AMPR MAY NEWSLETTER
May 1st, 2019
Shou Sugi Ban House
What’s New?
Shou Sugi Ban House is a new kind of wellness sanctuary offering three-, four-, and six-night retreats focusing on transformation, healing, and an exploration of one’s self, and it’s opening on May 16 in Water Mill, NY. Guests’ days comprise of many forms of wellness ranging from beach hikes, reiki, spa treatments, sound healing, and meditation punctuated by gourmet cooking demonstrations (menus are curated by Mads Refslund, formerly of lauded Noma restaurant in Copenhagen).
White Elephant Palm Beach, a luxury 32-room hotel located in the heart of Palm Beach, will open in autumn 2019. The new hotel showcases the total renovation of the former Bradley Park Hotel – which dates back to the 1920s – and its transformation into one of the most luxurious properties in Palm Beach.
THE GRAND HOUSE, a hometel that exemplifies the glamour and ebullience of Italian style, debuted in March 2019 with a portfolio of 7 maisons particulières in central Rome. TGH marries the flexibility of a home rental operator with the high-touch services of a five-star hotel and offers a swath of experiences, such as a day at the Testaccio market with chef Cristina Bowerman, the only female, Italian Michelin-starred chef.
Nayara Tented Camp will open in December 2019 in Costa Rica. Each tent – designed by veteran luxury safari tent company Luxury Frontiers – will have a private plunge pool filled with naturally warm water from the nearby Arenal volcano’s hot springs.
La Réserve Ramatuelle opened for the season on April 18 and introduced a new beach club on St. Tropez’s famous Pampelonne Beach. Designed by Philipe Starck, La Réserve à La Plage includes 75 sunbeds and a 120-seat beachfront restaurant overseen by the resort’s Michelin-starred chef.
The owners behind Peju Province Winery in Rutherford opened the new Calmere Estate Winery and Tasting Room in Carneros on March 29, 2019. Set on a 100-acre estate, the design incorporates local accents including glass wine containers and reclaimed wood paneling from an oak tree on the owner’s vineyard.
Following a top-to-bottom refurbishment, The Christopher Hotel will launch three new villas in October 2019, each featuring four bedrooms and a private swimming pool.
Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo was conceived in 1873 when German painter Otto Geleng convinced the homeowner to convert his estate into a hotel. To honor Geleng’s life – and his artwork dedicated to the Sicilian town – Belmond will offer a special menu for the 80th anniversary of his death in 1939.
PONANT announced its new itinerary ‘A World Affairs Cruise in the Baltic Sea’ that will set sail in October 2019 and in August 2020. The sailings will feature captivating programming with leading thinkers including former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Admiral James Stavridis and former director of the CIA General Michael Hayden.
Guests of the top suites at The Wauwinet and White Elephant will receive keys to a 2019 BMW 760L SUV vehicle for the duration of their stay, making it easier to get around island. This amenity equals a savings of up to $450 per day by forgoing a jeep rental on island.
Dalloway Terrace at The Bloomsbury in London has been transformed into a tropical paradise with the unique flora of Sri Lanka, inspired from novel ‘The Village in the Jungle,’ by Leonard Woolf (who was once a regular at the hotel). In partnership with the National Literacy Trust, Dalloway Terrace will donate £2 from each order of Beer Battered Fish & Chips towards improving literacy skills in Local London schools.
Guinot launches Crème Lift Summum, a cream designed to minimize the appearance of wrinkles, and a new Eye Lift Treatment designed to reduce signs of aging and fatigue through muscle stimulation and an eye mask.
Life on the Water
Where to swim, snorkel, and sail this summer
Snorkeling at GoldenEye
When night falls at Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort, the Anse des Pitons comes alive with marine life, creating the perfect locale for night snorkeling. At around 7pm, guests can dive in to see octopus, squid, trumpet fish, needle fish, trigger fish, parrot fish, moray eels, and sometimes sea horses. Occasionally, the rare Hawksbill Turtle will make an appearance as it arrives at the reef to sleep.
Captain Rob McMullen, licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard, leads surfcasting, lobstering and boating excursions from Nantucket’s Wauwinet. He will also take guests to an oyster farm just 300 yards from the property and offer a tutorial on how to properly shuck mollusks before tasting the fresh catch.
The glass-bottom boat excursion at Jamaica’s GoldenEye takes guests to the nearby turquoise Oracabessa Bay, where passengers can observe more than 700 species of marine life including sea turtles and king crabs. Learn about the work behind the property’s Oracabessa Foundation, which is largely responsible for the replenishing the waters with more than 2,000 pieces of colorful coral necessary to marine livelihood.
Belmond Villa Sant’Andrea marks its 100th anniversary with a Tales of the Sicilian Sea celebratory boat ride that immerses guests in the island’s storied past and family traditions. The cruise takes in the small island gems Isola Bella and Giardini Naxos, introduces guests to working life on the sea with a private tour with the last master ship makers in the region, and concludes with a lunch served at the baroque aristocratic house of Rosalba Cutore and her family.
Underwater enthusiasts can take advantage of the island’s PADI dive school at andBeyond Mnemba Island, a private getaway inhabited only by andBeyond guests and staff that is surrounded by an atoll of coral reefs and boasts some of Africa’s most pristine dive sites.
Located on the shores of Switzerland’s Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), La Réserve Geneva offers the watersport ‘wakeskating.’ An adaptation of wakeboarding, wakeskating uses a similar design of board manufactured from maple or fiberglass. Unlike wakeboarding, the rider is not bound to the board in any way, similar to riding a skateboard (hence the name).
Don’t forget to pack sunscreen! Guinot’s Sun Logic (available in SPF 20 and SPF 30) is an anti-aging sunscreen that protects the skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays, as well as from blue light rays from TVs, computers, and mobile phones – keeping skin safe both in the office and at the beach.
Family Reunions
Traveling with the family – including kids and grandparents – is the top travel trend according to Virtuoso’s annual Luxe Report. Here is a selection of top accommodations that’s sure to please everyone.
Grand Riad at Royal Mansour
White Elephant’s Loft at 32 Main is the only bookable accommodation on Nantucket’s historic cobblestone street. Families who book the three-bedroom pied-à-terre-style loft will be walking distance to Children’s Beach with its calm waves, and have access to the amenities of the White Elephant, like complimentary Priority Bicycles to explore the 30 miles of flat trails.
The palatial Grand Riad at Royal Mansour is complete with four bedrooms, a two-level rooftop terrace, and swimming pool with built-in water current. Guests also enjoy the services of a dedicated staff that operate in the intricate network of underground tunnels through which the hotel’s service staff transports luggage, room service, and more, completely undetected.
Recently rebuilt andBeyond Phinda Homestead is a sole-use villa in South Africa that offers private safari vehicles (a rarity!) and total control over the day’s schedule.
The five-bedroom Fleming Villa at Jamaica’s GoldenEye is the site where all 14 James Bond novels were penned. Families will enjoy dinner in his sunken garden where Fleming used to entertain the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Noel Coward. Kids can hang out with Fleming’s gardener, Ramsey Dacosta, who still works on property and leads activities that include coconut carving and nature walks.
Away from the hordes of tourists in Amalfi and Positano, Belmond Villa Margherita is an elegant summer house on the hilltop of Ravello, offering a delightful hideaway from the buzzing coastline and combines Belmond iconic hospitality with the right mix of privacy, home comforts, uncompromised luxury and a la carte services. Comprised of two fully equipped suites, the Villa showcases the best, unobstructed views of the entire coastline.
One of the latest additions to the UXUA Hotel & Spa collection, Casa Fazenda Braka is an expansive compound composed of five casas within a 100,000-square-meter family farm overlooking Brazil’s famed Espelho Beach. Centered around the 20-meter swimming pool, each bungalow is situated in a secluded retreat with a spacious ocean-view veranda serving as the gathering point for the whole family.
Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort offers new ultra-luxe four- and five-bedroom Beachfront Collection Residences, complete with private beach access and postcard views of the Pitons. One of the residences is equipped with a waterslide connecting an infinity pool to a lower level hot tub and yoga deck.
Calendar
La Réserve a la Plage
June
June 14-16, 2019: Belmond Reid’s Palace will host its second annual “Art of Flavours” gastronomy festival featuring seven Michelin-star chefs, exclusive masterclasses, and a nine-course culinary feast
June 14-16, 2019: The 8th annual Nantucket Book Festival showcases award-winning authors as well as local and regional talent, including Nathaniel Philbrick, writer of In the Heart of the Sea, based on the true story of a Nantucket-based whale ship
June 19-24, 2019: The 23rd annual Nantucket Film Festival spotlights screenwriters and preview screenings with hosts including Ben Stiller
June 22, 2019: Celebrate the solstice at Napa Valley’s Merryvale Summer Solstice Party with the debut of the vineyard’s Solstice Sparkling Wine
July
July 10, 2019: andBeyond’s Trans-Himalayan Wildlife Journey departs to Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas, a high-altitude desert dotted with Buddhist monasteries and elusive wildlife
July 11-21, 2019: The 14th annual Festival Napa Valley will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing with more than 60 themed concerts and events celebrating innovation and exploration, such as an orchestral performance of the score to Star Wars: A New Hope and a film screening of the Apollo 11 documentary.
July 14, 2019: Celebrate Bastille Day at La Réserve Ramatuelle’s new beach club La Réserve a la Plage
July 28, 2019: Celebrating Jackie Kennedy’s 90th birthday, Belmond Hotel Caruso offers a “In Jackie Kennedy’s Footsteps” experience around the Amalfi Coast in a vintage Fiat 500
August
August 7, 2019: PONANT launches Le Dumont d’Urville, its fourth ship in the EXPLORER fleet, each with an underwater lounge
August 11, 2019: Belmond Hotel Caruso hosts exclusive Concert at Dawn performance during the annual Ravello Festival
August 17, 2019: Napa Valley’s Robert Mondavi Winery’s Dinner Under the Stars