Top fashion hotel brand to target developing countries

(Elisabetta Gucci)

Luxury Italian hotel brand Elisabetta Gucci is to focus on building its top-end boutique hotels in developing countries.

Elisabetta Gucci Hotels & Resorts will aim to build 40 hotels over the next 15 years in countries such as Russia, China and Brazil, the firm's managing director Lorens Ziller told Reuters June 6 at the Reuters Global Luxury Summit.

Elisabetta Gucci is the daughter of Paolo Gucci and the fourth generation of the Gucci dynasty that has spawned a global fashion empire.

The brand is set to open its first hotel in Dubai later this year, where it will compete with the recently-opened Armani hotel for the affection of fashion-lovers.

Her hotels will combine "absolute luxury with rare, precious and stylish materials" with a "unique ambience with great facilities and personalized service", says the group's website.

The first hotel in Dubai's Media City is expected to include 80 suites, two penthouse apartments, spa and pool, a cigar club, a rooftop lounge bar and a limousine service.

The brand's decision to focus on three of the four BRIC nations and other countries in Asia, Africa and South America reflects the sentiment expressed at the Global Transport and Tourism Summit in May, where leading international chains unveiled similar expansion plans for the developing world.

http://www.elisabettagucci.com