As the Romeo Roma Hotel prepared to open in early 2024, set in a re- markable 16th-century palazzo, it heralded a new chant of glamour in the Imperial City. In an era when the whole idea of luxury travel has coarsened to varying degrees – the age of “The Algorithm” making every- thing too flattened and homogenous and immediate, the images on our feeds blurring the very idea of aspir- ation, and travel itself drained of en- chantment – this new hotel stood out for two money-cannot-buy reasons. First, it is one of the last projects of the legendary Zaha Hadid. Gone too soon for some seven years now. Hadid was a starchitect of Iraqi origins who was also the first woman ever to win the Pritzker Prize (the highest accol- ade in architecture). Her touches areeverywhere in Romeo Roma: her sig- nature sinuous corners, her uninter- rupted spaces. A final gasp of a glit- tering career.
The second way that the 74-room project, just steps away from Piazza del Popolo, stands out is in how it cor- responds with the bones of history – the old and the new melded in not just a press-release-y kind of way, but truly. Five of the suites actually feature re- stored frescos that sit in dialogue withthe contemporary swoop of Hadid, and both its restaurant, courtesy of Alain Ducasse, and a wellness centre, pre- sented by Sisley Paris, nod to ancient Roman subterranean ruins.
Some of the advance buzz leading up to its opening had me actually circ- ling the question: What really is luxury travel today? At its core, it is about a feeling. The story. And a story is just what Romeo Roma promises.
Jo Ellison, editor of HTSI – the glossy Financial Times pull-out pondering the good life – got into it when she recently expounded her idea of luxury, at large: “Things that combine function, form and beauty … things that are per- fectly executed: flawless, but not neces- sarily without flaws. Yes, there should probably be elements of fashionability … but luxury is not about things you get rid of after a season. It’s about sur- rounding yourself with things that you cherish and love – whether that’s a couture gown by Valentino, or the perfect pebble you pick up at the beach.”
No doubt, it is also the little things that amount to the big things, as I found out when checking into the Çırağan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul last year. Fortunate to be booked into its historic palace building, versus the modern wing – the edifice itself was built by architects to the Ottoman court – I was bowled over by the be- spoke “soap service” that greeted me when arriving in my suite, over- looking the Bosphorus. Hearkening back to the ancient water therapies of Turkish baths, my soap concierge ar- rived with four different scents: mint, lemon and green tea, rose and laven- der, jasmine and orange flower. What to choose? Once I made a selection, the soaps were dramatically sliced in two; one for use now, and the other wrapped in a pouch to bring home – I was sold. Lather up the glamour. Doubly glamorous, even, because I re- sisted live-streaming the whole ex- perience on IG, or posting videos of it later. It existed only in the moment and holding on to it without sharing it or broadcasting it, made it somehow more special. (I am not always as vir- tuous, believe me, but it is one thing I have been working on – not staining the experience of travelling by sharing it on social media. As soon as some- thing is posted, turned into some- thing others see on a scroll, the mo- ment cannibalizes itself, no?)
Fact: Whether it be the Robinson Crusoe-like whisper of Soneva Jani in the Maldives, or the full-scale drama of the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Thailand (where it meets Laos and Myanmar), or the never-ending magic of Hotel du Cap-Eden Rock in the South of France, there is a search for the sus- pension of time when travelling large. Something easier said than done, in a time when everything is available all the time, and a virtual geography competes daily with our actual geo-locations.
But finding the here and now, wrapped in the ribbon of story: What could be more luxurious than that?
