The world’s largest luxury-goods company, home to brands such as the Louis Vuitton fashion house and champagne maker Veuve Clicquot, said Thursday it will develop resorts using the name of its Bordeaux winery, Cheval Blanc. The company tested the concept with a first location that opened in the French ski resort Courchevel in 2006. Two more hotels are scheduled to join the new chain by 2012 in Oman and Egypt, the company said.
The project is “a natural extension of activities in luxury hospitality with Cheval Blanc,” LVMH said in a statement.
Like many top hotel operators, LVMH is limiting its exposure to the volatile hotel industry. It won’t own the real estate or finance construction, but will instead run the resorts under management contract, a similar model to other high-end chains such as The Ritz-Carlton. The new LVMH Hotel Management business has six employees.
Egypt’s Orascom Development Holding AG is bankrolling most of the cost of the Oman and Egypt locations. The hotel staff will be employed by Orascom, a spokeswoman for LVMH said.
Luxury brands have moved into the hotel business in recent years, looking for new ways to increase their presence. Italian jeweller Bulgari SpA has two resorts, in Milan and Bali, which are run by hotel group Marriott International Inc. Fashion designer Giorgio Armani recently opened his first hotel, in Dubai.
LVMH is also developing a hotel in the building of the former La Samaritaine department store in Paris, but it is premature to say if it will bear the Cheval Blanc name, the LVMH spokeswoman said. Renovation on the historic building is expected to continue through 2013. The group said it is evaluating future hotel projects.
