châteaux but its owners helped put the organisation on the map in our country. One of them, Jaisal Singh, was global vice-president of the organisation and helped turn it around when it was in a bit of a hole. The Singhs came to luxury hospitality as outsiders who channelled their own expectations and vast global travel experience into a hotel company. But even veteran hoteliers are embracing the idea of small, personalised luxury experiences.
Les Crayères is small (20 rooms), is famous for its restaurant (two Michelin stars; it used to have three) and offers a superlative luxury experience. It has 120 rooms, which is too large for a Relais & Châteaux property, and shamefully enough is (I think) still a member. It has 137 employees for only ten luxury tents (a tent is where boy scouts sleep while camping; a luxury tent is a glamorous villa with a tented roof) and outstanding food (the group’s culinary head Cosmo Palling worked at London’s The River Cafe) and truly personalised service. There are around 21 such options for trips, each designed to show guests the Thailand tourists never see.
Because many of them are family-owned and managed, it’s the smaller properties that Relais & Châteaux excels at,. Because the hotel part of the operation is so well run, speaking for myself, I would go back to Jawai like a shot even if I never see a leopard again.
