Relais & Chateaux Taps Salvatore Ferragamo As Brand Ambassador

Nothing resonates luxury quite like Relais & Chateaux, and in 2013 a whopping 36 new properties are becoming members of the association. To celebrate this exciting news, the company hosted a star-studded party at NYC’s Del Posto restaurant where guests sipped 38 different Italian wines and nibbled on dishes from the hotel’s newly-announced Grand Chefs, such as bay scallop crudo with Meyer lemon and celery, chickpea farinata.

Following in the footsteps of Richard Gere and other notables, Salvatore Ferragamo has been named the Relais & Chateaux official ambassador. Ferragamo, whose grandfather is the world-famous shoe designer, has owned and operated Il Borro, a vineyard and property accommodating 160 guests in Tuscany, for the last 12 years, and he has always been a fan of Relais & Chateaux. As ambassador, Ferragamo will travel all over the world promoting the brand.

“The personality of every property is very individualistic,”he told HotelChatter in an exclusive interview. “They emphasize great attention to service, and the common denominator is the great attention to the quality of the food at the properties.”

Il Borro is one of the newest properties added to the line-up, including 21 in Europe, 8 in the Americas, 5 in Africa, 1 in Asia and 1 in Oceania. Ferragamo, whose wine label, Il Borro is distributed in 40 states in the U.S., said he’s honored by his new title and inclusion of his agro-tourism property in the 2013 Relais & Chateaux guide.

The company president, Jaume Tapies, said the new properties in the line-up have set some records. “Our new hotel in Peru is the highest hotel in the world at 3800 meters,” he told the crowd. “And our new hotel in Fiji is the smallest of all of our properties with only one room – well, three rooms — in one house. You can expect real privacy at this destination.”

By: Hotelchatter.com
Photos: Angela Pham/BFAnyc.com