The Luxury Travel Edit podcast is where leaders of the travel industry share insights about their world-class brands and companies. Hosted by the luxury-travel consultant and journalist John O’Ceallaigh, the series covers all things relating to luxury travel, from hotels to aviation to superyachts.

In this second episode of the podcast's first series, John speaks to Armando Kraenzlin, Four Seasons Regional Vice President & General Manager Four Seasons Resort Maldives. Kraenzlin is now also overseeing the launch of the Four Seasons Explorer Palau expedition ship, which recently launched in this isolated island nation - the fourth-smallest sovereign state in the world. Four Seasons is the first international hospitality brand to establish a presence in this 'untapped' country - a huge opportunity for the brand but also a significant challenge.

In this episode, Armando Kraenzlin speaks about what it takes to launch in a destination that's completely unfamiliar to luxury travelers, and why brands might want to even do that in the first place. As one of the first journalists to experience Four Seasons Explorer Palau, John O'Ceallaigh also discusses his own reflections on what the experience is like in practice. And it turns out that Four Seasons has further plans to open in other unexpected destinations in the future...

For more on The Luxury Travel Edit podcast and future episodes, you can follow John O'Ceallaigh on LinkedIn or www.instagram.com/luxurytraveleditor. For more on Four Seasons Explorer Palau, visit www.fourseasons.com/explorerpalau.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Luxury Travel Edit podcast is where leaders of the travel industry share insights about their world-class brands and companies. Hosted by the luxury-travel consultant and journalist John O’Ceallaigh, the series covers all things relating to luxury travel, from hotels to aviation to superyachts.

In this inaugural episode of the podcast, John speaks to Claudia Kozma Kaplan, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Brand at Raffles Hotels & Resorts. Claudia recently returned to the hospitality industry after many years working in fashion and has bold ambitions for the future of the Raffles brand. Among other things, this discussion considers whether celebrity chefs are worth the hype, why you definitely don’t want to describe your hotel as ‘timeless’, and which unexpected property might well be home to the world’s best hotel cinema.

For more on The Luxury Travel Edit podcast and future episodes, you can follow John O'Ceallaigh on LinkedIn or www.instagram.com/luxurytraveleditor. For more on Raffles Hotels & Resorts, visit www.raffles.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.