“Luxury is madness,” declares Alex Robertson, and he should know. With a career spanning Ogilvy, Dubai Tourism, Etihad and now Jumeirah, he’s spent years proving that the best hospitality experiences come from embracing that beautiful irrationality. Alex dismantles the tired luxury playbook. No corporate welcome rituals forced on jet-lagged families.…
Growing up during Zimbabwe’s Bush War, Deborah Calmeyer moved to New York at 24 and built ROAR AFRICA from a side project to help her zoologist father into a leading luxury safari operator. Now she runs 200+ trips annually across a continent where geography comprehension and operational logistics challenge even…
From Wall Street to aviation boardrooms, some career pivots reveal more about leadership evolution than industry mechanics. Leona Qi’s journey from finance to becoming President of VistaJet US offers insights into navigating male-dominated sectors, building operational excellence, and redefining what executive presence looks like in luxury industries. With women representing…
Anthony Costa has spent three decades at the pinnacle of luxury hospitality—from the Burj Al Arab to the flagship Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. Now Head of Hospitality and Lifestyle at Candy Capital, he's bringing world-class service to luxury residential living. In conversation with Anant Sharma, Anthony reveals how Japanese…
Most sensible people don't leave a partnership at WATG to start over. But Clint Nagata isn't most people. He's built BLINK Design Group into a $30M+ business by doing the opposite of what luxury hospitality expects—local stone over Italian marble, restraint over ostentation, stories over spectacle. His Six Senses Kyoto…
In this episode of What The Luxe, we sit down with Winston Chesterfield—founder of Barton and one of the most incisive minds in wealth intelligence and luxury brand consultancy. Together, we unpack the nuanced behaviours of high-net-worth individuals, and why understanding their motivations requires far more than just access. Winston…
While most of us anchor ourselves to addresses, Jessica Hoppe oversees something decidedly more fluid. As CEO of The World—the only privately-owned residential ship in constant motion—she manages a community of 300 residents who live aboard year-round, travelling to over 1,000 ports every three years. Unlike traditional cruising, this is…
George Broke, COO of The Soke, joins Fred Moore to discuss how mental healthcare is evolving beyond traditional clinical models toward a premium, hospitality-driven approach. From their unique client services team that acts as healthcare concierges to daily multidisciplinary meetings that ensure no practitioner works in isolation, George explains how…
Tom Barber, co-founder of Original Travel, joins special edition host Aditi Arora, Consultancy Director at Matter of Form, to discuss the evolution of luxury travel and the post-pandemic boom in three-generational trips that are reshaping how families experience the world together. From grandparents funding transformative journeys to parents seeking deeper…
Anant Sharma speaks with Celine Assimon, a seasoned luxury executive who has led brands like Cartier, Piaget, and De Beers London through both triumph and crisis. From navigating company bankruptcy to empowering teams across global markets, Celine shares the hard-won lessons of luxury leadership. Together, they explore what it really…
With Adelina Wong Ettelson, Global Head of Residences Marketing at Mandarin Oriental
In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of superyachts with Anders Kurtén, CEO of Fraser—the world's leading luxury yacht service provider. Anders shares why the core of yacht ownership isn't just about luxury—it’s about a human desire for freedom, adventure, and, simply, messing about in boats. Spanning Fraser’s…
The team behind Maeving are driven by two things: the desire to make the best electric motorcycles possible, and the belief that this is most readily achieved by harnessing Britain’s heritage in motorcycle engineering. Joining Anant Sharma in the What The Luxe studio, Maeving Co-founder Seb Inglis-Jones unpacks the brand’s…
"Rewilding is about restoring natural processes, the very ones that nature depends on." In a world where ecosystems are rapidly declining, the call to restore and protect our environment has never been more urgent. Ben Goldsmith, a financier turned conservationist, is at the forefront of this movement, dedicating his life…
An international hotelier through and through, Franck Arnold's eminent career has taken him from Strasbourg to New York to Chicago, DC to Edinburgh and back across the pond to Canada before landing in London as Managing Director and Regional Vice-President of The Savoy. Sitting down with What The Luxe, he…
From a startup in his spare room to an established and sought-after media brand, Harry Jarman and his team have built something truly exceptional with Gentlemen’s Journal. In the latest episode of What The Luxe, Jarman speaks on subjects like the platform’s evolution, the demand for print and the changing…
In conversation with What The Luxe, David Burke, Chief Executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), delves into the history, mission and evolving role of orchestras in contemporary culture. Shifting perceptions from luxury to legacy, Burke shares how LPO is helping to keep the arts alive by democratising access to…
Kicking off the fourth series of What The Luxe, we welcome a Director at the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects, Melodie Leung, as she reflects on her remarkable nineteen-year journey with the firm. Through her story, Melodie offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of the world’s most…
For over a century, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts has redefined what luxury means to affluent guests time and time again. Sitting down with What The Luxe, Guiseppe De Martino, General Manager of The St. Regis Rome, walks us through what it takes to conduct not just a luxury hotel…
For the last seventeen years, Anthea Peers has experienced everything Christie’s is and stands for, from the drama of the auction to the stories behind the art world’s most famous pieces. Bringing her best anecdotes to life, Anthea and Anant go behind the gavel – talking everything from Christie’s impressive…
Wayne Bruce, known as ManBat to some and Bentley’s Chief Comms and D&I Officer to many, has had an illustrious career in automotive – one he unpacks in the latest episode of What The Luxe, along with everything that makes Bentley Motors what it is today, from the strategic trifecta…
From Blackpool to the Maldives, Paul Jones has lived a fascinating career to say the least. Sitting down with What The Luxe, Paul takes us back to the beginning, before weaving the tale of his life in hospitality to date, unveiling secrets of the trade along the way.
Covering everything from the blanding phenomenon and eccentric brand ambassadors to NFTs and Anant’s hypothetical life as a DJ, What The Luxe’s first episode is a one-on-one between MOF co-founders as Fred dissects Anant’s distaste for the term ‘luxury’ despite their line of work, complimented by some light-hearted jabs and…