Belmond Embraces 'Slow Luxury'

04.05.2024 - 17:11 / skift.com / Colin Nagy

In a world of hyper-scale and global flag-planting for luxury brands, Belmond is taking a contrarian approach. The brand, known for its collection of hotels, trains, river cruises, and safari camps, is leaning into a style of luxury that is more deliberate and connected with its history. 

The ethos is “slow luxury,” explained Belmond’s CEO Dan Ruff. It’s about commitment to mindfulness – and not cutting corners. 

“Slow luxury is about celebrating luxury craftsmanship, valuing time, and experiential richness,” said Ruff. It’s a philosophy that Belmond has tried to build into its operations, from depressurized and intentionally slower journeys aboard its trains to the cultural programming at its  hotels. 

Ruff told me that Belmond’s trains, like the storied Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, do more than ferry passengers from point A to B: They serve as moving monuments to the brand’s heritage and values. 

Ruff sees them as a halo that informs and elevates the rest of the brand portfolio – a spiritual north star. “Our trains announce who we have always been,” Ruff notes. The trains, which often feel like they were timeshifted from an earlier, more civilized time, signal Belmond’s broader ambitions. 

Part of this license to operate differently comes from its investors. LVMH acquired Belmond in 2019, and, surprisingly, the goals are not about cold, hard, revenue numbers. 

Ruff said that most of the questions they get from the bosses in Paris are related to guest-experience metrics and how many guests are coming back to the properties. 

Ruff told me that LVMH, perhaps better than other multi-billion dollar brands, gets the nuance of the industry: “[They] understand the softer, intangible things that luxury customers truly prize.” 

This reduced (but not completely absent) lack of commercial pressure has allowed the brand to focus on excellence, which other, more bottom-line driven companies might sacrifice in the race for scale. 

It’s easier to deliver on guest experience when you don’t have a cacophony of differing ownership priorities. A brand can be diluted if one owner wants to skimp on a buildout or a renovation. Belmond owns many of its properties, which allows for consistency. 

Ruff highlights the painstaking detail that has gone into property renovations – one at Maroma in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, which re-opened in 2023, honors the property’s heritage and its surroundings. Architectural details and the use of skilled craftsmen aim to preserve the original soul of a structure, and Ruff emphasizes that this is core to the playbook. 

Noticeable in the brand’s experience is the hyper-empowerment of general managers. It isn’t a top-down, command and control structure, but rather Ruff says they want their GM’s