LUXE Press

Recent industry news & press coverage of The Luxury Marketing Council and its members.

Wealthy Americans Reading Blogs and Using Social Networking Sites

Marketers wanting to make inroads to wealthy clientele should target blogs and social networks. That, according to a new study which indicates that the wealthy in America are interacting on social networking sites and reading blogs more than the general public.

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Luxury Marketing Council Opens New Chapter in Sao Paulo

The newest chapter of the Luxury Marketing Council, Sao Paulo, makes headlines.

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SophiSticate Interiors’ Sophie Azouaou Made Headlines While Sharing Holiday Spirit

Families Given Free, Furnished Homes: A Miracle On Geary Street

ABC 7 News Citywatch

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Local Businesses Bring Holiday Cheer

San Francisco Examiner

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Hyatt Announces New Luxury Global Brand

China Hospitality News -- Beijing, China

Hyatt President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian has announced the launch of Andaz, the company's newest addition to its global brand portfolio.

The company plans to launch several hotels under the new brand this year, with properties already slated for New York and London, and others under discussion in other parts of the world including Beijing and Moscow. The word Andaz means 'personal style'. In addition to a focus on personal style and independence, the new brand will offer a highly functional environment characterized by sophistication, innovative design, local identity, casual elegance and service that is attentive but not pretentious and without 'attitude'.

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Starwood Plans Luxury Brand Rollout in India

Crain's New York Business -- New York, NY, USA

Starwood Hotels & Resort this week announced at a conference in Mumbai, that it would bring its new luxury hotel brand "aloft" to India. Starwood, which has 18 hotels in the country, plans to roll out 15 "aloft" unit in the next three to five years, according to published reports.

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Indian Luxury Hotel Chain to Buy Union Square Property

San Francisco Chronicle -- San Francisco, CA, USA

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a Mumbai, India, operator of luxury hotels, has agreed to buy San Francisco's Campton Place Hotel from Kor Hotel Group of Los Angeles for $58 million, the buyer and seller said Friday.

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What Slump? Luxury Home Sales Remain Hot

In Business Las Vegas -- Henderson, NV, USA

The demand for new homes in the Las Vegas Valley has slowed considerably in the past year, but buyers of new luxury homes aren't shying away from purchases.

While new-home closings dropped nearly 9 percent in 2006, the luxury-home market of $1 million or more continues to grow. Coldwell Banker Premier Realty released its annual Luxury Home Report that showed new, single-family luxury home sales rose 5.3 percent from 430 in 2005 to 453 in 2006.

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MGM MIRAGE to Create Luxury Non-gaming Hotels and Resorts

Hotel & Motel Management Magazine -- Cleveland, OH, USA

MGM MIRAGE today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Mubadala Development Company, an investment and development vehicle established and wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., to create a new company to develop luxury non-gaming hotels and resorts globally, initially targeting locations in Abu Dhabi and Las Vegas.

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The Voice of the Wealthy Customer Found at the Luxury Institute

e-Travel Blackboard (press release) -- Sydney, NSW, Australia

US-based independent and research ratings institution Luxury Institute has rated the Small Luxury Hotels of the World as the most prestigious luxury hotels and resorts brand in 2007.

Their Luxury Brand Status Index summarises the reputation of leading brands among wealthy Americans. To top this list means that they are awarded this honour by the very people who appreciate their quality services.

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CNN's World Business This Week focuses on the 'World of Luxury'

Indiantelevision.com -- Andheri, Mumbai, India

MUMBAI:On a special edition of World Business This Week, CNN delves deep into the "World of Luxury." The program takes us to Basel, Switzerland, home of the annual "Baselworld" Jewelry and Watch trade fair. Here the biggest and brightest names of the Luxury goods world gather to show off their latest wares, meet with high-end clients, and set trends for this year and years to come.

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Porsche Named Top Prestigious Luxury Automobile Brand for 2007 by ...

Autochannel (press release) -- USA

ATLANTA -- For the third year running, America’s most affluent consumers have declared Porsche the top luxury car available today. The Luxury Institute’s 2007 independent, nationwide survey of luxury auto brands rated Porsche against 13 of the world’s most prestigious car brands, including Acura, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes and Volvo.

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ITC, Starwood Hotels in Pact for Luxury Collection

Financial Express -- Bombay, India

ITC Hotels on Thursday announced its 10 year franchise agreement with the US-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts, for re-branding its seven hotels and bringing them under latter's ‘Luxury Collection’, which is the third largest chain in the world.

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Luxury "Green" Vacations -- Sleep Carbon Neutral?

Helium Report -- San Francisco, CA, USA

Several luxury travel and real estate companies are starting to show their green wares and promote eco-friendly travel. You can spend over a $1,000 per night and sleep comfortably in the knowledge that you're not trashing the environment. We've already told you about the efforts to fly carbon neutral. Here's our round-up of ideas on how to sleep carbon neutral.

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Luxury Giant Aims to Take Puma Higher

BusinessWeek -- USA

John Horan vividly remembers the time, just seven years ago, when German sportswear maker Puma, was "pretty much a dead brand." It was during the dot-com boom and Horan, the publisher of industry newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence, was running a conference for financial analysts. Presenting in one room was MVP.com, a hot online sporting-goods startup backed by the likes of John Elway, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan. "The analysts were hanging from the rafters," Horan recalls.

Right next door, Jochen Zeitz, then the newly appointed chief executive officer of Puma, was presenting his strategic plan to a nearly empty hall. Horan felt so bad for the guy that he sat in the audience to provide company. How things have changed since then. MVP.com was gone a year later, a victim of the dot-com bust. And Puma? Its market capitalization has increased more than tenfold, as Zeitz's turnaround plan bore fruit.

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Algarve Prepares for Luxury Tourism

Jornal Regional -- Portugal -- Porto, Portugal

Portugal's first ever Hilton hotel, as Cascadas Resort and Spa, is due to open in Vilamoura this July. Ian Waremouth, from International Operations at the Hilton Hotels Corporation in the UK, confi rmed the date. Th e resort is spread across an area of 40,000sqm and located between the Old Course and Pinhal. Th ere will be a fi ve star hotel with 154 rooms and 69 timeshare apartments on the premises. Th ere will also be 69 luxury apartments, which, according to Hilton International, have already been sold. Th e resort will boast a luxury spa covering 2,000sqm, which has been advertised by Hilton International as one of the largest spas in the Iberian Peninsula. It is due to be managed by 7 SPA, which is a specialist company in luxury spa management. Tourists and residents will be able to enjoy themed restaurants, six heated swimming pools, golf and tennis services, and 24-hour room service. Th e hotel is also due to construct a 3,000sqm kids club, equipped with a pool and other children’s facilities.

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The 2007 Opening Event of The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco

SanFranciscoSentinel.com -- San Francisco, CA, USA

Founded in 1994 by Gregory J. Furman, former senior vice president of Bergdorf Goodman, the Luxury Marketing Counsel, a business organization of CEOs and senior sales and marketing practitioners, is the global leader in the fast-growing arena of luxury marketing. It has set the “gold standard” for exploring the best marketing practices and trends in the luxury marketplace.

With many chapters throughout the world and 600 leading global and regional members, The Luxury Market Council conducts an extensive program of seminars and events through out the year.

Just recently, on February 22, the Luxury Market Council of San Francisco invited Steve Nobel, the co-founder of the recently launched “Luxury Home Alliance” to be the featured speaker for their 2007 opening event held at the Gaul Searson Showroom in the San Francisco Design Center.

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Bulgari Tries to Claim More of Growing Luxury Market from Vuitton and Chanel

International Herald Tribune -- France

Nicola Bulgari entered his office like he owned it -- which, of course, as the grandson of Sotirio Bulgari, the great Roman jeweler, he does.

In the big room, whose windows overlook Tiffany and Vuitton, almost everything looked fairly old, at least since the last generation, including the portrait of his father leaning against the wall, still unhung. Only a new white sofa stuck out. It did not match his sensibility.

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MGM Mirage Plans Luxury Hotels with China Firm

San Diego Union Tribune -- San Diego, CA, USA

NEW YORK -- U.S. casino operator MGM Mirage Inc. said Tuesday it is forming a joint venture with China's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing to develop luxury hotels and resorts around the world, initially targeting locations in China.

MGM said the companies would focus on non-gambling hotels, and were looking to develop a new brand, associating its MGM Grand hotel brand with Diaoyutai, the name of the Beijing state guesthouse which has played host to many foreign heads of state and leaders of China.

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Hyundai is Latest to Join Luxury Parade

Chicago Tribune -- Chicago, IL, USA

Ford will use the New York Auto Show this week to unveil the production version of the Flex. You may remember it as the Ford Fairlane crossover in concept form on the 2005 auto-show circuit.

Chevy will be there with a trio of concept minis offering 40 m.p.g.-plus without using batteries. And Chrysler Group unveils the next-generation Jeep Liberty and restyled Grand Cherokee.

But all eyes will be on a concept from Hyundai: the Genesis, a full-size, rear-wheel-drive luxury car.

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Indians Getting Luxury-Savvy

Playfuls.com -- Targu Mures, Romania

Riding on a rising number of millionaires and a motoring economy, foreign luxury brands are gaining more than a foothold in the Indian market and are getting jiggy with connoisseurs who know their caviar.

Take for instance last New Year's Eve, when upscale watch-maker Tag Heuer, which has averaged 40 per cent growth in India over the last three years, hosted an all-night party for big spenders in the western city of Goa.

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High Demand for Asia Pacific’s First Luxury Travel Market

ASIATravelTips.com -- Amphur Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand

The Asia Luxury Travel Market (ALTM), the first event in Asia Pacific aimed exclusively at the luxury end of the travel industry, has secured almost seventy percent of it exhibitors and will soon close its books to buyers across the region.

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New York Auto Show Features Dazzling Luxury Cars

Pittsburgh Post Gazette -- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

The New York International Auto Show, which opens to the public today, will smash some of the assumptions that consumers have about the auto industry.

For those who think that rising gasoline prices mean that economy cars will dominate the scene, New York answers back with some of the most dazzling luxury cars seen in years.

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DSW: Democratizing Luxury / Howling Wolf

RightSide Advisors -- Los Angeles, CA, USA

There is a new type of luxury-goods consumer who promises to expand the market dramatically. Typified by the characters in the TV comedy Sex and the City, these consumers are in effect democratizing luxury, noted Michael Silverstein, a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, a few years ago. He defines the phenomenon as: the selective trading-up of middle-market consumers to higher levels of quality, taste and aspiration.

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