Latest / GowayPro Travel Tales / Belmond - A Look Inside Luxury Travel
Transcript
- 0:03Hey there everyone, I'm Don, Professor Goethe and welcome to the GoethePro Travel Tale podcast.
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- 1:01Now today I'd like to introduce or welcome Andrea Valente, who is the account director of Belmond.
- 1:09Now, for those who may not know who Belmond is, Belmond was formerly the Orient Express chain of properties and.
- 1:18Trains, correct Andrea?
- 1:20Okay, so before we get into Belmont, now we know where it was or who it was, can you give us a little background on yourself, who you are, how you came to be representing Belmont
- 1:29and their product?
- 1:30Yes, so I am your contractor.
- 1:33I'm based here in Toronto.
- 1:34So I previously used to be with the Ritz Carlton for many years.
- 1:37So I was there about nine years.
- 1:39That was my introduction into the luxury world of hospitality.
- 1:43And then just through those connections, luckily I was able to get within the Belmont family in right post pandemic.
- 1:51So it was actually 2021.
- 1:53The company was really looking to expand the sales team to make Belmont a bit more well known in Canada.
- 2:00especially since we don't physically have any products or hotels here.
- 2:04So in Canada or Canada, the US, actually only have one now.
- 2:09It's just in Santa Barbara.
- 2:10We'll touch on that.
- 2:12Exactly.
- 2:12So I was brought in really to bring more awareness to all the Canadians of our amazing collection here.
- 2:19So it's been three years with the company.
- 2:21So from the Ritz Carlton, which is a five star chain, correct?
- 2:24It is a five star, but it is very different.
- 2:26So I used to be with the two Canadian ones here and it is a bit more corporate, definitely.
- 2:31So switching to Belmond, it's much more leisure focused, which has been really fun.
- 2:36But Belmond, I think most people know if they don't know the name Belmond, Orient Express would also suggest that it's a five star.
- 2:43Definitely five star.
- 2:45of service and product throughout the world.
- 2:47Exactly.
- 2:48OK, so you just mentioned that there is no Belmond property
- 2:51or otherwise in Canada, but there is one in the US and you mentioned Santa Barbara.
- 2:55Santa Barbara, it's called El Encanto.
- 2:57So it's kind of tucked up in the hills.
- 2:58That's a hotel, would assume.
- 3:00Hotel, yes.
- 3:01So it almost looks like a collection of cottages.
- 3:04Yeah, it's a really beautiful spot.
- 3:06But exactly that's kind of the closest to home for us Canadians to experience it.
- 3:11Okay, so Belmont is
- 3:14Fair to say worldwide?
- 3:15Worldwide.
- 3:16its offerings?
- 3:17Okay.
- 3:17I was going to read something I picked up from your website.
- 3:19In 2024, the company had 47 properties in 28 countries and territories with 32 hotels, six trains, and seven riverboat cruises and two safaris.
- 3:32Exactly.
- 3:33Okay.
- 3:33Something else.
- 3:34The company was founded in 1976 by an American entrepreneur, James Sherwood, with acquisition of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice.
- 3:42Exactly.
- 3:44He then bought some carriages from the original Orient Express train which he restored and used to offer rides from Paris to London to his hotel in Venice.
- 3:54And it was in 2014 that Orient Express became Bellman.
- 3:57And I remember working with Orient Express when it was Orient Express and was Bellman.
- 4:01Now my background is the Latin America area so I'm quite well versed with your products.
- 4:06I believe it's just in Peru, is that correct?
- 4:08And we have two in Brazil as well.
- 4:10yeah, of course you have.
- 4:11What's the hotel in Rio?
- 4:13Yes, have Copacabana Palace.
- 4:14Copacabana Palace, of course.
- 4:15And then we also have Hotel Das Cataratas, which is out of Guassu Falls.
- 4:19of course.
- 4:19I sold those all the time.
- 4:21How could I forget Das Cataratas?
- 4:24Yes.
- 4:24OK, so we'll come back to Latin America.
- 4:27We'll round up with that.
- 4:30So that so we have in Peru, there's a hotel, there's a train.
- 4:35Peru is actually quite a big hub for us now.
- 4:37So we have six hotels and two trains in Peru.
- 4:40You have the Monasterio.
- 4:42Monasterio and Placio Nazarenes are actually, they're right next door to each other in Cusco.
- 4:47That's in Cusco.
- 4:48And you have the Sanctuary Lodge.
- 4:49Sanctuary Lodge, is right at the gates of Machu Picchu.
- 4:52We also have Rio Sagrado, which is in the Sacred Valley.
- 4:55We also have one in Lima called Miraflores Park Hotel.
- 4:59And then the last one is Colca Canyon.
- 5:01So we have hotel, which one's in the Colca?
- 5:03It's called Las Casitas.
- 5:06When did Belmont take that one on?
- 5:08We've had it for quite a bit now.
- 5:10It's part of the collection.
- 5:11it's actually, it's quite small.
- 5:13So it's only about 15 cottages down in the canyon.
- 5:16But the best part about that is it pairs really nicely with our train, the Andean Explorer.
- 5:23Cause that starts in Cusco and goes down to Arequipa.
- 5:26And there's a stop where you can hop off at Colca Canyon.
- 5:28Okay.
- 5:29We'll expand on that in a minute.
- 5:30Okay.
- 5:31So would it be fair to say Pru is your biggest center then of properties and...
- 5:35It's actually Italy.
- 5:39Italy would be number one in number of so let's go through Italy then.
- 5:41Yeah, so we have nine hotels now in Italy.
- 5:43So like you mentioned the whole company once we got the carriages for the Venice Simplon Orient Express, the Cipriani was the first hotel which was in Venice and the Italian
- 5:53portfolio definitely grew from there.
- 5:55We have nine now.
- 5:56The latest was actually just this year.
- 5:58We have a brand new hotel that opened called Romazzino in Sardinia.
- 6:02So that was the latest collection and Italy is definitely
- 6:05very important to Belmont, so it's going to continue to grow.
- 6:08You're going to see more hotels coming to Italy.
- 6:10so those who are watching our podcast here on our YouTube channel, so we've got Venice, Sardinia, what other locations?
- 6:17If we start from top to bottom, Venice would be the most northern, then we have two hotels now in Portofino, Splendido and Splendido Mare.
- 6:25Next, if we head down to Florence, Tuscany area, we have Villa San Michele in Florence, up in the hills of Fiesole.
- 6:32We also have in Tuscany, Castelladica.
- 6:35which is on 4200 acres of land, very in the country, it's beautiful.
- 6:41Heading down to the Amalfi Coast, we're in Ravello, we have Caruso, and then we have two in Sardinia.
- 6:47So we have both in Terra Mina, but we have one up in the town called Grand Hotel Tomeo, and then we also have Villa San Andrea, which is your...
- 6:55essentially your quintessential beach escape in Sicily right on the water.
- 7:00again for those who watching I would have thrown up a map while you were talking Andrea.
- 7:04So people will know geographically what we're talking about there.
- 7:08So Italy is just hotels, no trains, no...
- 7:11No specific trains however the Venice Simplon Orient Express, one of the biggest hubs is in Venice.
- 7:16So it's very likely that someone would do the trip and then stay at the Cipriani after.
- 7:20So that classic Orient Express train ride which people might know from movies and books runs
- 7:25from Venice to London or did?
- 7:28So it still does.
- 7:30That's one of the best things about Belmont in the past couple years.
- 7:33We've really expanded our variety of offerings on that train.
- 7:37So the two hubs would definitely be Venice and Paris.
- 7:40That's the most common route to do that journey.
- 7:42and Paris is most common.
- 7:43But they're all one night journeys.
- 7:45So now, for example, you can go from Paris to Florence, Paris to Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam.
- 7:51Our longest journey goes to Istanbul.
- 7:52That's a five night journey.
- 7:55Paris.
- 7:55Paris.
- 7:56Yeah.
- 7:56And now we also go to Portofino, Ticcano, you can do the French Alps.
- 8:00So Paris is the main like?
- 8:02Paris is normally.
- 8:03Is it the hub?
- 8:04Yeah.
- 8:05Normally it's on one of the legs.
- 8:06You're either starting or ending in Paris.
- 8:08Okay.
- 8:09Yeah.
- 8:09So you mentioned overnight, again, shorter trip, not Istanbul.
- 8:13So I would assume that the train run, let's just talk Paris.
- 8:16Yes.
- 8:17it's for the sake of conversation.
- 8:18I would assume that it's sleeper cars.
- 8:21Sleeper cars.
- 8:21We have a few different cabin options.
- 8:24The smallest
- 8:25would be like your historic cabin, which actually has the upper and lower berths going up to the largest carriage, which would be our grand suite.
- 8:35Sneak peek actually next year, starting in July, we have a brand new carriage coming out.
- 8:41So to give you an idea, one carriage would hold nine regular cabins or three grand suites.
- 8:47The newest suite we're offering is a whole carriage to itself.
- 8:50it's going to be the most high end.
- 8:52Yes.
- 8:53And it's going to be very unique of its
- 8:55in comparison to any other train journey.
- 8:59So that's a bucket list.
- 9:00on the, again we're talking this train.
- 9:02Now tell me if this sort of rolls out because I know the Peruvian trains.
- 9:07Yes.
- 9:07Okay but I don't know any other trains you might run.
- 9:09Okay.
- 9:09So if what you're describing is applicable to other trains can you just let us know that?
- 9:13Yeah.
- 9:14So you have your sleeper bertha course.
- 9:16Yes.
- 9:17I would assume there's dining cars on board.
- 9:19Is there an observation car on that particular train?
- 9:21The European one?
- 9:22The Venice Simplon or Inexpress is the only one that doesn't have
- 9:25an observation car.
- 9:27we have multiple dining cars.
- 9:29have a bar car.
- 9:30So for instance, in the bar car, there would be a grand piano.
- 9:33There's live entertainment with like a horn section, a singer.
- 9:38So the Venice Simplon is kind of a bit different, to be honest, because it's a bit of a it's a one night journey.
- 9:44The destination is the train.
- 9:46So really, you're on board the whole time.
- 9:48Whereas the Andean Explorer, like you mentioned in Peru, or we also have the Royal Scotsman now in Scotland, which runs from
- 9:55That one is always in and out of Edinburgh, but it could be anywhere almost up to seven nights if you wanted to.
- 10:01But those are a bit different because they'll have observation cars, they'll have the dining cars, the bar cars.
- 10:06They also have spa cars on them because you're on them longer.
- 10:10So the Royal Scotsman, for example, had the first Dior spa ever on a train.
- 10:15So you could get a really cool treatment going through the countryside there.
- 10:19But those have a bit more in terms of offerings because you're on for a longer amount of So as you say, guess without
- 10:25cheaping the product, which it's not by any means, but the sort of European excluding the Istanbul is more of a connector.
- 10:31Whereas the other journeys would be a journey on a train, a journey versus getting from point A to point B.
- 10:37The one, the other one is very much, yeah, you're getting from point A to point B, but you want to do it in the most grand experience.
- 10:43It's a formal affair.
- 10:44We're bringing you back to the twenties and thirties.
- 10:46That was my next question for, I know this doesn't apply for the Belmont in Peru, but for the European and when I now say European, I'm talking
- 10:55The Venice and also the UK.
- 10:59The Royal Scotsman.
- 11:02Is the dress code, is it an enforced dress code of formal or Just on the Venice, simple on orange dress.
- 11:09in that, cause it's a one night, that one is more formal.
- 11:12So you're basically going out for dinner on a train, starting in one city and ending up in another.
- 11:17Exactly.
- 11:17Whereas the Royal Scottsdon, there's one, we say formal, but it's much more casual.
- 11:22And we actually do that because one of the experiences on board is you could get the full Scottish dress put in your cabin so that you could be in kiln and everything.
- 11:31that's kind
- 11:32of one way we just make one of the evenings a bit more formal so people can enjoy that way.
- 11:37but the actual journey, if you were to choose seven days it's casual, with a formal night.
- 11:41And of course if you wanted to dress up throughout, you course you can.
- 11:46So when someone books on, we're talking trains here at the moment, and excluding the Peru Unc which is more of a connector, like a very short connector time-wise, the cost of a
- 11:59berth includes what?
- 12:01Is it pretty much standard or varies by journey?
- 12:07It varies a little bit.
- 12:08again, always the Venice Simplon Orient Express is a little different.
- 12:12with every single train of ours, everything is included in terms of food and beverage like that.
- 12:19The only difference with the Venice Simplon Orient Express is after your dinner in the bar car, those drinks would be on consumption.
- 12:25That's the only additional cost involved.
- 12:28Whereas the Andean Explorer in Peru
- 12:31the Royal Scotsman in the UK.
- 12:33We also, didn't mention yet, but we have a train that starts and ends in Singapore and goes through Malaysia now.
- 12:39because didn't you used to have one that ran from Bangkok to Singapore?
- 12:43This is the same, yeah.
- 12:44So the same train.
- 12:45Right now we're not including Thailand yet.
- 12:47We're still, again, post pandemic, there's still some different laws about going into the country.
- 12:53So hopefully eventually one day we'll get back.
- 12:55Tied to COVID still?
- 12:57Restrictions that came in after that, yeah, with train travel.
- 13:01so hopefully we can get back.
- 13:02But regardless, we have an amazing new journey that goes throughout the heart of Malaysia now.
- 13:06Okay, so that, so I know we're jumping all over destinations here, but that, okay, so the Malaysian option runs from where to where?
- 13:12It starts and ends in Singapore, but it will go through Malaysia.
- 13:15nice.
- 13:15Yeah.
- 13:16So those three, like Scotland, Malaysia, and Peru, those three are very similar in that when you book on
- 13:24line or with our team, everything is included.
- 13:26All your food and beverage, all your excursions, transfers to and from the hotel to get to the train station.
- 13:32So that's very much considered that an all inclusive package.
- 13:35Entrances to any site you may visit.
- 13:37If we're going to stay in Scotland, sometimes there's touring castles or if you're going into a national park in Malaysia, all that's included.
- 13:44So basically from hotel pick up to hotel drop off when you buy a Belmond train journey, everything's included.
- 13:53Exactly.
- 13:54Wonderful.
- 13:55Now, so we have trains in the UK, we have trains in Europe, trains in Asia, Malaysia, Singapore.
- 14:03We've talked in Peru, any other train journeys?
- 14:05So the only other ones that we have are actually two day trains.
- 14:09And I do like to bring these up because I kind of feel like if someone is interested in a train, but maybe they have yet to pull the trigger on booking an overnight journey with
- 14:18us, a great option is to try a day train just to get a taste of what life on board would be.
- 14:23So one of them actually is also in Peru.
- 14:25It takes you from, yes, it takes you from Cusco to Machu Picchu or the reverse trip.
- 14:30But the other is the British Pullman and that's in and out of London.
- 14:33in.
- 14:34variety of different options.
- 14:35You could be doing a champagne brunch, a four course lunch, we have four course dinner.
- 14:40We even have a murder mystery one.
- 14:42So we have live actors on board where you could solve the mystery before getting back to London.
- 14:47And that especially because the UK that's usually a great stopover location.
- 14:51So maybe don't have time to do the countryside, you could do it in one afternoon, right?
- 14:56So those are my questions.
- 14:57So the the UK ones are like a four hour, five hour between four to five hours.
- 15:01Exactly.
- 15:02And the hiring being from everything to
- 15:04depending on where you pick up the train.
- 15:05Yeah it's a tiny bit longer now it may be about three and a half hours but that one's equally as great you're usually on the way there you're doing a brunch on the way back
- 15:16it's a four course dinner and there's again live entertainment in the bar car there's the observation deck so I've done I've been lucky enough to stay at
- 15:26Rio Sagrado.
- 15:27I've done the Hiram Bingham a few times.
- 15:29Stayed at the sanctuary only twice and I've been to Machu Picchu a million times so it's only there twice.
- 15:36I think that's only, no I stayed at the Miraflores Park in Lima.
- 15:40so you just had to Kolkka Canyon, really?
- 15:43No, yeah, I've never, every time we were in the Kolkka Canyon, we camped.
- 15:47I was a tour guide back in the day.
- 15:49And I don't think Las Casitas were there when I was tour leading, and we're talking long time ago.
- 15:57But I was having me back in the canyon for while, but even then I think we drove by the Casitas and didn't go in.
- 16:03So I've experienced, I'd say four or five of the products.
- 16:08yourself, you're throwing them all.
- 16:09That's your job.
- 16:11know them all.
- 16:11Have you been to the mall?
- 16:13Not the mall yet.
- 16:15Honestly, quite a bit.
- 16:16The collection I haven't explored yet are the Safaris.
- 16:20I have been on Safaris, but that was before I joined the company.
- 16:23So I need to head to those.
- 16:25Okay.
- 16:25So I didn't know that Belmont did Safaris as a product type.
- 16:30So tell me what a Belmont Safaris versus a normal Safaris for want of a better term.
- 16:35So we have two really unique ones.
- 16:38They're both in Northern Botswana and they're a 20 minute flight apart from one another.
- 16:42And we use a partner in Macier.
- 16:44So we have a lot of guests.
- 16:45If they're going to safari with us, they're staying at both.
- 16:47They usually do three nights, three nights.
- 16:51But two, the best thing is they're two totally different experiences.
- 16:54So one would be in Chobie National Park, very much like a desert landscape.
- 16:59This was totally redone, this hotel for 2020 when it reopened.
- 17:04it's got an amazing pool deck.
- 17:06It's ultimate luxury, but there's only 12 tented cabins.
- 17:10Are both these safari lodges, are they tented camps or like?
- 17:14They're permanent tented camps.
- 17:16But they are tented, first solid building so to speak.
- 17:19Exactly.
- 17:19Yeah.
- 17:21So back to the sort of colonial-esque vibe.
- 17:23And that one, so that one has a great watering hole right out front because that's the more desert landscape.
- 17:30You actually can do quite a bit of incredible viewing right from your terrace or if you're at the pool, but they'll do the traditional game drives morning and evening.
- 17:38Whereas we have that one, then Eagle Island Lodge would be for someone I'd say that's maybe a bit more adventurous, watch something totally unique because we are on a private
- 17:46concession there.
- 17:47We're on an island.
- 17:49So May through October, the water is right up.
- 17:51kind of surrounding the property.
- 17:52That's where you could do the Makoro canoes.
- 17:55So this one's in the Delta itself?
- 17:57This is in the Okavango Delta.
- 17:59you've got one in the Delta, one in Choby.
- 18:02So that one you're like more, could be eye level with the elephants in the water if you're on the canoes.
- 18:08We do have larger barges as well to do cruises in the evening and the speed boats.
- 18:13And there because we're on the private concession, you have more opportunities to do different excursions like helicopters.
- 18:18You can even do horseback riding there.
- 18:21Really cool to get very different experiences and game viewing from both locations.
- 18:26Yeah, and I highly recommend anyone listening or watching that if you're looking at selling or pushing an African Safari
- 18:32that you consider Botswana and the Delta in particular.
- 18:35Because it's such, like everyone expects and gets, you know, the classic savanna type safari, but the Delta is so different.
- 18:42Because as you're saying Andrea, it's water based primarily in Makoros, which are dug out canoes.
- 18:49know, hippos, elephants, all in the water.
- 18:52If you're a fisherman too, or fisher person, it's a really good spot to go fishing as well.
- 18:56So it's a good option.
- 18:57So you basically, you being Belmont have two camps, tentative camps.
- 19:02and we do have a hotel in Cape Town.
- 19:06So we have Mount Nelson Hotel, which is big historic building that was painted pink for peace over 100 years ago now.
- 19:14I know the building.
- 19:14didn't know it was a A lot of people know that building.
- 19:17It's been frequented by Nelson Mandela.
- 19:19It's a very historic property.
- 19:21So that's kind of a nice way to either start or end your journey in Africa before heading to Botswana.
- 19:28So if an agent is looking at your properties and services, hotels, hang on,
- 19:32before we get into that.
- 19:34Boats or river vessels.
- 19:36are your river vessels?
- 19:37Yeah, I know the company says river cruisers online.
- 19:41I personally call them canal cruisers because they're very different.
- 19:45They are
- 19:46barges essentially that are for charter only.
- 19:49So consider this a floating villa.
- 19:52You have your own cabin crew, private chef, tour guide on board.
- 19:56could be a family of people, it's not a group tour.
- 20:00It's no.
- 20:01It's a chartered vessel.
- 20:03Yeah.
- 20:03The smallest is actually only two cabins, four people.
- 20:06The largest is 12 people, six cabins.
- 20:10And this similar to the trains, consider it all inclusive.
- 20:12It's six nights, seven days.
- 20:14Again, you have the tour guide and everything.
- 20:16your food and beverage is included, all your excursions.
- 20:19Chef on board.
- 20:21So they actually would call the clients or the advisors about two months before, kind of show them the planned itinerary, but then say, what do want to change?
- 20:30What do you like eating?
- 20:31Fully customize it.
- 20:35Yeah, exactly.
- 20:35And where are they sailing?
- 20:37So go through, it's only in France.
- 20:39However, we go through Champagne, Canal du Midi, Burgundy or Provence.
- 20:43So four different regions.
- 20:45And again,
- 20:47because they're these smaller boats they go through these really narrow canals that you wouldn't see these towns on a river cruiser right there a bit more unique a bit less
- 20:56touristy as well a lot of so this will get you off the beaten path because it is France which has a lot of unique quiet areas but it's not on the tourist trail definitely not so
- 21:07if you're looking to get away from the usual crowds yeah in your own obviously privacy your own
- 21:13Chartered vessel.
- 21:14Yeah, this is the way to do it exactly.
- 21:16It's a really unique experience We we didn't necessarily touch on it yet, but I do want to remind people that Belmond is owned by LVMH Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessy so I especially
- 21:26like to mention that especially for these barges because For example, we go through the champagne region, right LVMH owns all those historic champagne houses So consider those
- 21:36experiences we can have a really unique take that a lot of other companies can't get those clients in so what way would
- 21:43be the hub for the cruises Paris again?
- 21:46so we included in the experience we would include round-trip transfers to and from Paris wherever the clients are staying sometimes if they're doing say a journey more south,
- 21:55Provence region or somewhere a bit lower we could do round-trip transfers even to Geneva anywhere they're kind of headed afterwards.
- 22:03They would be add-on costs though for outside of Paris or would that be included?
- 22:07No we've included.
- 22:08Included as well okay so you have flexibility in that respect to where they're stuck
- 22:13or finishing within reason.
- 22:16Now if a client or an agent out there is looking at all your properties, let's talk the River Cruise.
- 22:25By booking a Belmont hotel in conjunction with the Canal Cruise, are there any discounts, is there any benefit in doing all Belmont from start to finish or within?
- 22:41There always is for all of our hotels.
- 22:44I will mention though that for specifically Peru and Africa, we have what's called Journeys in Peru and Journeys in Africa.
- 22:51And it's essentially operated as our own in-house DMC.
- 22:54So we would work with GoAE and we could do everything for you from the tours, transfers, all of that.
- 23:00And it would come at like a unique price point for you to have all of that included in the experience.
- 23:06Yeah.
- 23:07Again, I knew that for Peru.
- 23:08That's why I asked the question.
- 23:11to every just African Peru you get a of a combined price reduction or would that extend to Europe as well?
- 23:19Europe we don't necessarily have the DMC aspect where we would do all the tours and everything.
- 23:24However our hotels absolutely can book transfers and all of that it's more at an ad hoc basis for those.
- 23:31Yeah so we mentioned at the beginning that this is Belmond being a luxury brand
- 23:38I think people listening will understand that it is based on the cruising where can charter your own vessels through the canals.
- 23:46For those that don't know, I'm use what I know well, Das Cataratas on the Brazilian side is the only hotel within the national park.
- 23:56in Iguazu Falls on the opposite side, the Argentinian side, have the Sheraton, is it Sheraton still?
- 24:04Iguazu is the equivalent.
- 24:07But having been to both these two many times, Das Catarazas is simply stunning.
- 24:14It's literally a stone's from the fall.
- 24:16So apart from it being these properties and services being very, very high end, a lot of them are also very uniquely located, which segues again to my backyard knowledge of the
- 24:26sanctuary
- 24:26Lodge.
- 24:27for those who may not know Machu Picchu, it's up on a hill.
- 24:32There's a little town below it, Aguas Calientes, which is slowly being renamed Machu Picchu Pueblo.
- 24:39And that's where 99 % of the hotels are.
- 24:42Exactly.
- 24:43Down in the valley.
- 24:43And they're beautiful.
- 24:44Some stunning ones down there.
- 24:46but Belmond grabbed the sanctuary lodge, which literally also sets a stone's throw from the entrance to Machu Picchu.
- 24:53Now, it's not overly posh.
- 24:57but it's location in this instance, think.
- 24:59Yeah.
- 25:00That one's a bit smaller and also because we have some restrictions with that.
- 25:04It is very nice.
- 25:05Don't get me wrong.
- 25:05Yeah.
- 25:06That one mainly though, cause it's, we're in partnership with the government for that one.
- 25:11So I definitely, I agree.
- 25:12I wouldn't say that is our most luxury property by any means, but it's definitely the location.
- 25:18You can get in to the park, the first ones essentially, just cause you're right there before the buses can come up.
- 25:24Cause worth pointing out that,
- 25:26as Andrea just mentioned, where the hotel is.
- 25:29During the day it is quite busy because it's where the entrance to the ruins are, where all the buses come in, et cetera.
- 25:35And it's worth pointing out on a sort of training point of view here that by staying at the sanctuary you can get in or be at the front of the line, but you can't get in any
- 25:42earlier and you can't stay any later.
- 25:45Right.
- 25:45Because sometimes we're asked that question.
- 25:47Yes.
- 25:47So that is a no to those two questions.
- 25:49But you are literally...
- 25:5420 meters from when you walk out of the door to the entrance to Machu Picchu.
- 25:57Yeah.
- 25:58And so we do have a really nice garden behind the property that does offer privacy.
- 26:03So you do, you don't really notice all the buses out front, but absolutely they're right there.
- 26:08And one of the best things about that though, too, is that it makes it not be in a rush.
- 26:11So if you did want to go out or in and out of Machu Picchu a few times, you could also be the last one to leave the park because a lot of people are going to catch the buses.
- 26:21Right.
- 26:21So there's opportunities to kind of have as much
- 26:24privacy as you can.
- 26:25No 100 % and it's definitely from a location point of view is probably one of the best located hotels in the world for what you're located next to and the way I used to sell it
- 26:36is during the day it's busy it'll be noisy because there's everyone there.
- 26:39but Aguascalientes at night time, it's not crazy noisy, but there's night clubs and bars and stuff, it's happening at all town if you want that.
- 26:45But at night time at the Sanctuary Lodge, this is the name comes into play, Sanctuary, it is stunning, because there's no one up there other than the people in the lodge.
- 26:53And while you can't really see much of a picture, you know it's there, if you're into this, it's very spiritual, it's mystical.
- 27:00Yeah, so it's definitely worth it if you're looking for the Sanctuary, which will be at night, not during the day.
- 27:07Now, the train, I was gonna jump in
- 27:09to Latin a bit here because that's where a lot of stuff happens where probably the bulk of our work with you happens is in Peru.
- 27:16Right.
- 27:16So there are two trains there's the Hiram Bingham and that's named after the man who discovered rediscovered Machu Picchu and that runs from either Cusco or a town called
- 27:26Ollantitambo which is halfway down the Shaker Valley to Machu Picchu.
- 27:29Right.
- 27:30Most people pick up the train on and off in Ollantitambo.
- 27:35And this is a beautiful train ride.
- 27:37Now you say it's about three and a half hours now.
- 27:39Yeah.
- 27:40Definitely not your regular commuter train.
- 27:44Ultra luxury.
- 27:45It's beautiful for the dining experiences on board, but I definitely loved the live entertainment aspect.
- 27:51kind of makes that whole, especially if you're taking the journey to Machu Picchu, you're very excited to get there and it makes it such a fun experience to kind of take that train
- 28:00ride there.
- 28:01Same thing though.
- 28:02It's definitely a party on the way back.
- 28:04People are excited after
- 28:05after a nice day of kind of hiking around to just relax and enjoy and have a beautiful dinner on board.
- 28:11Yeah.
- 28:12Now, anyone out there, you can take a train in in the morning, see Machu Picchu and return same day.
- 28:17It's not recommended.
- 28:17It could be done.
- 28:18Normally you would overnight, ideally at the sanctuary lodge, of course, then come back the next day.
- 28:23And you can combine all the different trains.
- 28:24You can take one, one way, whatever.
- 28:28So I believe too that the Belmont was...
- 28:31Most trains are doing it now, but was the first to have the viewing car on that particular run.
- 28:37Observation car, Yeah, and that's awesome because when you go to Machu Picchu, you're going down the valley and the valley itself is stunning.
- 28:44So to be able to stand at the back of the train and look at, get fuel, full panorama.
- 28:49of the valley is amazing.
- 28:50believe it has the glass ceilings as well.
- 28:53it does.
- 28:53Yeah, okay.
- 28:54And then you have the Andean Explorer.
- 28:57Now, back in the day, you used to connect Cusco to Lake Titicaca or Puno with a train, was really just, I think it was a prurail train that you just connect.
- 29:07Right.
- 29:07And then...
- 29:09How long ago did Belmont start running the Andean Explorer?
- 29:12It's been quite a few years now as well.
- 29:15we still do the same similar route to what you're saying.
- 29:18So it's Cusco.
- 29:19You can either do a one or two night journey.
- 29:20So one night could end in Puno or if you're doing two nights, it goes on to Arequipa and you can do the reverse trip as well.
- 29:27But the same thing.
- 29:28Some of the excursions are at Lake Titicaca where you could go see the floating islands.
- 29:32We visit the Sunbe Caves at one point.
- 29:35So there's a few different experiences to kind of hop on and off.
- 29:38and see different areas that you're going through.
- 29:41But it is the highest altitude train journey on earth.
- 29:44So you're getting some quite incredible landscapes that you're through.
- 29:48I've driven through there a gazillion times.
- 29:50If you like desert, you'll be in heaven.
- 29:53But it's a very different type of desert, very different type of landscape.
- 29:58So I haven't looked at this particular journey for a while.
- 30:01When you do the two night at Cusco via Puno to Ataquipa,
- 30:08there is an option to go into the Kalki Canyon, as you mentioned.
- 30:10So where does the train stop?
- 30:13Cause it doesn't go into the canyon that I know.
- 30:15No, doesn't.
- 30:16We have a very unique point.
- 30:17It's just kind of a landing dock almost in the middle of the Andes.
- 30:22It's really in the middle of nowhere.
- 30:24So when we do that, it's just a stop and our team from Las Casitas meets the client right there.
- 30:30They come up from the canyon to you up.
- 30:31And they bring you to the hotel from that point.
- 30:35But rather than going all the way to Arequipa, it actually
- 30:38saves quite a bit of time from your drive if you were going to head there.
- 30:41yeah, definitely.
- 30:42Yeah.
- 30:43when the experience in the Kulku Canyon is done, do you pick up the train or they just drive you to Arakipa?
- 30:49They would take you back to just drive you to Arakipa.
- 30:51Exactly.
- 30:51Okay, wonderful.
- 30:52Okay.
- 30:54So you've mentioned you have the Singapore through Malaysia train, which is somewhat new.
- 30:59And you just, I forgot in the hotel you said a new one just opened or you've taken over.
- 31:03was that?
- 31:04Romanceino.
- 31:04So that's in Sardinia.
- 31:06So the latest to the collection.
- 31:07So that if anyone is familiar with that region that actually used to be a luxury collection hotel This is the first year we took it over.
- 31:16This is the first hotel in our collection that we don't physically own So you want everything else?
- 31:22We own everything else That's one of the biggest benefits of LVMH to definitely keep in mind because there's strong a backing and strong investment to keep these hotels looking
- 31:32incredible because they're physical assets of ours, but Romancino was an exception.
- 31:36We really wanted to get in
- 31:37to Sardinia.
- 31:38So this was a step that we could do that.
- 31:41So it's been open from May.
- 31:43It's actually just closed this past weekend for the season.
- 31:47It's going to reopen next May and we're going to do some enhancements over this closure to get it even more to Belmont standards next year.
- 31:55OK, so are there any other new product developments on the horizon?
- 31:58So that was the latest.
- 32:00That seems like a pretty big one.
- 32:01Yeah, that was a big one.
- 32:02However, there's always expansion.
- 32:04The one thing I'll note is that because Belmont, like you
- 32:07you kind of hinted at before too.
- 32:10It's very important for us to be in a unique location or have a very historic building that we're renovating.
- 32:16So we don't expand like crazy like a lot of the other luxury brands.
- 32:21We're very selective and it does take a bit of time to find the property.
- 32:25However, you will see more coming in Italy that Italy is always a area for us.
- 32:31they some capacity down there.
- 32:32It's so busy.
- 32:34always so busy.
- 32:35Everyone always wants to go there.
- 32:37That will definitely be coming.
- 32:39You also will see Mexico start to.
- 32:43really?
- 32:43And kind of.
- 32:44Whereabouts?
- 32:45So we have purchased two properties.
- 32:47can't, one's in Nayarit, I can say.
- 32:49The other is.
- 32:50Nayarit.
- 32:51It's on the Pacific side.
- 32:52Pacific side, okay.
- 32:53So.
- 32:53North or more further south?
- 32:54I don't know, that off top of my head.
- 32:56A bit further south.
- 32:57Further south, okay.
- 32:58So we just reopened Maroma, which is in the Riviera Maya.
- 33:03Okay.
- 33:03That had been closed for almost three years to do a full enhancement.
- 33:08or just timed for?
- 33:10Weirdly, good timing for us.
- 33:12That happened.
- 33:13it was a good thing about COVID, that was good for you guys.
- 33:16They were going to do it anyway.
- 33:17So that was kind of the first.
- 33:19luxury property that was built in that part of Mexico many years ago.
- 33:24So we didn't touch the exteriors, but we did a full renovation of it.
- 33:27And this was the full resort renovation since becoming part of LVMH.
- 33:31This was the first tackling of that, one of our properties.
- 33:35So really excited when it reopened end of last summer.
- 33:38And then I think they kind of want to build out a Mexico a bit more similar.
- 33:42That's a very common thing for Belmont to have.
- 33:45Now you could do all of Italy with Belmont, right?
- 33:47You could do all of Peru with Belmont.
- 33:49So they like building out areas like that.
- 33:52OK, so you said there's no one coming, but you can't say where at this stage.
- 33:55It will still be a couple of years before it opens, to be honest.
- 33:58But yeah, Mexico's on the horizon, but I'm sure more locations will be coming.
- 34:02OK, now we never really I never asked the question I've experienced and you've experienced, obviously.
- 34:09Why Belmont?
- 34:10Why Belmont over another luxury brand?
- 34:13Well, the trains, I think, speak for themselves.
- 34:15I think that's they're unique in themselves.
- 34:17And that's why you go.
- 34:19because no one else has a train like the Horembingam or the Andean Explorer or does the classic Orient Express run?
- 34:26The Scotsman.
- 34:27What was the Scotsman again?
- 34:28The Royal.
- 34:29The Royal Scotsman.
- 34:31I think the canal crews speak for themselves where you can charter your own floating villa, again to quote yourself.
- 34:38But why would someone, why should someone choose say the Copacabana Hotel over some of the other beautiful luxury hotels in Rio or in Italy or anywhere else?
- 34:46I think so Belmond really our whole
- 34:49Bye!
- 34:50thought process right now.
- 34:51We like to say we're perpetuating the art of legendary travel, but what that kind of means is we're focusing on slow travel.
- 34:59we really want guests to, for example, not jam so many countries in one trip.
- 35:05We really want people to extend their stay, relax, allow some time for spontaneity.
- 35:12Also a big thing for Belmond is focusing on the experience on property.
- 35:16So culinary, wellness, sustainability, those are huge
- 35:20pillars for us and creating and craftsmanship.
- 35:24So Moroma, like in the Riviera Maya is, I encourage people, if you have the time to go see that property, that's really where the whole collection is going.
- 35:34it took so long because we had local Mexican artisans hand paint every single tile in the property.
- 35:41So there's over 10,000 tiles, the couches in the suites, for example, the whole base is wood that took six months to hand carve.
- 35:48So, attention to detail.
- 35:50incredible.
- 35:51We really want people everywhere you look at one of our properties, there's kind of a story behind it.
- 35:56There's an educational component and uniqueness of it.
- 35:58as well.
- 35:59Yeah.
- 35:59And there's a, there's ties to the local community.
- 36:01That's super important for us as well.
- 36:03So what's, what's Belmont's philosophy on that fact?
- 36:07you know, particularly when you start talking about, you know, I don't want to use developing countries cause Peru is quite developed, but in people's mind, I might perceive
- 36:15Peru as developing Mexico has its issues, but
- 36:18Does Belmond put, like, do you just go in, it doesn't sound like you do, I'm playing devil's advocate in my question here, do you go in and take over resort and sort of, it's
- 36:26Belmond's and the finance's all feedback to head office in Italy, or is it investment back into the respective local communities?
- 36:35Absolutely.
- 36:35So a couple things.
- 36:37Firstly, I'll just say that with Belmond, you'll also never see like a brand new building come up.
- 36:42We do, you'll see it's very popular for us to have former monasteries or former palaces.
- 36:48So we want to take these historic buildings and kind of repurpose them to be a hotel.
- 36:52So that's, that's one aspect of it.
- 36:54The second aspect, for example, like if we keeping in Moroma, sustainability is a huge focus for us there.
- 37:00So we actually just partnered with a company called Parley for the ocean.
- 37:04So now we have this whole plan in place to kind of preserve some of the coral reefs there and to kind of help the sustainability of the ocean.
- 37:12So, so it's beyond the four walls in the room.
- 37:14Beyond.
- 37:15And for example, even I was chatting with our team,
- 37:18they have an activity for the staff that they could do whenever they like.
- 37:21So they have a whole team where they can go out and kind of use cameras that Parley provides to coral map the ocean to send them the footage.
- 37:29it's kind of on their days off when they want to go snorkeling, they can do this and it kind of just helps.
- 37:35preserve that area.
- 37:36that same philosophy extends to all your properties and services over to Sherpa.
- 37:40My favorite one, unfortunately we still have a hotel and a big river cruiser boat in Myanmar, but we haven't been able to reopen just given the conflict there.
- 37:51But my favorite thing was with that hotel that we had an actual clinic, like a health clinic with doctors that was all Belmont owned that kind of helped the country there.
- 38:01So we still actually have it.
- 38:04Hopefully everything will be up
- 38:05been operating soon but yeah it's super important for us.
- 38:09in short Belmont's putting back into the communities in which it works and has established itself.
- 38:16In the world of luxury travel is Belmont the most expensive?
- 38:19Is it on par with other competitive products?
- 38:23When an agent wants to pitch this because it's not an at a cost there is a cost to it but you get what you pay for and we often have travel agents have trouble
- 38:33not pitching prices, but justifying a cost of a service, be it a hotel, be it a train, be it Belmond Beach, someone else's.
- 38:42So in your mind, what's the easiest way, the best way to get around that pushback from an end user?
- 38:48Well, that's really expensive.
- 38:49Yeah, I we are on the higher end.
- 38:51That's for sure.
- 38:52I will encourage people to either have a login on our Belmont Pro, which is our advisor portal, or just also to make sure you have my contact handy, because I'm happy to put all
- 39:03that on the screen for those watching.
- 39:05And the main thing is we we understand that like people are spending a lot to stay with us.
- 39:11And this is their
- 39:12their personal time, their vacations.
- 39:15So one of the main things Belmont does is we do include a lot of value adds that might not be necessarily top of mind when you think about it.
- 39:23So for Italy, for example, our hotel in the Amalfi Coast, which is up in Ravello, we're up in the hills.
- 39:29But if you actually look, we include a complimentary boat tour for every guest.
- 39:33They have access to a complimentary beach club that's like fully Dior'd out to Dior is doing a lot of big partnerships with us.
- 39:41So there's a lot
- 39:42of additional inclusions where normally if you're going to that part of the country you are going to be doing those things anyways but you're getting it complimentary with us.
- 39:50it would be fair to say that the hotels beyond just again the four walls of the room there's I don't want to say it's resort-esque with included but there are inclusions in
- 40:00most of the properties in the Belmont family.
- 40:02Absolutely.
- 40:05Yeah, so here at Go Way 2, again, we are here talking about Belmont.
- 40:09We also have other luxury products and places where Belmont aren't, so it's a natural.
- 40:15And cost is a factor in any form of travel, right?
- 40:18People are very budget conscious, particularly these days.
- 40:21So if you do have those questions about, I'm talking to our agents out there now about why is that so expensive?
- 40:27Just speak to Go because we have ways to explain it and...
- 40:31Again, people have to do some research as well.
- 40:33can't just say, here's a hotel at Machu Picchu or here's a hotel in Venice and just not look into why it may be worth it.
- 40:42And of course, as Andrea mentioned just then,
- 40:46when a property puts that much effort into the one in Mexico, I've forgotten its name already, sorry.
- 40:50Maroma.
- 40:51Maroma.
- 40:51Like, where you have hand-carved furniture and individually painted tiles, which in Mexico can be, I'm assuming it's a rather large property as well, or a decent sized property.
- 41:01Yes, it's 72 rooms, but it's a sprawling property.
- 41:04Yeah, so that translates to a lot of tiles in Mexico, having them all hand-painted.
- 41:09Yeah, and it's also for a certain type of client.
- 41:12It's not for everyone.
- 41:13It's a discerning client.
- 41:14It's the clients who do have that type of budget.
- 41:17So have no fear, speak to go away or again, we will put up Andrea's information here if you want to go to her directly, which we have no problems with as well speaking to our
- 41:27partners out there because we know it, but Andrea knows it better than I do for sure.
- 41:31And she's been to almost all of them.
- 41:32Almost all.
- 41:34Got to hit the safaris.
- 41:35OK, so we've covered any new stuff coming up.
- 41:38So Mexico is probably the next one on the horizon.
- 41:40It's happened.
- 41:40The new hotel in Sardinia.
- 41:42Hopefully Miramar will open up when political things settle down.
- 41:47Is there anything else you'd to leave our listening audience, our trade partners out there with about the Belmond line of properties and services?
- 41:54Yeah, just to thank everyone for their support and just to keep us top as mind as possible.
- 42:00I know Belmond sometimes all of our properties have their own unique names.
- 42:04People might not be familiar with Belmond as a brand, but they actually might be familiar with the Cipriani or things like that.
- 42:11So I'm always here to assist and kind of help more Canadians and anyone kind
- 42:17of experience the brand.
- 42:47luxury lodge booked out well in advance.
- 42:49So in general, what would be your most, well not in general, talking specifically, what would be your most popular properties and or services?
- 43:00And in general, how far ahead should an agent be advising their clients to book?
- 43:05Yeah, I think...
- 43:07Arguably probably the most popular collection would be the Italy hotels.
- 43:11Those definitely need a few months in advance.
- 43:13Just a few months?
- 43:14Yeah, because you know what's strange is we're noticing a lot of different patterns in the past couple of years.
- 43:20Like for example, Italy used to always July, August be sold out.
- 43:24it's kind of changed now.
- 43:26We had that happen in May, June.
- 43:28A lot of people are going off season and we did have some space in July, August.
- 43:31So don't want to deter anyone to say we're sold out, but definitely Italy needs a few months.
- 43:37I would say, or if you're flexible on dates, then we can usually find something.
- 43:43Similarly with the Royal Scotsman, that's a super popular train for us.
- 43:47So you definitely want, I would say six months in advance if you're looking for a specific dates or a specific cabin type, especially.
- 43:56But usually we can make something work if you have a bit of flexibility.
- 44:00That's good to know because Goa over the last couple of years has run into, I don't want to say it's a problem for people wanting to book, but it's a good thing for Italy that
- 44:09we've had to actually stop sell Italy in general.
- 44:12Okay.
- 44:12Right.
- 44:12Because it's become so, so busy.
- 44:14Yeah.
- 44:15I was expecting you to say something similar, but you're saying for your properties in Italy within reason, within reason.
- 44:21There's a few exceptions.
- 44:23Like Splendido Mare, for example, which is in
- 44:26Portofino we have two there but San Dino Mari is 14 rooms so if you want that one that one definitely more in advance but yeah usually if someone is saying we want to go to Italy
- 44:38we're a bit flexible we can put something together for them.
- 44:41Well that's good from the Belmont property point of view but for those listening don't think that applies to all of Italy.
- 44:47We strongly suggest for Europe in general that you're
- 44:51now for next year.
- 44:52So six to eight months ahead would be good.
- 44:55It's starting to come in.
- 44:56Yeah, definitely.
- 44:57And obviously though for Belmont, at Seam in Italy, they have a little bit more, I don't want say flexibility, but a little more space at the expected high season.
- 45:04So keep that in mind as well.
- 45:06And always flexible.
- 45:08Be, or not you, travel partners, your clients.
- 45:11Ask them to be somewhat flexible, particularly if they're coming in with late requests for anywhere in the world, but particularly Europe and also because of Italy.
- 45:19Okay.
- 45:19So on that note, I'd like to thank
- 45:20Andrea for her time today, was really fascinating.
- 45:22learned some stuff.
- 45:24again, I knew my Peru stuff, but I didn't know a lot of the other stuff.
- 45:28The floating villas, cruises sound really cool.
- 45:31They're incredible.
- 45:32And the train in Europe is what I expected it to be very, very nice.
- 45:38So I wish you luck in getting down to Botswana to hit those.
- 45:40Yes, hopefully next year.
- 45:43Those remaining two bits of Belmont property.
- 45:46Everyone else are there.
- 45:46Thank you for listening today.
- 45:47Really appreciate your time.
- 45:48And Andrea, thank you again from Belmont.
- 45:51Awesome.