TheChek News Flow

CATL is one of several Chinese companies expected to list in Hong Kong this year as activity revives

CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, has filed an application for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, in what could be the city’s largest stock offering in years. 

The listing of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co, which is a major supplier of Tesla, Volkswagen and other EV makers, has been long awaited in Hong Kong and is expected to be one of the city’s largest share offerings since 2021. 

CATL is one of several Chinese companies expected to list in Hong Kong this year, with analysts expecting a $20bn revival in activity — principally from mainland-based companies seeking to expand abroad.

The Shenzhen-listed company has appointed JPMorgan, Bank of America, and China’s CICC and China Securities International as lead banks. It also appointed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS to work on the deal.

The US banks are involved despite CATL having last month been added to a US blacklist of companies deemed to be working with China’s military. 

CATL said it was aiming to raise funds in part in order to boost its international expansion plans, which include building a production site in Hungary. It also plans a joint venture in Spain with Stellantis and a project in Indonesia.

The company redacted several key details from its publicly-released prospectus, including the amount of shares it would offer and the precise timetable.

The battery maker said in December it planned to list up to about 5 per cent of its total share capital in Hong Kong, but that underwriters would have the option to increase this slightly based on the market situation.

One person familiar with the matter said that CATL hoped to raise up to $7bn if market conditions were optimal. Morgan Stanley has previously estimated the CATL listing could raise up to $7.7bn.

The surge in Hong Kong listings could boost the city’s reputation as a leading destination for capital raising, after years of thin deal flows. In many cases Chinese companies are looking to list in Hong Kong to raise offshore funds, because tight capital controls can hinder them moving money abroad.

But the recovery in listings may not translate to a boon for Hong Kong’s investment bankers. The FT reported last month that competition from Chinese banks had threatened to depress fees for the CATL listing.

“It is too early to say Hong Kong is back,” Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis, told the FT.

The CATL listing “signals that Hong Kong still has advantages for Chinese firms seeking overseas funding”, Ng said, but added that “equity investors remain sceptical of valuations due to decelerating growth in China and geopolitics”. 

The offering comes as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has rallied by some 13 per cent in the past month amid greater optimism about Chinese tech and electronics stocks after start-up DeepSeek last month overturned assumptions about US supremacy in AI.

CATL said in its heavily-redacted stock exchange filings that Washington’s inclusion of the company on the “Chinese Military Companies” list was “a mistake” and that it was “proactively engaging with [the US defence department] to address the false designation”. It said the designation only stopped it doing business with “a small number of US governmental authorities”.

The company also flagged its exposure to geopolitics, such as the risks of violent fluctuations in China’s currency — including when it would have to convert renminbi to pay dividends in Hong Kong dollars.

CATL has been in the top spot in the global EV battery market for eight consecutive years and had a share of 38 per cent in 2024, according to data from South Korean consultancy SNE Research. 

Despite its dominant market position, the battery maker warned of a revenue drop of as much as 11 per cent for 2024, citing lower product prices. CATL said in a Shenzhen stock exchange filing in January that it expected to report net income growth of up to 20 per cent for last year, its slowest pace since 2019. 

The company reported revenues of over $50bn in 2023 and has a market capitalisation of some $150bn based on its Shenzhen listing.

Luxembourg-based steelmaker says that it discussed the proposal at a meeting with its European works council

ArcelorMittal MT -1.97%decrease; red down pointing triangle said it is looking at the possibility of moving some business-support activities to India from Europe to cut costs in the face of a challenging backdrop for the European steel industry.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker said Tuesday that it discussed the proposal at a meeting with its European works council, a body representing employees, as part of its efforts to address major issues that the company said threaten the future of steelmaking on the continent.

The move comes after the company said as recently as Monday that urgent support was needed to bolster the competitiveness and sustainability of European steelmaking and to protect the industry from what ArcelorMittal called unfair trade practices. The company said the industry is contending with significant excess global capacity, subdued demand in Europe and record-high imports.

ArcelorMittal said it is exploring options to optimize business processes and to cut costs not directly related to steel production. Under the plan, it would centralize certain business-support activities by extending a hub in India, it said.

“No steel manufacturing will be moved to India from Europe as part of this initiative,” the company said.

The proposal is one element of the company’s response to the crisis, it said.

‘Karmic realignment therapy’ is to the fore as Mike White’s luxury holiday satire relocates to Thailand

Gunfire is echoing around the meditation huts; bodies are floating in the reflecting ponds. Welcome back to The White Lotus, where every booking will soon have to come with a complementary body bag.

The third season of Mike White’s savagely funny, lavishly executed anthology — set across the various outposts of a luxury hotel brand — exchanges the old-world Sicilian decadence of the previous series for a new age Thai resort, but it begins, just as before, with a flash-forward glimpse of paradise being lost. The murder mystery element is still secondary to the emotional violence, however: back-stabbing, barbed comments and ruptured relationships that no amount of “karmic realignment therapy” can heal. 

All this awaits the guests who arrive for a week of digital detoxing — or poolside boozing. Doing their share of the latter is a trio of forty-something women, who are determinedly not on a “midlife crisis trip”. What initially seems like a chance for old friends to catch up — paid for by TV star Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) — quickly turns into an opportunity to put each other down in subtle ways. “Everything you do is so hard,” divorcee Laurie (Carrie Coon) is told. She, in turn, later mocks Jaclyn’s “waxy” appearance with Kate (Leslie Bibb), whose new life as Trump-voting Texas housewife also becomes fodder for late-night gossiping.

While the three friends compete for the attention of a yoga instructor, bright-eyed Mancunian Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) struggles to get her own much older boyfriend Rick (Walton Goggins) to take notice of her. Perhaps the least relaxed man ever to wear a Hawaiian shirt, he is irritable and evasive, except during grudgingly attended therapy sessions with an on-site guru. 

Across the breakfast terrace, Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey filling the Jennifer Coolidge-shaped void) takes a more pharmaceutical approach. She has been dragged to this strange land by her Buddhism-practising daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), who’s eager to see the world beyond the country club. But that life may not be waiting for them when they get back. Unbeknown to the rest of the family — which includes obnoxious gym bro Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and his impressionable little brother Loch (Sam Nivola) — upstanding patriarch Tim (Jason Isaacs) is wanted by the FBI for financial misdeeds and may be heading straight from The White Lotus to white-collar prison. 

If writer-director White revels in puncturing the pride and illusions of the privileged, then he also makes sure his skewer cuts through fully fleshed-out characters. Each arrives at the hotel with personal baggage that is unpacked over a series that interlaces several storylines, but also runs a thread back to season one, with the return of Natasha Rothwell’s masseuse Belinda (in Thailand on an exchange from the Hawaii branch). Each also plays their part in this season’s broader story. Where class and sex previously dominated, the show now grapples with spirituality and self-discovery — while also satirising how fetishised concepts such as “enlightenment” are commercialised for westerners visiting Asia.

The White Lotus now has a certain reputation to uphold and, like a seasoned hotelier, White ensures that every expectation is met. Those accustomed to its style, subtlety and commitment to delivering moments of intense discomfort will not be disappointed.

As the industry embraces artificial intelligence, the need for chips ready for AI tasks has increased considerably in recent years. While Nvidia is currently the main supplier of AI chips, OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) wants to have its first custom chip ready by the end of the year.

OpenAI working on its own AI chip

As reported by Reuters on Monday, OpenAI has been “pushing ahead” with its plans to design and build its own AI-ready silicon by the end of this year. Sources familiar with the matter say the company is finalizing the design and plans to send it to manufacturing in the next few months. TSMC, which already supplies chips to Apple, is rumored to produce OpenAI’s first chip.

The report notes that “tape-out,” which is the final stage in the process of designing a new chip, costs “tens of millions of dollars” and can take up to six months before production begins. This is a critical stage as the first chips produced on a large scale could fail – and this would require redoing the whole process.

At first, the OpenAI chip would be used to run AI models with a “limited role,” but the chip also capable of training AI models and may be used for this purpose in the future. If all goes well, OpenAI engineers already have plans to develop even more powerful chips.

If OpenAI succeeds in building its own chip, the company will not only have more control over how it processes data for AI training, but will also reduce its reliance on Nvidia. Apple, for instance, currently uses Amazon chips to pre-train Apple Intelligence models. However, the company is also rumored to be working on its first custom server chip for AI tasks in partnership with Broadcom.

Other companies such as Meta and Microsoft have also been spending billions of dollars on AI infrastructure. At the same time, the latest AI model introduced by Chinese startup DeepSeek has shown the world that it’s possible to develop powerful AI models with fewer hardware resources.

A new twist on value has investors waking up to the beauty of companies returning gobs of cash to shareholders

The investing secret that helped make Warren Buffett a multibillionaire isn’t working anymore, though probably not for the reason you would think.

Every decade or so someone will declare that the Berkshire Hathaway boss has lost his touch—usually a cue for the reasonably priced stocks he prefers to come roaring back. Even so, value investing the way that Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham practiced it and Nobel Prize-winning economists defined it decades later has had too few rebounds recently.

The reason isn’t that the “Magnificent Seven” stocks such as Nvidia, Apple and Tesla have rewritten the law of gravity. Value investing just needed a tuneup. A slew of exchange-traded funds, many without “value” in their names, have given it one.

The classic value factor was described in a landmark paper by economists Eugene Fama and Kenneth French in 1992, and it was compelling: A portfolio of stocks that were cheap relative to their book value trounced flashier stocks to the tune of thousands of percentage points over the decades.

But the professors’ results covered a period when companies’ value was mostly in property and machinery rather than brands and intellectual property. Fifty years ago, less than a fifth of the S&P 500’s assets were intangible. Today it is well over four-fifths, and many top-performing companies like Microsoft are “asset-light.”

The results tell the story: Analysts at fund manager Lord Abbett point out that a low price-to-book-based portfolio returned 519% between 2002 and the middle of last year. One based on free-cash-flow yield did more than twice as well.

Free cash flow is generally defined as money left over after expenses and capital expenditures that a company can return to shareholders. The yield is usually calculated by dividing 12-month free cash flow by enterprise value—market capitalization plus net borrowings.

“We sort of caught on to this about 10 years ago,” says Sean O’Hara, president at Pacer ETFs Distributors. Pacer’s U.S. Cash Cows Index underpins an eponymous ETF, ticker symbol COWZ, which has about $25 billion in assets. The index has returned 15.7% annually over five years, a whopping 7 percentage points better than the Russell 1000 Value Index. It even beat the plain-vanilla Russell 1000 index, dominated by the very much non-value Mag 7 stocks, by 1.4 points a year.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the recent popularity of funds that try to capture similar effects is high praise for free-cash-flow yield. ETFs launched in 2023 alone include the tickers FLOW from Global X, QOWZ from Invesco, COWS from Amplify ETFs and VFLO from VictoryShares.

Value investing was never dead—it just had a measurement problem. Plenty of investors, including Joel Greenblatt of “Magic Formula” fame, and even Buffett himself, ignore the academic straitjacket plaguing some value indexes. Other fund managers have accounted for the rise of intangible assets by tweaking the classic book-value calculation, which also improves results. That is harder to explain, though.

COWZ is simple: Its proprietary index picks the 100 highest free-cash-flow yielders out of the Russell 1000 stock index and then weights those 100 by their free cash flow in dollars, capped at 2% of the index. The fund’s yield at the end of 2024 was 7.32% or 4.7 percentage points more than the overall Russell 1000 index. A small company version, CALF (get it?), yielded 9.94%.

Will the strategy work during tough times? S&P Dow Jones Indices has constructed its own free-cash-flow-based index based on the S&P 500. It calculates that the index beat the broad market by the greatest margin during times of falling economic growth and rising inflation.

With nervousness growing over the Mag 7 stocks, COWZ’s top seven returners of cash recently—Qualcomm, Gilead Sciences, Cencora, Tenet Healthcare, Valero Energy, Archer-Daniels-Midland and Bristol-Myers Squibb—might be a sturdier alternative.

Just call them the “Munificent Seven.”

Hospitality groups are recruiting fashion industry talent to drive innovation and enhance brand narratives.

When communications director Claire Abeillé traded the world of Christian Louboutin‘s red soles and Burberry‘s checks for the marbled lobbies and sandy beaches of Kerzner International’s luxury resorts, she brought more than her Rolodex of fashion contacts.

The executive, who now serves as vice president of global communications at the parent company of the One & Only Resorts and Atlantis Hotels, is part of a growing wave of fashion industry veterans being tapped by luxury hospitality groups for their brand-building expertise.

Leading international hotel groups are tasking fashion industry pros to reimagine everything from guest experiences to brand storytelling.

Brett Armitage, chief commercial officer of Kerzner International, recognized the luxury hospitality playbook needed a rewrite as he observed fashion houses masterfully build emotional connections with the same ultra-high-net-worth individuals their hotels were courting.

The solution? Tap into that expertise directly. Within 18 months, Kerzner recruited a trio of fashion industry veterans: Abeillé from Christian Louboutin to lead global communications; Edward Lee from Tom Ford as creative director, and most recently, Kandé Camara from Dior to spearhead sustainability.

“We’re embracing not just a creative influence, but an entire point of view on how we approach our brand story,” said Armitage, whose recruitment strategy reflects a larger transformation sweeping through hospitality.

More examples abound:

“Fashion, at its core, is all about creating aspiration, curating narratives, and connecting deeply with a brand’s audience on an emotional level — beyond their wallet,” said Landmann, senior vice president of global brand and portfolio public relations at Marriott International. This “translates seamlessly into hospitality PR, where creating unique, immersive experiences is just as crucial as the aesthetic appeal of a brand.”

Landmann is responsible for leading communications for the company’s portfolio of 30 diverse hotel brands, including The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Edition, The Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, W Hotels on the luxury side and premium brands like Westin and Renaissance. She joined Marriott after leading communications at G-III Apparel Group, owner of Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, Vilebrequin and more. Prior to that she held senior roles at Vince Holding Corp. and Alice+Olivia.

Tina Edmundson, president of luxury at Marriott International, explained its recruitment philosophy: “Fresh perspectives are essential to keeping global brands dynamic and relevant, which is why we chose to bring Saba on board from the fashion industry… The fashion industry is fast-moving, competitive, and dynamic and requires an understanding of how to craft aspirational narratives, tap into and navigate cultural trends, and build emotional connections with consumers.”

The shared clientele across both industries is also a key factor driving this cross-industry pollination. Abeillé emphasized the significant overlap in target audiences, especially for Kerzner, which operates ultra-luxury properties.

“In our segment of hotels, we’re ultimately speaking to the same ultra high-net-worth audience — the 1 percent.”

This shared consumer base means fashion executives bring valuable insights into the preferences and behaviors of luxury consumers. “Luxury fashion brands not only command the loyalties with the same customers we also hold dear, but they also constantly reinvent, innovate and respond to change,” Abeillé added.

The skills required to build and maintain luxury brands are increasingly transferable across sectors, particularly when it comes to understanding and serving the world’s most discerning consumers.

Jean Allen, partner at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles in New York, said, “recruiting from fashion is high on the list for our hospitality clients.”

Communications executives transition particularly well, she added.

“There are a lot of parallels between fashion and hospitality in terms of understanding how to do a strategy shift and the complexity of the matrix. Fashion people have seen a lot of transformation, have great brand experience and they’ve worked with a certain level of intensity around personalities,” Allen said. “They understand the 24/7 nature of social media and all those things that really affect fashion and hospitality probably more than other industries.”

“The trend of luxury brand talent transitioning into hospitality reflects a strategic shift in crafting high-end experiences, blending the refined expertise of the fashion world with hospitality’s service-oriented focus,” said Grieve at Jumeirah, perhaps best known for the pioneering sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, which marketed its 25th anniversary in 2024. “Fashion executives bring a sophisticated understanding of brand power — not just as a tangible offering, but as an emotional connection.”

Their toolbox also includes expertise with partnerships, strategic events, and media engagement to “amplify a brand’s visibility and prestige,” he said.

Fashion executives are arriving at hospitality companies amid an explosion in hotels branded after such famous fashion houses as Versace, Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Elie Saab and more, not to mention Bulgari.

Grieve argued that “hospitality pure players like Jumeirah are uniquely positioned to respond with deep-rooted expertise in delivering exceptional guest experiences.

“While fashion brands excel at design and creating aspirational appeal, hospitality pure players have a distinct advantage: operational excellence,” he said in an interview. “Running a hotel is an intricate art requiring seamless coordination across service, dining, housekeeping, and guest engagement.”

Le Badezet joined Orient Express as the legendary travel brand is set to open its first hotels in 2025, with Orient Express La Minerva in Roma and Orient Express Palazzo Dona Giovannelli in Venice. She said: “The hospitality industry is increasingly recognizing that modern luxury is about more than just high-end accommodations. It’s finding the right balance between heritage and a contemporary reinterpretation.”

Another particularly valuable asset those who have worked in fashion often bring to hospitality roles is a global mindset. “Clients couldn’t hire someone who didn’t have global experience. A hospitality company just really couldn’t take that risk,” Allen said. “Fashion brands are well versed in catering to diverse cultural expectations and regional preferences.”

The Jumeirah Group is expanding across international markets, with plans to double its portfolio by 2030.

“Jumeirah is an international brand with ambitious growth objectives, and we are actively raising our profile globally,” said Grieve, who came to the Dubai-based company with strong regional know-how, having handled all of Gucci Maison’s brand marketing, communications, and client engagement activities for Europe and the Middle East based out of Milan.

Grieve will oversee high-profile upcoming launches including Jumeirah Le Richemond in Geneva, Jumeirah Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, and Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab in Dubai.

In his view, luxury travelers “seek purpose-driven experiences that resonate deeply. They want more than amenities — they want memories.”

Grieve also cited a heightened interest in wellness, cultural discoveries, a sense of belonging, and “authentic and memorable culinary journeys.”

The transition from fashion to hospitality does have unique challenges. Marriott’s Landmann pointed out that while fashion PR often focuses on promoting specific products within seasonal cycles, hospitality requires a broader, sometimes more complex approach.

“We’re not just promoting a product, but an experience — an entire ecosystem that includes location, architecture, service, amenities, and lifestyle,” Landmann said.

The hospitality industry also demands a different kind of relationship building. “While fashion campaigns often focus on specific moments or seasonal launches, hospitality PR requires fostering ongoing relationships with media, influencers and guests. The storytelling must evolve while maintaining brand consistency over time,” said Landmann.

The fashion industry’s expertise in partnerships, strategic events, and media engagement helps amplify a brand’s visibility and prestige in measurable ways. Kerzner has pursued partnerships with luxury fashion brands like Dior and Balmain to create unique beach and pool club environments. Similarly, Marriott’s luxury portfolio saw an array of unexpected partnerships across fashion, such as the Ritz-Carlton x Late Check Out and JW Marriot’s co-branded line with Flamingo Estate.

“Fashion PR taught me the importance of staying ahead of trends,” Landmann said, noting that this skill is equally valuable in hospitality, where “consumers’ expectations are always evolving, whether it’s the shift towards wellness-focused travel, sustainable practices, or hyper-personalized services.”

As the lines between different luxury sectors continue to blur, the influx of fashion talent into hospitality is likely to accelerate as operators reveal ambitious expansion plans.

The growth of the luxury hospitality landscape has fashion-influenced leadership shaping innovative new concepts and experiences.

“We have pushed the boundaries of how we work with partners, the stories we tell in creative campaigns, and the spaces in which our brands are present in the world,” said Armitage. This year will see the opening of One & Only Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Mont., from Kerzner — the brand’s first destination in the United States and its first alpine resort. The company is also launching its second wellness-focused SIRO Hotel in Boka Place, Montenegro, following the brand’s debut in Dubai’s One Za’abeel, with additional properties planned for Los Cabos and Riyadh beyond 2025.

Hospitality groups are recruiting fashion industry talent to drive innovation and enhance brand narratives.

When communications director Claire Abeillé traded the world of Christian Louboutin‘s red soles and Burberry‘s checks for the marbled lobbies and sandy beaches of Kerzner International’s luxury resorts, she brought more than her Rolodex of fashion contacts.

The executive, who now serves as vice president of global communications at the parent company of the One & Only Resorts and Atlantis Hotels, is part of a growing wave of fashion industry veterans being tapped by luxury hospitality groups for their brand-building expertise.

Leading international hotel groups are tasking fashion industry pros to reimagine everything from guest experiences to brand storytelling.

Brett Armitage, chief commercial officer of Kerzner International, recognized the luxury hospitality playbook needed a rewrite as he observed fashion houses masterfully build emotional connections with the same ultra-high-net-worth individuals their hotels were courting.

The solution? Tap into that expertise directly. Within 18 months, Kerzner recruited a trio of fashion industry veterans: Abeillé from Christian Louboutin to lead global communications; Edward Lee from Tom Ford as creative director, and most recently, Kandé Camara from Dior to spearhead sustainability.

“We’re embracing not just a creative influence, but an entire point of view on how we approach our brand story,” said Armitage, whose recruitment strategy reflects a larger transformation sweeping through hospitality.

More examples abound:

“Fashion, at its core, is all about creating aspiration, curating narratives, and connecting deeply with a brand’s audience on an emotional level — beyond their wallet,” said Landmann, senior vice president of global brand and portfolio public relations at Marriott International. This “translates seamlessly into hospitality PR, where creating unique, immersive experiences is just as crucial as the aesthetic appeal of a brand.”

Landmann is responsible for leading communications for the company’s portfolio of 30 diverse hotel brands, including The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Edition, The Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, W Hotels on the luxury side and premium brands like Westin and Renaissance. She joined Marriott after leading communications at G-III Apparel Group, owner of Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, Vilebrequin and more. Prior to that she held senior roles at Vince Holding Corp. and Alice+Olivia.

Tina Edmundson, president of luxury at Marriott International, explained its recruitment philosophy: “Fresh perspectives are essential to keeping global brands dynamic and relevant, which is why we chose to bring Saba on board from the fashion industry… The fashion industry is fast-moving, competitive, and dynamic and requires an understanding of how to craft aspirational narratives, tap into and navigate cultural trends, and build emotional connections with consumers.”

The shared clientele across both industries is also a key factor driving this cross-industry pollination. Abeillé emphasized the significant overlap in target audiences, especially for Kerzner, which operates ultra-luxury properties.

“In our segment of hotels, we’re ultimately speaking to the same ultra high-net-worth audience — the 1 percent.”

This shared consumer base means fashion executives bring valuable insights into the preferences and behaviors of luxury consumers. “Luxury fashion brands not only command the loyalties with the same customers we also hold dear, but they also constantly reinvent, innovate and respond to change,” Abeillé added.

The skills required to build and maintain luxury brands are increasingly transferable across sectors, particularly when it comes to understanding and serving the world’s most discerning consumers.

Jean Allen, partner at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles in New York, said, “recruiting from fashion is high on the list for our hospitality clients.”

Communications executives transition particularly well, she added.

“There are a lot of parallels between fashion and hospitality in terms of understanding how to do a strategy shift and the complexity of the matrix. Fashion people have seen a lot of transformation, have great brand experience and they’ve worked with a certain level of intensity around personalities,” Allen said. “They understand the 24/7 nature of social media and all those things that really affect fashion and hospitality probably more than other industries.”

“The trend of luxury brand talent transitioning into hospitality reflects a strategic shift in crafting high-end experiences, blending the refined expertise of the fashion world with hospitality’s service-oriented focus,” said Grieve at Jumeirah, perhaps best known for the pioneering sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, which marketed its 25th anniversary in 2024. “Fashion executives bring a sophisticated understanding of brand power — not just as a tangible offering, but as an emotional connection.”

Their toolbox also includes expertise with partnerships, strategic events, and media engagement to “amplify a brand’s visibility and prestige,” he said.

Fashion executives are arriving at hospitality companies amid an explosion in hotels branded after such famous fashion houses as Versace, Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Elie Saab and more, not to mention Bulgari.

Grieve argued that “hospitality pure players like Jumeirah are uniquely positioned to respond with deep-rooted expertise in delivering exceptional guest experiences.

“While fashion brands excel at design and creating aspirational appeal, hospitality pure players have a distinct advantage: operational excellence,” he said in an interview. “Running a hotel is an intricate art requiring seamless coordination across service, dining, housekeeping, and guest engagement.”

Le Badezet joined Orient Express as the legendary travel brand is set to open its first hotels in 2025, with Orient Express La Minerva in Roma and Orient Express Palazzo Dona Giovannelli in Venice. She said: “The hospitality industry is increasingly recognizing that modern luxury is about more than just high-end accommodations. It’s finding the right balance between heritage and a contemporary reinterpretation.”

Another particularly valuable asset those who have worked in fashion often bring to hospitality roles is a global mindset. “Clients couldn’t hire someone who didn’t have global experience. A hospitality company just really couldn’t take that risk,” Allen said. “Fashion brands are well versed in catering to diverse cultural expectations and regional preferences.”

The Jumeirah Group is expanding across international markets, with plans to double its portfolio by 2030.

“Jumeirah is an international brand with ambitious growth objectives, and we are actively raising our profile globally,” said Grieve, who came to the Dubai-based company with strong regional know-how, having handled all of Gucci Maison’s brand marketing, communications, and client engagement activities for Europe and the Middle East based out of Milan.

Grieve will oversee high-profile upcoming launches including Jumeirah Le Richemond in Geneva, Jumeirah Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, and Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab in Dubai.

In his view, luxury travelers “seek purpose-driven experiences that resonate deeply. They want more than amenities — they want memories.”

Grieve also cited a heightened interest in wellness, cultural discoveries, a sense of belonging, and “authentic and memorable culinary journeys.”

The transition from fashion to hospitality does have unique challenges. Marriott’s Landmann pointed out that while fashion PR often focuses on promoting specific products within seasonal cycles, hospitality requires a broader, sometimes more complex approach.

“We’re not just promoting a product, but an experience — an entire ecosystem that includes location, architecture, service, amenities, and lifestyle,” Landmann said.

The hospitality industry also demands a different kind of relationship building. “While fashion campaigns often focus on specific moments or seasonal launches, hospitality PR requires fostering ongoing relationships with media, influencers and guests. The storytelling must evolve while maintaining brand consistency over time,” said Landmann.

The fashion industry’s expertise in partnerships, strategic events, and media engagement helps amplify a brand’s visibility and prestige in measurable ways. Kerzner has pursued partnerships with luxury fashion brands like Dior and Balmain to create unique beach and pool club environments. Similarly, Marriott’s luxury portfolio saw an array of unexpected partnerships across fashion, such as the Ritz-Carlton x Late Check Out and JW Marriot’s co-branded line with Flamingo Estate.

“Fashion PR taught me the importance of staying ahead of trends,” Landmann said, noting that this skill is equally valuable in hospitality, where “consumers’ expectations are always evolving, whether it’s the shift towards wellness-focused travel, sustainable practices, or hyper-personalized services.”

As the lines between different luxury sectors continue to blur, the influx of fashion talent into hospitality is likely to accelerate as operators reveal ambitious expansion plans.

The growth of the luxury hospitality landscape has fashion-influenced leadership shaping innovative new concepts and experiences.

“We have pushed the boundaries of how we work with partners, the stories we tell in creative campaigns, and the spaces in which our brands are present in the world,” said Armitage. This year will see the opening of One & Only Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Mont., from Kerzner — the brand’s first destination in the United States and its first alpine resort. The company is also launching its second wellness-focused SIRO Hotel in Boka Place, Montenegro, following the brand’s debut in Dubai’s One Za’abeel, with additional properties planned for Los Cabos and Riyadh beyond 2025.

Meanwhile, Orient Express is making its own bold moves launching La Dolce Vita Orient Express train service and introducing its first sailing yacht, the Orient Express Corinthian. Orient Express will be unique in combining boats, trains, and hotels under one luxury hospitality brand. As Le Badezet noted, “The future of luxury is increasingly experiential, with hospitality growing faster than traditional luxury goods sectors.”

Record number of deals in 2024 comes despite sharp fall in international student numbers

Real estate developers are piling into UK student housing despite a decline in international student numbers and worsening financial challenges in the higher education sector.

Private developers signed a record 22 land deals in the purpose-built student accommodation market in 2024, totalling £473mn, according to a report published on Tuesday by real estate group Knight Frank.

The deals included Greystar’s purchase of an old hotel that is now the site of the 1,014-bed One Medlock Street in Manchester, and Dominus and Cheyne Capital’s conversion of an office block at 65 Fleet Street in central London into student flats.

Privately developed student accommodation has reshaped the skyline of Britain’s cities in recent decades as investors rushed to capitalise on rising rents and student numbers.

It has typically commanded higher rental prices than other kinds of housing for students, with the offer of additional amenities.

“The ongoing gap between supply and demand continues to support the sector, while affordability remains a key challenge for students,” said Katie O’Neill, an associate at Knight Frank and author of the report.

International student numbers, a crucial market for student accommodation, have plunged in the past year following a crackdown on visa rules by the previous Conservative government.

However, the sector remains highly profitable for developers thanks both to high rents and the density of flats.

Annual UK private rents rose by 9 per cent in the year to December 2024, according to official data, while research by the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think-tank, in 2023 found that rents for private sector student flats in 10 university cities rose at almost double the rate of rents for flats owned by universities.

Separate analysis of student housing costs last year found the average student rent in London of £13,595 in 2024-25 exceeded the maximum loan for students in the capital for the first time. 

Saranya Thambirajah, a vice-president at the National Union of Students, said that rents in accommodation run by for-profit companies tended to be more expensive and it was “not a sustainable way to do student housing or accommodation, for either students or institutions”.

But Joe Lister, chief executive of Unite Students — which acquired a 444-bed site at Kings Place in Southwark, central London, last year in one of the 22 deals — said there was a role for the FTSE 100 company in increasing housing supply.

He added that Unite was also exploring the possibility of purchasing existing housing assets from higher education institutions.

“Universities own about £30bn of real estate. We couldn’t do it in one go. But over 10 years there’s an opportunity to provide funding into the sector using our access to private capital,” he said.

In addition to the 22 private land deals, universities have partnered with the private sector to deliver student accommodation in recent years.

Developers typically benefit from these partnerships through cheaper land costs and assurances that universities will find students to take rooms.

Last year Newcastle University and Unite Students struck a £250mn joint venture deal for a redevelopment project that will lead to about 750 new beds for the university.