Gone are the times when vacation getaways have been outlined by generic festivities and predictable packages. The fashionable traveller craves one thing distinctive — a contact of exclusivity and immersion that transforms a vacation sojourn into a rare reminiscence. In response to a 2024 McKinsey & Firm report, the demand for bespoke and personalised experiences is reshaping the hospitality panorama. Main resorts across the globe are responding with curated choices — from designer collaborations and personal helicopter excursions to tailor-made menus and immersive cultural actions. These locations promise a festive season like no different.
4 Seasons Resort and Residence Whistler, Canada
Tucked away on snow-capped mountains in British Columbia lies the 4 Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler. This winter, friends can take pleasure in a thoughtfully curated assortment of festive actions and après-ski choices, every designed to seize the surprise and pleasure of the season.
Considered one of its highlights consists of The Library by The Macallan, a collaboration between the resort and the Scottish distillery model. First launched final winter, The Library by The Macallan reopened on November 28 for the 2024 season. With it comes a brand new immersive expertise, titled “A Journey By Color,” which pays tribute to the artwork of whisky-making by enjoying with varied shades of single malt Scotches. Whisky lovers can both take pleasure in The Library’s latest cocktail innovations or select from 12 totally different bottlings of The Macallan to get pleasure from within the lounge’s intimate fire setting.
Whether it is an journey you’re searching for, the resort’s 45-minute helicopter tour takes full benefit of its premier mountainside location. Patrons are handled to an unforgettable flight over the Coast Mountains, which makes a particular cease on a serene mountaintop to get pleasure from sizzling cocoa and wondrous views.
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Gleneagles Resort, Auchterarder, United Kingdom
The Scottish property ends its one centesimal 12 months in operation with a decadent Christmas programme for guests. Situated close to the city of Auchterarder, Gleneagles Resort boasts sprawling grounds which are blanketed in snow throughout December, serving as a great backdrop for opulent vacation actions. All through Christmas, the times are peppered with thoughtfully deliberate festivities, reminiscent of a stunning pantomime efficiency, a go to from Santa’s reindeer, and wine tastings. A custom-built ice rink additionally sits on the property in winter time, the place European and World Championship ice skaters are set to carry out on Christmas Eve.
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Halekulani Okinawa, Japan
For individuals who want a extra coastal-style Christmas, Halekulani Okinawa marries Hawaiian sensibilities with Japanese customs. The 2024 festive season theme is “Me ke aloha pumehana,” which means “With all my love” in Hawaiian. True to that style, the resort’s Christmas occasions embrace delicate quilling artwork, and cork tree and wreath crafting. Halekulani additionally presents a Santa Claus present supply service, the place friends can drop-off their chosen present for family members earlier than Christmas Day, and obtain a personalised ‘go to’ from Santa Claus as if Father Christmas himself has come bearing presents.
In direction of New Yr’s, the resort pays homage to its locale with conventional Japanese actions. Patrons can study to weave miniature shimenawa, a sacred Shinto rope seen round shrine areas and generally used as New Yr’s decorations; or take part in kakizome, a calligraphy custom to jot down out auspicious blessings for the brand new 12 months.
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Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Monaco
With appearances in two James Bond movies, as soon as dwelling to an exhibition by Andy Warhol, and a daily taking pictures location of style photographer Helmut Newton, Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo is synonymous with glamour and class. Its Christmas celebrations aren’t any totally different. The resort’s Belle Époque foyer is including further gleam with its Christmas tree show, designed by Swiss watch and jewelry home Chopard. Daily from 14 December to five January, the “Festive Afternoon Tea” will happen within the foyer at 3pm, providing up sizzling chocolate created by Michelin-decorated chef Alain Ducasse.
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The Mark, New York
Dubbed “the starriest resort foyer on the planet”, The Mark Resort isn’t any stranger to fashionable hospitality experiences. This Higher East Facet luxurious resort is dwelling to North America’s largest penthouse, which serves as the bottom for The Mark Vacation Penthouse Spectacular. For the festive season, Penthouse friends can rejoice a quintessential New York Christmas, with the posh of privateness and exclusivity.
The Mark — which has lengthy been often called the “unofficial crimson carpet” for Met Gala attendees and celebrities — continues their affiliation with the historic museum in winter. Penthouse friends are supplied with an after-hours go to to The Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, accompanied by an knowledgeable information. Christmas purchasing can also be made simpler with a late-night non-public purchasing expertise at Bergdorf Goodman.
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The Plaza, New York
Few resorts on the planet seize the Christmas spirit as The Plaza in New York Metropolis does. The long-lasting Fifth Avenue resort is cemented in popular culture as a Christmas wonderland, partly due to appearances in movies reminiscent of “Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York” and the “Eloise” film collection. Throughout Christmastime, The Plaza graciously brings these magical film moments to life with their vacation choices.
Probably the most well-known vacation {custom} is The Plaza’s “Dwelling Alone” package deal, the place guests can expertise New York a la Kevin McCallister. A non-public limousine takes friends across the Massive Apple to go to the film’s well-known movie places just like the Empire State Constructing, Rockefeller Heart, and Radio Metropolis Music Corridor. For a extra conventional Christmas celebration, The Plaza additionally presents its “Suitest Season of All” package deal, which transforms one in every of its lavish resort suites right into a jubilant dwelling away from dwelling. Fairy lights, crimson and white florals, and a 7-foot-tall Balsam Hill Christmas tree embellish the suite for the vacation season.
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Ritz Paris, France
Located within the glitzy Place Vendôme, The Ritz Paris has change into an establishment in French tradition, attracting friends like Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaperelli, and King Edward VII. However it’s not the one well-known hallmark within the Metropolis of Lights — Surrealism, the creative and cultural motion, originated in Paris, France within the Twenties. To honour the one centesimal Anniversary of Surrealism, The Ritz Paris infuses surrealist artwork into its end-of-year celebrations.
Designed by award-winning illustrator Jonathan Burton, signature emblems of The Ritz Paris are melded into Surrealist-style decor — suppose off-kilter work of golden-winged hats, The Ritz tulip lamp reworked right into a couture costume, and the well-known Ritz Paris key dancing round. The artwork model additionally extends to this 12 months’s Christmas tree, adorned with authentic poetry and branches designed to seem like Surrealist jewelry utilizing gold thread, crystal pendants, and feathers.
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The Peninsula Hong Kong
This flagship resort travels again in time every Christmas, this time to The Peninsula Hong Kong’s inception in 1928. The resort foyer is reworked right into a Twenties-style luxurious passenger prepare — often called The Peninsula Specific — painted within the resort’s signature inexperienced and furnished with gold accents. Aboard the “prepare,” friends can take pleasure in afternoon tea or a lunch/dinner buffet as a simulated journey begins overlooking famed landmarks impressed by Beijing and Shanghai.
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Brown’s Resort, London
Often called London’s oldest luxurious resort, Brown’s has garnered quite a few high-profile clientele since its founding in 1832. Literary figures reminiscent of Agatha Christie and Rudyard Kipling have been common friends, and the resort was additionally a favorite of the Roosevelt household. In recent times, Brown’s has welcomed a brand new kind of legacy within the type of style homes. This 12 months, the historic resort has partnered with luxurious life-style model Golden Goose.
The Italian attire and footwear model places their informal luxurious spin on Christmas at Brown’s. Its signature golden star motif will function subtly within the resort’s festive decorations, culminating in a bespoke tree designed in wealthy colors of gold and purple. The Golden Goose x Brown’s Resort collaboration goes additional with the Golden Getaway package deal — a two-night keep in one of many resort’s luxurious suites and a complimentary pair of Golden Goose’s iconic distressed-style sneakers. Friends are additionally given a VIP go to Golden Goose’s Bond Road retailer to customize their new pair of sneakers with the model’s artisans.
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