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November 26, 2007
Private hotel' concept introduced in Aspen
Brent Gardner-Smith - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Sun 11/25/2007 11:00PM MST
An international company is now offering visitors to Aspen the option of staying in a "private hotel" for more than $7,000 a night.
A company called Villazzo has three "VillaHotels" in the Aspen area that have all the five-star amenities of a luxury hotel such as The Little Nell. These private hotels are part of a growing mix of expensive services and accommodations in Aspen.
"If people like being pampered and like being waited on hand and foot, they will enjoy our experience," said Sean Hayes, general manager of Villazzo's Aspen properties.
The cost of a private hotel in peak season ranges from $5,300 per night for a home in Old Snowmass to $7,000 per night for a 10,000-square-foot home on Smuggler Mountain with Aspen views.
By comparison, the rate for the 2,500-square-foot slopeside Paepcke Suite at the five-star/five-diamond Little Nell hotel is $5,100 per night for much of the winter, climbing to $6,185 from Dec. 18 to Jan. 1. Holiday rates for the Nell's Pfeifer Suite are $6,625 per night - and going up to $7,200 per night next year. Both suites are booked for this year, according to Justin Todd, director of sales and marketing for The Little Nell.
Last winter, the average cost of an overnight stay in an Aspen hotel room was $467, according to Stay Aspen Snowmass President Bill Tomcich. That figure includes all levels of lodges and hotels booked by SAS, but does not factor in rates for private homes - or private hotels.
Included in the base price of a Villazzo private hotel are such items as: a uniformed bellman and maid, a welcome bottle of champagne and appetizers, unpacking service, bath slippers, shoe-polishing service, daily fresh fruit and flowers, newspapers and magazines, Godiva chocolates, and a personal computer with high-speed Internet service.
Items that come at an extra charge include a uniformed butler, room service, a private chef, waiter or bartender, shopping service, cigar selection, mini-bars, personal security personnel and a gift shop.
HISTORY
Founded by Christian Jagodzinski of Germany, Villazzo also has villas in St. Tropez, Marbella, Courchevel, Paris and Miami. Jagodzinski - who created Europe's first online bookstore and then sold the business to Amazon.com - frequently rented expensive homes when he traveled, and often failed to find reliable Internet service, a decent espresso machine or a working home theater. So he started Villazzo to try to provide a consistent and reliable product for fellow high-end travelers.
A review of a visit in January to a Villazzo private hotel in St. Tropez by a reporter with The Times of London was not all positive. The reporter's biggest complaints, however, were that no cream was served with his tea, the water in the pool was much too chilly, and the hired chef's culinary skills "were largely fictional."
Jagodzinki hopes eventually to have about 10 homes serving as private hotels in each of the resort markets the company has selected so far, including Aspen.
Rather than buy the homes it uses as hotels, Villazzo makes arrangements with homeowners to bring their properties up to the company's standards, and then rents them out on a nightly, weekly or monthly basis.
It seems to be a popular idea, according to one industry watcher.
"The trend of 'private hotels" is huge, not just in high-end ski resorts such as Aspen, Whistler, Lake Tahoe, Telluride, Vail, Jackson Hole, Park City and Courchevel, but also in fashionable beach resorts and urban centers," said Christine Gray, editor of Luxury Travel Magazine. "It's a worldwide trend and the fastest-growing segment of the luxury travel market."
OTHER TRENDS
In addition to private hotels, approximately 10 homes and condos in Aspen and Snowmass are now managed as components of destination clubs, where members pay a one-time membership fee and annual dues and can stay at a range of luxury properties at no charge.
An increasing number of recently built luxury homes are also available for rent in Aspen and Snowmass at breathtaking prices. Many offer services such as a driver, chef or masseuse, although the service levels generally do not attempt to emulate a five-star hotel experience.
"The properties we represent are already managed by the homeowner's staff or a property management company," said Carrie Bryant, a broker associate and marketing director with Aspen Signature Properties. "Those vendors know the house and they treat people as if they were the owner's guests."
However, those drivers and maids might not report for duty in a traditional maid's or butler's uniform, as they will at a Villazzo property, where a formal uniform is no small matter.
"It is a challenge finding the right people who will wear a bellman's uniform," especially given the casual nature of most local jobs, said Villazzo's Hayes.
But even without maids in spiffy uniforms, people are willing to pay quite a bit for a home rental in Aspen.
Aspen Signature Properties offers rentals of large private homes in Aspen at rates of $20,000 per night over the holidays and up to $160,000 for one month during the winter. The average holiday stay at a large Aspen home costs about $40,000 per week, according to Bryant, and a strong demand exists for homes in that price range.
Bryant said it was not unusual for a wealthy family to have the attitude, "We might be billionaires, but we're just a normal family. Just put us on Red Mountain for $10,000 a night and we're good."
She also said that for some, an expensive rental is still cheaper than buying a luxury home in Aspen. In other words, she said, those clients are happy to spend $100,000 per month to rent, rather than $8 million to own a property.
Greg Shove, CEO of The Helium Report, which tracks luxury travel trends such as destination clubs and private hotels, says the market for luxury ski home rentals and private hotels with very high levels of service is strong and growing.
"More and more, affluent travelers are less satisfied with one-off vacation rentals," said Shove. "There is a desire to know that a property is as advertised and that there is some consistency of service."
Shove also said that a five- or six-bedroom home or private hotel can be competitive with a five-star hotel, from a price standpoint, especially if a family needs to rent three or four hotel rooms to accommodate the whole family plus friends and a nanny. In addition, many heads of wealthy households need, and want, to do some office work while they're on an extended ski trip.
"People are working more while traveling and they want a place where they can work from," he said. "A house can do that and a hotel room doesn't do that very well."
The growing popularity of high-end home rentals might mean that there are more "hot beds" in Aspen than are counted by central reservation agencies like Stay Aspen Snowmass.
"There has always been an uncounted percentage of our visitors who stay in accommodations like these, whether they pay for it or whether they are guests," said Tomcich.
But he doesn't think the growing number of high-end, multiple-bedroom homes in Aspen has offset the steady loss of lodging beds the resort has seen during the past 20 years.
www.stayaspensnowmass.com
"I think it should certainly factor into our thinking, but there is no question that we have seen a significant net loss of beds," he said.
Sean Hayes of Villazzo feels that the private hotel concept will continue to be popular in Aspen and Snowmass, especially among very wealthy travelers.
"Our clients don't fly commercial -why should they stay commercial" he asked.
For more information on luxury properties, visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at November 26, 2007 09:04 AM
