The hotel as the holiday season retail flagship? Vacation spots may not be the most obvious place for retail to emerge as a major revenue driver but in recent years brands have increasingly started to follow their high net worth customers to their holiday locations, bringing with them new income opportunities for hotels.
Retail activations and hospitality have become entwined as retailers look to offer wealthy travellers branded experiences in locations where they have time on their hands and money to spend. For hoteliers, branded takeovers and collaborations offer the potential for not only additional revenue streams through partnerships and retail sales, but also to help elevate their profile, occupancy and social media reach.
It’s a strategy that began with a handful of global brands dipping their toes in the water with temporary pop-ups and activations in scenic vacation spots. But their success has seen the approach mature into an important seasonal channel and, according to Savills, Europe's top seasonal destinations such as Mykonos, Ibiza and the French Riviera now rank among the most sought-after global locations for short-term brand activations.
Activations benefit retailer and hotelier
The rationale is two-fold. Firstly, resort activations enable brands to test out new markets and formats with limited capital commitment. But secondly, and arguably more importantly, they allow them to reach consumers in a leisure mindset, primed to share on social media and removed from everyday distractions.
Likewise, for hotels the partnerships also create reasons for guests to spend more time, and money, on the property, while generating publicity that extends far beyond traditional travel marketing and elevates the guest experience. Revenue models vary but normally involve a mix of a base fee and a share of sales.
“We are seeing the application of fashion concepts, aesthetics, and branding within the hospitality sector, as well as the incorporation of hospitality elements in the world of fashion retail through unique collaborations and cross-branding efforts. These alliances not only create new revenue streams and scalability but also extend customer touchpoints and build greater brand affinity,” Deloitte Senior Manager Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Advisory Anjusha Chemmanur said.
While the approach is not exclusively the preserve of the luxury sector, so far designer brands and upscale hotels have been the most active partners. Two summers ago, the Gucci Lido Summer collection launched at a hotel on the Argentario coast, enticing influencers and generating coverage worth multiples of what a conventional advertising campaign might have delivered. For the hotel itself, the collaboration brought an international fashion audience that might otherwise never have engaged with the property.
And perhaps the most fully realised example is Dior's Dioriviera concept, launched in Mykonos as far back as 2018, which has since expanded into a global touring residency. Each season artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri designs a dedicated resort capsule that travels to pool sides and hotel spas and the programme now encompasses eight permanent Dior boutiques, 12 resort concept stores and rotating seasonal pop-ups.
US takes the European playbook
While Europe largely created the resort retail playbook, the US has expanded it, from the Hamptons in the summer to Aspen and Park City in winter, plus Beverly Hills and Miami year-round.
Dior's Dioriviera programme saw its most complete activation at The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, where it first staged a full pool takeover in summer 2023, wrapping cabanas, loungers, umbrellas and drapery in its coral Toile de Jouy Soleil print, installing a pop-up boutique designed as a Mediterranean beach apartment and expanding into a Dior Spa Residency.
The activation generated extensive celebrity and influencer coverage, helping reinforce the hotel's position as one of Los Angeles’ most recognisable luxury hospitality brands in a collaboration that “not only enhances our commitment to providing unparalleled luxury but also adds a touch of excitement and fun to our guests' stay,” according to Beverley Hills Hotel General Manager John Scanlon.
Simultaneously, in Aspen, Dior took over treatment rooms at the spa of The Little Nell, branding the pool deck and hot tub cabana around the same seasonal capsule.
Italian house Dolce & Gabbana staged its first-ever beachfront takeover in the US in 2024 at Gurney's Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa in the Hamptons, transforming the beach club into a fully branded experience complete with striped loungers and retail installations and the partnership helped position the resort as a lifestyle destination.
But the strategy has not only been the preserve of luxury brands. UK online fashion retailer ASOS activated at The St. Regis Aspen Resort during this year’s President's Day weekend with a pop-up and window display, plus in-room catalogues. The brand also took over the hotel's après-ski destination, The Snow Lodge Aspen, with a branded hot chocolate cart and a DJ booth.
Hotels join the party
The evolution of resort retail has also been a boon for many of the hotels that host them. While the properties provide pre-qualified audiences of affluent travellers, the results can provide a boost in both directions. Louis Vuitton's summer capsule takeover at White 1921, which extended to the hotel's pool, cabanas and rooftop lounge, complete with monogrammed loungers and seasonal exclusives, gave the property one of the most photographed pools on the Riviera that summer.
Likewise, Sporty & Rich's collaboration with Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in 2023 produced a capsule of crested swimwear and polos that was so aligned with the hotel's heritage that it felt less like a collaboration and more like a natural extension of the hotel's own aesthetic. The collection sold out quickly online, while simultaneously introducing the hotel to a younger luxury consumer.
Similarly, late last year Loews launched a range of bedroom lounge sets at its Loews Regency New York Hotel, Loews Miami Beach Hotel and Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona in a collaboration with Cozy Earth, blurring the lines between retail and hospitality.
"Partnering with Cozy Earth allows us to extend the Loews Hotels experience beyond our properties and into our guests' everyday lives," said Loews Hotels & Co Senior Vice President, Brand and Communications, Sarah Murov in launching the capsule range.
Indeed, for hotels the benefits increasingly go beyond room nights, helping drive restaurant bookings, spa usage, retail sales and year-round global exposure. Little wonder then that luxury hotels are no longer simply hosting these activations but working with the retailers to create unique offers.