Indonesia Design - Defining Luxury
Insight from ILTM Asia Pacific 2019 in Singapore
Last May, Indonesia Design was invited again to be part of the recent prestigious International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) Asia Pacific that took place at the Marina Bay Sands. After last year’s success, this event marks the second Asia Pacific event for ILTM featuring approximately 550 luxury travel suppliers from around the world, a 10 per cent increase from last year. New faces such as Banwa Private Island in the Philippines, Makanyi Private Game Lodge in South Africa, Matetsi Victoria Falls in South Africa, Bawah Reserve in Indonesia, Minor Hotel Group and Ungasan Clifftop Resort in Bali are taking their participation for the very first time this year.
Following the similar theme that was launched during ILTM in Cannes last December, this year ILTM Asia Pacific also focused on the health and wellness theme. International speakers for this year opening the global forum include Parag Khanna who talks about the importance of connectivity and the rise of Southeast Asia power in the world map. Filipina marketing guru Cathy FelicianoChon and the posture expert Julien Paccaud were next on the line to talk about wellness before the larger-than-life hotel designer Bill Bensley took the stage with his provocative presentation.
In those three days, Indonesia Design gathered the latest news from the hospitality industry including a visit to the newly opened The Capitol Kempinski Hotel that hosted the Leading Hotels of The World luncheon featuring the famous three Michelin-star Chef Alvin Leung from Bo Innovation that served us fantastic award-winning dishes at 15 Stamford restaurant. With their newly opened sister hotel the Kempinski Apurva in Nusa Dua Bali, the Kempinski brand was making quite a buzz during the event.
Indonesia Design also met with the CEO of Langham Hospitality Group, Stefan Leser and received exciting news on the opening of Langham Jakarta that is planned for early 2020. He also stated that this will be one of the finest Langham properties in their collection. News also came from Minor Hotels as they continue to expand their group, and this time they informed Indonesia Design that NH Hotels and Avani Hotels & Resort now belong to the Minor Hotels family.
Another big announcement from Hyatt Hotels was the merger of Alila Hotels to be part of their global collection. During the breakfast meeting at Intercontinental Singapore, Intercontinental Hotel Group shared news from their collection, such as the soon-to-open Regent in Jakarta, Kimpton Hotels, and the latest Intercontinental property called Hayman Island at the northernmost point in the Whitsunday Islands of Australia. More from Australia, Indonesia Design also met with Jackalope that is located at the Mornington Peninsula. This amazing property is one of the most well-designed hotels in the whole country and we continued our journey from Singapore to have a direct visit to this stunning hotel. Catch our full feature on Jackalope at the Mornington Peninsula in our October issue.
News from the continent of Europe includes the famous De L’europe hotel in Amsterdam’s exciting ongoing renovation project and we look forward to featuring it once they reopen next year. We were also impressed with the new luxury boutique hotel brand called Proper Hotels from the US founded by Brad Korzen, Brian De Lowe, and Alex Samek. This design-oriented hotel has two hotels in San Francisco and Santa Monica that are already open. Following that, they will have more properties to open soon in Austin, Portland and Downtown L.A.
In the four days of ILTM Asia Pacific this year, we have made many new connections while maintaining relationships with those we already know. The ILTM event is really one of the best travel events by far and we can hardly wait to be part of it again later this year in Cannes.