(Bloomberg) -- With 25 hyper-luxurious outposts in the US and Mexico, including Hotel Jerome in downtown Aspen, Colorado, and Wildflower Farms in New York’s Hudson Valley, Auberge Resorts Collection is betting it’s banked enough awareness among big-spending American travelers to curry their favor across the pond. After four decades of focusing primarily on the North American five-star market, the company is hitting the gas on a European expansion plan, with three hotel openings in the region next year.
“Auberge is ready to really become a global brand, and Europe is the next frontier for us,” says Christian Clerc, the new chief executive officer of the company, speaking exclusively to Bloomberg. Clerc joined Auberge in September after more than two decades at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where he most recently served as global president.
“We have a very strong presence in the US, and in that market, naturally, travelers love coming to Europe,” he says, adding that guests have been saying they wish they could stay at an Auberge property on their upcoming European vacations.
On Feb. 1 of next year, Auberge will take over management of the Woodward, a three-year-old, all-suite hotel in Geneva on the shore of the city’s famous lake. Designed in a grand post-Hausmann style with views of Mont Blanc, it’s home to the only two-Michelin-star restaurant in Geneva, L’Atelier Robuchon, as well as a Guerlain spa. The hotel, currently managed by Oetker Collection, offers 26 suites.
Clerc says he grew up in Montreux, about an hour outside Geneva, making the takeover a particularly meaningful career moment. And with the hotel in near-new condition, Auberge won’t have to change much. The restaurants will remain the same, as will the traditionally elegant interiors of the Pierre-Yves Rochon-designed guest rooms. Instead, the focus as the hotel shifts ownership will be on the guest experience, with Auberge setting out to arrange tours for watch lovers, for example, to the Patek Philippe Museum, or journeys to Lausanne on the hotel’s boat. Clerc says the hotel represents the best of Switzerland and the experiences offered to guests should reflect that.
The Woodward is the third example of Auberge taking over a beloved European property. Last year the company started managing Domaine des Etangs, a fairytale château in the French countryside, and it took over Grace Hotel in Santorini in 2018. (Confusingly, the latter still bears the name of its old brand, Grace Hotels.) This, along with the few changes required in the Woodward takeover, raises the questions of how much a new brand can bring to a hotel that was up for acquisition—an indication that it may have been underperforming—and what it means to be an Auberge hotel in the first place. Many brands of its caliber face such issues amid rapid European expansions.
Clerc, however, is experienced in directing fast expansions that retain or even improve brand standards—that’s what he did at Four Seasons. To help cement the brand’s identity, Auberge is also building two landmark hotels from scratch in London and Tuscany. In March the brand will open Collegio alla Querce, an Italian retreat on a hillside just outside Florence.
Later in the year, it will plant its flag in the heart of London’s Mayfair with Cambridge House, a massive transformation of an 18th century Palladian mansion. It will have 102 rooms, a substantial wellness center and a private members club. Both Collegio alla Querce and Cambridge House ought to have the modern, colorful interiors Auberge is known for—its hotels typically feel younger and more energetic than many of the company’s competitors in the luxury space—in contrast to the Woodward’s soothing cream-and-pastel hues.
Clerc says it’s important for Auberge to deliver on its London hotel, as it will be a cornerstone of the brand’s international reputation—and a likely first impression for non-American travelers who may still be unfamiliar with Auberge. “London is probably the most important hospitality market in the world,” Clerc says. He adds that this hotel will stand out from the British capital’s tough competition by having a more contemporary design and a warm feel—saying that some properties in London feel more like cathedrals than hotels with their opulent use of marble.
“Auberge really built its reputation as a resort company, but we’re expanding now into urban markets like Geneva and London,” he says.
Auberge isn’t alone in its European expansion drive, as high-spending Americans show no real sign of slowing down their journeys across the Atlantic. International tourists are projected to spend a record €800 billion in Europe this year, according to a report from the European Travel Commission, with Americans really driving that tourism boom.
Competitors in the luxury space like Corinthia Hotels Group plan on nearly doubling their portfolio in the next few years. Maybourne Hotel Group, known for its grand dame properties in London such as Claridge’s, plans to triple the number of its properties over the next decade, and Airelles and Oetker Collection are also in growth mode.
On Clerc’s wish list for future Auberge properties: coastal resorts in Europe and a ski destination in France or Switzerland, which he says would have to be an equal gem to Hotel Jerome, Aspen.
“Most of our properties are still located in North America, but this is about to change,” says Clerc. When it comes to his former employer, and all of Europe’s homegrown brands for that matter, Clerc says the gloves are off. “We’re uniquely positioned to make Auberge the most exclusive luxury hotel company in Europe and beyond,” he says.
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