Belmond Ltd.

Last updated

Belmond Ltd.
Formerly
Orient-Express Hotels Ltd
Subsidiary
Traded as NYSE:  BEL (Class A)
S&P 600 Component
Industry Hospitality
Headquarters Hamilton, Bermuda [1]
Key people
  • Roeland Vos, CEO
Services Hotels, trains, cruises, restaurants
RevenueDecrease2.svg US$ 560,999 million (2017) [2]
Parent LVMH
Website Belmond.com

Belmond Ltd. is a hotel and leisure company that operates luxury hotels, train services and river cruises around the world. [3] In 2015, the company had 35 deluxe hotels, 7 tourist trains, 3 river cruises and restaurants in 22 countries.

Contents

The company was formerly known as Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. [4] On 10 March 2014, the global collection of businesses was renamed Belmond, [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] and on 1 July 2014, the parent company itself was renamed Belmond Ltd. [10] In December 2018, the company agreed to be acquired by LVMH. [11]

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, also known as LVMH, is a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 under the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy, a company formed after the 1971 merger between the champagne producer Moët & Chandon and Hennessy, the cognac manufacturer. It controls around 60 subsidiaries that each manage a small number of prestigious brands. The subsidiaries are often managed independently. The oldest of the LVMH brands is wine producer Château d'Yquem, which dates its origins back to 1593.

Background

The company was founded in 1976 with the acquisition of Hotel Cipriani in Venice. The company derived its original name from the Orient Express train. It operates the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which provides overnight train service between London and Venice. [12] It also operates other trains, including the Belmond Royal Scotsman train service, and has a 50 percent interest in PeruRail.

Orient Express name of a long-distance passenger train service

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL).

Venice-Simplon Orient Express private luxury train service from London to Venice

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, or VSOE, is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond Ltd. Belmond operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in 24 countries, and agreed in December 2018 to be acquired by LVMH in a transaction expected to close in the first half of 2019.

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Among the European hotels it owns is Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice and Belmond Reid's Palace in Madeira. The company also owns and operates the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, and the Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro. It operates two river cruisers on the Irrawaddy River in Central Burma (Myanmar), and Belmond Afloat in France (five canal and river barges).

Belmond Hotel Cipriani building in Venice, Italy

The Belmond Hotel Cipriani is a deluxe hotel on the island of Giudecca in Venice, northern Italy. It is reached by hotel launch from St. Mark's Square, a five-minute journey across the lagoon. Long considered one of the leading luxury hotels of the world, its room rates begin at USD $1,400 per night.

Belmond Reids Palace hotel

Belmond Reid's Palace is a historic hotel located to the west of Funchal Bay in Madeira, Portugal, in an imposing position looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. The hotel has beautiful sloping gardens.

Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel hotel in Cape Town

Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel is a luxury hotel at the centre of Cape Town in a garden estate overlooked by Table Mountain.

Business activities

The properties, trains and other services that are owned or managed by Belmond Ltd. include the following.

Hotels

Europe

Italy republic in Southern Europe

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.

The Belmond Hotel Splendido is a hotel in Portofino, Italy. The site was formerly home to an Benedictine monastery which was ransacked so many times by Saracen pirates that the monks abandoned it in the 16th century. The four-storey high building subsequently fell into disrepair. In the 19th century the property was purchased by Italian aristocrat Baron Baratta, who renovated and converted it into a family summer house. In 1901 the building was purchased by Ruggero Valentini who transformed it into a hotel which opened in 1902. Since its inception, the hotel has played host to various famous people and noble families. The 1950s witnessed the discovery of Portofino by American visitors who made the hotel their accommodation of choice. Among the visitors from this time to the present have been the Duke of Windsor, Winston Churchill and Rex Harrison.in 1952, Clark Gable in 1953, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Groucho Marx and Ava Gardner in 1954, Fredric March in 1955, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 1967.

Portofino Comune in Liguria, Italy

Portofino is an Italian fishing village and holiday resort famous for its picturesque harbour and historical association with celebrity and artistic visitors. It is a comune located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore.

North America

Belmond Charleston Place

Belmond Charleston Place is a hotel in the historic centre of Charleston, South Carolina. It was built in a style to fit with the architecture of surrounding 1800s buildings and opened on September 2, 1986.

Charleston, South Carolina City in the United States

Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. Charleston had an estimated population of 134,875 in 2017. The estimated population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, was 761,155 residents in 2016, the third-largest in the state and the 78th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.

South Carolina State of the United States of America

South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern United States and the easternmost of the Deep South. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the southwest by Georgia across the Savannah River.

South America

Asia

Africa

Trains

Sleeper trains

Day trains

Riverboats

Restaurants

See also

Related Research Articles

Orient Express was the name of a long-distance passenger train service that ran from 1883 to 2009.

Belmond Hotel Monasterio

The Belmond Hotel Monasterio is a five-star hotel in Cusco, Peru. It is a refurbished Baroque seminary built in the 17th century on Inca foundations. The hotel is located two blocks from the Plaza de Armas.

PeruRail railway company

PeruRail is a railway operator providing tourist, freight, and charter services in southern Peru. It was founded in 1999 by Peruvian entrepreneur Lorenzo Sousa Debarbieri and British company Sea Containers.

Great South Pacific Express

The Great South Pacific Express was a luxury Australian train service, run in by Queensland Rail and Venice-Simplon Orient Express.

Eastern and Oriental Express

The Eastern & Oriental Express is a luxury train that carries passengers between Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Belmond Villa San Michele building in Tuscany, Italy

The Belmond Villa San Michele is a hotel situated on the hill of Fiesole overlooking Florence, Italy. It is named after the church of St Michael the Archangel. Today it is owned by Belmond Ltd. and is operated as a luxury hotel.

Attilio Di Fabrizio, chef de cuisine for both the Villa San Michele in Florence and the Hotel Splendido in Portofino, was born in the town of Abruzzi. He studied at the Villa Santa Cookery School, cradle of many of Italy’s most outstanding chefs. Di Fabrizio followed formal training with apprenticeships in Italy, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland, developing his skills and broadening his knowledge, before returning to Italy to the world-famous Hotel Cipriani in Venice.

Luxury train special train, designed for elegance and comfort

Luxury trains are designed to offer a very comfortable ride and evoke an association with history and heritage. Operating in several countries, they are a premium travel option. Although some luxury trains promote tourism in destinations across a continent, others take passengers on a long, leisurely ride through a single country.

Belmond Orcaella is a river cruiser in Myanmar that plies the Ayeyarwady River, also known as the Irrawaddy River, and the Chindwin River. Its ports of call include Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay. It also visits remote villages and temples close to Myanmar’s border with India. It is named after the Orcaella river dolphin found in this part of Asia. The river cruiser was designed in the style of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and launched by Orient-Express Hotels in July 2013. In 2014 the company changed its name to Belmond Ltd. and the ship was renamed Belmond Orcaella

Belmond Palacio Nazarenas is a hotel in a former convent built on Inca walls at the centre of Cusco, Peru. It is located in a small square close by the Plaza de Armas and the city cathedral.

Belmond Hotel Rio Sagrado is a hotel in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, 46 kilometres from Cusco, Peru. It is built on the banks of the Urubamba River by Urubamba, near the town of Ollantaytambo, which is known for its Inca archaeological site and as a starting point for one of the longer treks to Machu Picchu. The hotel has extensive gardens constructed with streams reminiscent of Inca water channels.

Belmond Sanctuary Lodge is a small hotel situated at the entrance to the Machu Picchu Inca citadel. It is the only hotel at this World Heritage Site, and can be accessed by foot or by rail

Belmond British Pullman private luxury train service

Belmond British Pullman is a private luxury train that operates day and weekend journeys around Britain and also conveys passengers of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) between London and Folkestone, as part of their journey to Venice and other European cities.

Belmond Hiram Bingham is a luxury train operating day return trips from Poroy station outside Cusco to Aguas Calientes, the station for Machu Picchu in Peru.

Belmond Khwai River Lodge is a safari lodge situated in Moremi Game Reserve, part of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The lodge is one of three that comprise Belmond Safaris, the others being Belmond Eagle Island Lodge and Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge. All three are reached from Maun, Botswana.

Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge is a safari lodge in Chobe National Park in Botswana. Chobe was the country’s first national park and is its third largest.

Belmond Andean Explorer, launched in May 2017, is South America's first luxury sleeper train. It replaces the eponymous Pullman day train, between Cusco and Puno, at Lake Titicaca. By the new train this trip is converted to a one-night journey, and extended from Puno for another overnight ride to Arequipa.

References

  1. ↑ Company 10-Q
  2. ↑ "2017 Belmond Ltd. Annual Report" (PDF). Investor.belmond.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "Belmond Ltd. - SEC". Sec.gov. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  4. ↑ "Belmond Ltd. Company Information". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  5. ↑ "Interview: Behind Belmond's Rebrand of Iconic Orient-Express Name". Skift.com. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Vora, Shivani. "Orient-Express Hotels Gets a New Name". Intransit.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Log In". Wsj.com. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Bloomberg". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Archived 28 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. Changes Corporate Name to Belmond Ltd". Hotelnewsresource.com. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  11. ↑ Rupert Neate (14 December 2018). "Orient Express sold to owner of Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  12. ↑ Business Wire (1 February 2013). "Company Profile for Belmond Ltd". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2013-03-18.
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