Hotel Bulgari & The Reserves by Ritz-Carlton

Hotel Bulgari Bali

I had dinner last night with an old friend of mine, who is a manager at one of the Ritz-Carlton properties in the Caribbean. He's also had the distinction of working at the Hotel Arts Barcelona - considered by many, the cream of the crop when it comes to luxury properties who take customer service seriously.  Over a meal of street burritos and lukewarm island lagers, we discussed the fading sense of hotel service in this part of the world that properties in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East had mastered for so many years.  He then tipped me off to a couple of interesting projects that the Ritz had been undertaking to raise the bar on hospitality.  The first is the Hotel Bulgari; a chain of now 3 properties, in Milan, Bali and London (opening this year).  While taking on the name of the luxury Italian jeweler, the properties themselves are managed by the Ritz-Carlton.  It's a marriage that makes sense to me: the quality and opulence that comes with the Bulgari brand and the relentless hospitality that is the promise of the Ritz-Carlton.

Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Phulay Bay Thailand

A second chain of uber-luxury resorts that the Ritz had been working on is what they call The Reserve collection. Currently, the only operating Reserve is Phulay Bay in Krabi, Thailand, with properties planned for Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, the UAE and Turks and Caicos. The deal with the Reserve properties is that they are meant to offer "discerning travelers a personalized, meaningful escape with highly responsive and individualized service."  The idea here is that the experience is not being mass produced as is the case with most resort properties with their 300+ rooms, buffet meals and group snorkeling activities.  Phulay Bay, for example, has only 54 villas on it's property & accommodations feature distinctive touches such as 13 foot long beds, outdoor baths and private plunge pools.  If you ask me though, the real clincher is the 24 hour dedicated butler service that comes with each villa.  I'd love to give "James" a ring at 3am just to see how quick he'd be able to fetch me a Lobster Kra Pao and an ice cold Chang Beer.