Christmas – 27
Ritz-Carlton Millenia is the best road map to luxury, says its super-exuberant boss, Peter Mainguy. The 608-room hotel consistently wins top awards for customer service, and yet it’s still the only hotel, or yacht, in the brand not to take Bonvoy (what does that say?). Opened in 1996 by Alberto del Hoyo, it’s a stunning building, a 32-floors futuristic sculpture: Mainguy says it will be even more next-gen when eventually the current design is redone. So far, the owners, Pontiac’s Kwee family, have gone through and eliminated seven potential designers. When eventually they choose, expect someone very different.
Girlahead was there for lunch in the lobby, basically. Go into the hotel and turn to the left to all-day Colony, redesigned by Tony Chi 11 years ago and still dominated by a green blown-art wall statement (Dale Chihuly, Seattle 1996). Turn, alternatively, to your right, into the bar, which has another far-end blown-art wall statement, but this one is Chihuly does yellow. And this one is temporarily hidden behind a wedding-type arch, above.
Peter Mainguy – head to toe Hugo Boss today – is all about constant change and activity. The conversation was about life balance, because Peter Menge, who wanted to be a mercenary when he was much, much, much younger, to get rid of all the bad men he saw when travelling as a boy. He personally believes in working non-stop and then ‘working’, pushing himself during time off. He even tried, when in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005, following the cruise industry pattern of 50% time on, 7/7, and 50% time off and it really worked, he recalls. Now he needs his time off to be able to his homes, and his collections, of mountain bikes, motorbikes (mulcho) and vintage fire bits (one old fire engine). He’s also wanted to be a fighter pilot and a warden in a game estate…. There was barely time to do justice to the divine burrata salad followed by roast salmon with potato gnocchi, asparagus and French-style peas on exquisite multi-coloured Richard Ginori.
