Preferred Hotels & Resorts - 3
At the 20th Global Conference of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, 12-14 May in Charleston SC, attendees learned that Preferred is publishing an Assouline book later this year, photographs by John Russo.
There were honours galore. Hotel of the year went to the long-established Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. Legacy Leadership winner was Wynn Las Vegas for its outstanding interaction with the community. Best new hotel was shared between Budapest’s Al Habtoor Palace and London’s The Newman: few recipients were as genuinely excited as the latter’s mastermind, Paul Brackley, CEO of the specially-formed Kinsfolk.Co – see him above, in an England group, with Sally Beck, GM of The Lancaster, London, and her husband Brian Corcoran.
The final afternoon of the event was devoted to your-choice of local experiences, from touring an aircraft carrier to crabbing and producing indigo dye. One evening was in walk-to American Gardens, a year-old park with mature trees converted by Ben Navarro’s company BHC from a car park (after a whirlwind tour of Europe’s best-known parkss Navarro based his carpark conversion on London Regent’s Park’s Italianate garden).
The Laurent-Perrier-fuelled final ‘gala’ was a move-around networking buffet – so much more appreciated than any seated finale, especially one with assigned seating. It was at BNC’s other hotel, the shoreline-set The Cooper: a highlight was a 20-minute multi-hued drone show, which included the Preferred logo, a yellow pineapple, and its name, in blue, below. What a way to go, cousins!
