What The Luxe

In this episode of What The Luxe, Anant Sharma speaks with Alex Schellenberger, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, about redefining loyalty for the affluent traveller. As luxury hospitality grows more transactional, Mandarin Oriental is shifting focus toward emotional recognition and building fandom rather than points accumulation. Alex shares how the evolution of Fans of M.O., the integration of guest data into a unified global profile, and a renewed emphasis on generosity are reshaping the brand's relationship with its most discerning guests. The conversation explores scaling without dilution, delivering brand promises through operations, and why meaningful recognition will define the next chapter of luxury hospitality.

In this episode, Fred Moore speaks with Laylah Holmes about applying fashion's discipline of cut, construction and material to handcrafted rug design.

With early experience at Vivienne Westwood and Ralph Lauren, Laylah brings a textile sensibility to the floor. Every piece is dyed, woven, tufted and finished entirely by hand, working with long-standing artisan partners across Nepal and India.

They discuss longevity, scale and the responsibility of making objects that are built to endure. At a time of accelerated consumption, this is a conversation about patience, precision and designing interiors with the care of couture.

In this episode, Anant Sharma speaks with Hanan Eissa, Vice President of Marketing & PR at Atlantis Dubai, about the industry's blind spot and how it shapes the way hospitality builds brands.

With a background in FMCG and agency strategy, Hanan brings commercial rigour to luxury hospitality, grounded in product, pricing and consumer psychology. Together, they examine how marketing drifts toward surface-level visibility, how sameness creeps in, and how reference points become too narrow.

From launching Atlantis The Royal next door to an established icon, to backing ambitious creative decisions on a global stage, this is a conversation about clarity, conviction and the thinking required to operate at scale.

They also discuss the commoditisation of "luxury", time as a defining currency of modern hospitality, and why the industry needs to widen its field of vision.

In this episode, Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International, joins Anant Sharma to explore how one of the world's most ambitious hospitality groups approaches growth without dilution. From Atlantis and One&Only to the launch of SIRO and Rare Finds, Philippe shares how Kerzner thinks about luxury as an ecosystem — where emotion, memory and habit matter more than transactions or points. They discuss why restraint can be a strategic advantage, how loyalty is earned through return rather than reward, and why the future of luxury depends as much on what brands refuse to do as what they pursue. A conversation about scale, discipline, and the real cost of getting luxury wrong.

Design and taste are often spoken about as if they're the same thing — but Stephen Bayley has spent a lifetime arguing that they're not. In this episode of What The Luxe, host Anant Sharma sits down with the critic, author and founding director of the Design Museum to explore the uneasy, often misunderstood relationship between design, taste and luxury. From his early encounters with architecture in Liverpool to making design a public conversation through the Boilerhouse project at the V&A, Bayley reflects on how design gained cultural authority — and how it may have lost its nerve. The conversation ranges across everyday objects, cities, cars and consumer culture, questioning when design became a proxy for preference, how taste was commodified, and why objects are never neutral. Bayley offers a sharp critique of consensus thinking, nostalgia and the dilution of judgement — arguing that caring about the material world is not elitist, but essential. A wide-ranging, philosophical discussion about meaning, value and why understanding the things we live with still matters.

In this episode of What The Luxe, host Fred Moore speaks with Crispin Somerville, Managing Director of El Pastor, Quo Vadis & The Drop, about a journey that spans MTV, music and television, Mexico City nightlife, and ultimately some of London's most culturally significant restaurants. Crispin reflects on how time spent immersed in Mexico's food and hospitality culture reshaped his understanding of generosity, conviviality and transportive experience — lessons that continue to inform how he builds restaurants today. Together they explore why authenticity is a slippery concept, why great hospitality resists formula, and how restaurants succeed when they prioritise atmosphere, trust and human connection over scale. The conversation also touches on independence, regeneration, talent and why neighbourhoods like Soho and King's Cross thrive when restaurants are treated as cultural anchors rather than footfall machines. A thoughtful look at hospitality as a social act — and why the places we gather still matter.