Small Luxury Hotels Is Getting Into the Private Villas Business

In response to guest demand for more localized experiences and private stays, hotel brands and associations are expanding their inventory to include independent boutique properties, peer-to-peer apartment rentals, and now luxury homes.

Curated hotel club Small Luxury Hotels of the World announced last week that it will now offer privately owned villas, ski chalets, estates and yachts in addition to its existing collection of small independent hotels.

The newly added properties are operated part like a hotel and part like a vacation rental. Each space has fewer than 10 rooms, but comes with concierge and butler service,  private, 24-hour room service and a personal driver.

The new offering was launched in response to club members’ increasing demand for privacy. In SLH’s annual survey, a quarter of its 13,000 Club members said that “privacy and intimacy” was the most important factor when booking a luxury holiday.

The club also saw a 43 percent increase in the number of SLH members spending more than $750 per night between 2012 and 2013, and this was caused by members booking multiple rooms for their families.

Small Luxury Hotels reported in June that it is on track to reach record revenues in 2014. By the end of the second quarter, the brand saw a 13 percent increase in revenue and 6 percent increase in room nights in comparison to the same time last year.

Tending to a starkly different market, Spanish hotel brand Room Mate Hotels recently launched BeMate.com, with plans to rent out privately owned apartments while giving guests access to standard hotel amenities. There are; however, significantly more obstacles, primarily legal ones, to overcome in its roll out.