Cool And Friendly

Italian luxury brand Bulgari offers an emotional experience in China's capital, Chen Jie reports.

In the early 1980s, when young Italian backpacker Jean-Christophe Babin and his girlfriend toured Shanghai, they stayed at the YMCA near the Waibaidu Bridge. But they were separated into dormitories exclusively for men and women.

Now, Babin, the CEO of Bulgari, is sitting at the bar of the Bulgari Hotel Beijing, looking over the garden outside the floor-to-ceiling windows along the Liangma River and talking about the "funny thing" regarding his first travel experience in China more than 30 years ago.

"China has undergone dramatic changes in many ways. Hospitality is just one of them," he said.

Bulgari, the renowned Italian jewelry and watch brand, expanded its luxury business in hotels and resorts from Milan in 2004, then Bali in 2006 and London in 2012. On Sept 27, it opened its fourth hotel in Beijing.

Like its previous three properties, the Bulgari Hotel Beijing doesn't only provide an authentic Italian lifestyle through its architecture, services and the way of hospitality, but also has something unique related to the location.

Designed by architects Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, the hotel rises along the Liangma River, within sculpted gardens surrounded by pines that balance art and nature.

One unique big pine standing in front of the property has become the hotel's logo.

"Beijing is usually associated with buildings, but this place merges into greenert, with the river and well-designed landscapes," Babin said. "All these trees are over 20 years old. We spent great effort selecting and moving them from the mountains and replanting them here."

"China has deep respect for nature. I think this is a way to capture Chinese culture.

"We have only 119 rooms, not that many, but each is spacious and has a warm, cheerful spirit. Usually hotels seem formal, but Bulgari hotels are cool and friendly," he added.

The location, about 30 minutes from Tian'anmen Square and 20 minutes from Beijing Capital International Airport, is a convenient choice for many visitors.

Bulgari also commissioned Chinese artist Yang Peiming to paint a portrait of its founder, Sotirio Bulgari (1857-1932). The portrait is hanging on the wall of the lobby to greet the visitors.

"We love Yang's style. It is a nice way to introduce our founder through the eyes of a contemporary Chinese artist. We shared with him several pictures," Babin said.

Founded in 1884 in Rome, Bulgari's product lines include jewelry, watches, perfume and accessories. The hotel division is their smallest and youngest business.

"When we sought to figure out some 15 years ago how the luxury brands would develop in the future, we thought it might not only be possessing a timeless masterpiece jewelry or watches. The clients would more and more look for emotions, for memories, for experiences. So we thought that hospitality probably would be an emotional place to go," Babin said.

He said the hotel business now contributes less than 10 percent to the group's revenue, but has great potential and is developing very fast.

Following Beijing, new Bulgari hotels will open in Dubai in December, Shanghai in January 2018 and Moscow in 2019.

Babin hopes the brand's name will help to attract more visitors to their hotels and resorts.

Bulgari is one of the most desirable luxury brands in China, known for its craftsmanship and design, and especially its jewelry and watches.

China is one of the top three countries worldwide for the brand.

"Chinese customers are very demanding. They are also quite informal, breaking your rules that (with) luxury - especially jewelry - everything tends to be very formal, the store is very formal, the staff and the clients are all formal," he said. "Chinese are bringing a freshness into the industry. They are sophisticated, respectful, but younger and pretty casual.

"Chinese people access wealth at an earlier age than in the West. It is forcing the industry to evolve."

Contact the writer at chenjie@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/28/2017 page10)