Luxury brand Baccarat Hotels is adding a Maldives property to its portfolio, but don’t think it stops there in terms of expansion for the brand – or for its siblings, 1 Hotels and Treehouse Hotels.
Baccarat Hotels & Residences Maldives is expected to open in 2027, parent company SH Hotels & Resorts announced this month. The hotel, just a 30-minute boat ride from Male’s Velana International Airport (MLE), is expected to cover five islands in the South Male Atoll.
Related: The Best Ways to Get to the Maldives by Points and Miles
The resort will include a lagoon and reef system and offer more than 50 hotel villas and 53 private residences for sale. The villas range from one to three bedrooms, each with a private pool. More secluded getaways are also planned, such as six- and seven-bedroom private mansions and eight- and nine-bedroom offerings on private islands.
It’s a lavish step forward for the hotel incarnation of the 260-year-old crystal brand — not that the luxury crystal needed any polish.
“In creating this extraordinary retreat, we strive not only to create a place to stay, but also to curate an experience that celebrates the essence of luxury living with the breathtaking backdrop of the Maldives Starwood Capital Group (the parent company of SH Hotels & Resorts) CEO Barry Sternlicht said in a statement.
While 2027 is still a ways out, there are some details on the amenities for the upcoming Baccarat resort. The Maldivian location will feature specialty restaurants “run by some of the world’s best chefs”, luxury shopping, a Baccarat-themed crystal garden, an open-air cinema, an art gallery and event space, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, fishing excursions and snorkeling.
A planned spa is expected to include treatments ranging from massages to facials and hydrotherapy circuits in the wellness area’s plunge pools. Yoga pavilions and a fitness room will also be included in the wellness location.
“We are shaping a new identity in an already remarkable region, and we are confident that this property will define ultimate luxury in the Maldives,” Raul Leal, CEO of SH Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement.
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SH Hotels are growing
The Maldivian expansion comes as SH Hotels experiences significant growth across all three major brands: Baccarat, 1 Hotels and Treehouse Hotels.
Baccarat serves as SH’s ultra-luxury brand, while 1 Hotels caters to the luxury lifestyle crowd that craves something more in the way of hotel nightlife. Treehouse is the company’s most sustainable brand.
Related: 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay: New hotel on Kauai, at the end of the rainbow
“The great thing about this platform is that the three brands are very diverse,” Leal told TPG in an interview at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles earlier this year. “There’s something completely different being offered to each consumer base.”
Upcoming developments for Baccarat include locations in Miami; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Dubai; and Rome. Future 1 Hotels locations include Paris; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Austin; Copenhagen; Riyadh; Seattle; Crete, Greece; Melbourne, Australia; and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
The next cities for Treehouse Hotels are Manchester, England; Silicon Valley and Miami in the US; Riyadh; and Adelaide, Australia.
Sternlicht of Starwood Capital is best known in the hotel world because he is the top boss at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and is the brain behind innovations such as W Hotels in its heyday and the Westin Heavenly Bed (modeled after a bed in Sternlicht’s then home). in Connecticut).
But he is also known for his precision and careful eye for detail. So it is likely that SH will not flood the world with hundreds of Baccarat Hotels or 1 Hotels.
“We want to keep these brands pretty pure for what their ethos is,” Leal said before adding, “It’s possible we could bring another brand under the umbrella.”
What could that future brand be?
“I think the resort sector probably needs a little more redefinition in terms of luxury, and not just in remote places like the Maldives,” Leal said. “I think this is the space we’re going to be looking at a lot.”
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