Hotel chains no longer just offer luxury rooms: Ritz-Carlton dives into the superyacht business

There was a time when if you wanted to travel you went to a certain corner of the world, and there you stayed in one of the local hotels. If you were a millionaire, an alternative to that accommodation was five-star hotels, which offered their select guests the comforts they enjoyed in their own mansions.

However, the tastes and needs of these millionaires have changed, and with them, the large luxury hotel chains. If the richest 1% of the planet want to live marine adventures aboard mega yachts and luxury cruise ships, the hotel chain The Ritz-Carlton will offer them. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection as a new service luxury accommodation.

Five-star floating mansions

In 2022, the luxury accommodation hotel chain took the temperature of the cruise and maritime experiences business, incorporating a superyacht into its accommodation offer that it offered to its clients as luxury and privacy holiday alternative.

The hotel chain’s maritime adventure began with the Evrimaa mini-cruise with capacity for 298 guests that offers the same attention to detail and exclusivity of its hotels, but on board a luxury yacht with the same number of service staff as guests. The experience has been such a resounding success that the company has added two new luxury megayachts to its catalogue in 2024: Ilma and Luminara.

The Ilma will be the first to enter service this year. Luminara will begin its journey through the waters of the Mediterranean in July 2025.

The experience that the Ritz-Carlton chain offers with these luxury yachts is that of a cruise through the Caribbean or Mediterranean seas, through regions such as Northern Europe or the Baltic, Asia or a transatlantic route. However, the hotel chain adds to its maritime offering the touch of luxury and exclusivity that has served as the basis of its hotel business on land, offering the luxury resort services.

He Ilma, which means water in Maltese, has a capacity for 448 guests and has 224 suites, all of them with a private terrace, and two exclusive suites of more than 93 square meters. The luxury mini cruise ship has five restaurants on board, six bars, an exclusive wine cellar and different common decks along its 240 meters of length, and areas of beach club at the stern of the yacht.

For its part, the Luminarawhich means light in Latin, will add 452 berths to the hotel chain’s cruise lineup and 226 suites with private terraces overlooking the sea. It will also incorporate an exclusive Ritz-Carlton spa and a private marina.

A room for more than 10,000 euros per week

Enjoying a luxury cruise aboard these floating mansions is not within everyone’s reach.

As an example, a seven night cruise through the Greek islands with departure on July 14, 2024 aboard the Evrima It would cost from 10,591 euros per person. If you choose to stay in one of the suites with views, the price shoots up to 39,691 euros per person the seven nights.

A nine-day cruise between Lisbon and Portsmouth (United Kingdom) aboard the Ilma on June 29, 2024 it costs from 9,673 euros per person. The price increases considerably depending on the type of accommodation chosen on board the yacht.

Opting for one of the owner’s suites, at 93 square meters, can push the bill up to 56,573 euros per person for the nine nights of the cruise.

At Xataka | The latest trend among millionaires is not buying a yacht. It’s sharing a luxury mini-cruise

Image | Wikimedia commons (Tony Webster), Ritz-Carlton