Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

Ron: Tell us about what people can expect at Grand Baie.

Paul:  Okay, Grand Baie was occupied by a hotel which was there when I first came to the Island. It was called the Merville, A very old Hotel, but it was on the most beautiful site in Grand Baie. Grand Baie is like the San Tropez of Mauritius. Exquisite, extraordinary.

This property nestles in a bay of 220 linear meters of white sand with a gorgeous turquoise bay. It really is stunning. First and foremost, we made this hotel fun. Fun comes from the people. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because you mustn’t be too serious. You mustn’t be too serious because people are coming on vacation. So they want to be entertained. They want to have fun. They want to, you know, be surprised by the people. The people make the whole thing. So although people are going to be surprised and wowed by all this wonderful architecture, interiors, this one, that one.

You know, we were planning this for three years with extensive brainstorming sessions with the consultants, architects, interior designers, consultants, and make it so special that this hotel people are going to go crazy. So the first thing that I saw was that we needed to elevate the arrival because, you know, the view is incredible. But if you can elevate, you can get up so that when you walk in a little bit, like here at Grand Gaube, you walk in, I tell you in my heart, oh, and you see that Island on your view corridor.

So, you know, in the design development process, you always talk about view corridors. So that corridor, view corridor at Grand Baie is straight on to the lagoon. It’s amazing that if you pick it up and you, you know, eat out of it. Oh, my goodness. But then because we’re targeting the uber luxury market, we really wanted a sense of arrival that said to people, when you walk in, you know you’ve arrived. So we needed height. My goodness, we got the height. People talk, talk about the height like it’s cathedral-like, because it really is high. So you, you, disembark from your vehicle and you’re in the porte cochere, which in and of itself is beautiful. Water cascading corten and this and that. You get in and then you’re slowly walking up and then the view comes in front of you, oh, my goodness. 

Then you walk through these majestic tall doors, and then you get inside and immediately you go like this and you see this tall vaulted ceiling, which is just this roof. Oh, my goodness. The light is permeating. Then you look right and you see this circular elevator, and then you see the green wall that has been planted up. Then you look left and you see this spiral staircase, which Kelly Hoppen, the designer, calls it whipped cream. Whipped cream. We have a spiral staircase. Then you walk further and then you see the wonderful furniture. You see the retail on the left, and then on the right you see this wonderful new invention that we came up with. It’s called Maison Lux.

Maison Lux has been created out of a need for guests to feel that they can go to a place, not just to have hot beverages, tea or coffee, and the barista and this and that, but also at different times of the day, you may want an Aperol or an Aperitif or a Gin and Tonic or whatever it is, and then lunch and dinner. Then in the evening you want a place where you can go and have an after dinner, drink and coffee and well, and this is Maison Lux and we serve food there and we have trolleys. We’re going to blow people’s minds. 

We have Marie. Marie is the face of Maison Lux. Marie happens to be the partner of our wonderful Walter. Walter is our jovial food and beverage  from Italy. Of course, he’s Italian. So can you imagine you have Walter, who’s this chef who’s so engaging and charismatic, and he’s with Marie. Marie is the greatest pastry chef in the world. Does she produce pastries! Oh, my goodness. These pastries are delicious. She’s invented so many new things for Maison Lux that are going to be wow, people are going to go crazy, crazy when they see this.

So you walk, keep walking, and then what do you see? You see this little, you’re walking towards the ocean, but you have this viewing platform. You walk onto the viewing platform which enables you to have a 180 degree view of the property. So on the right, you see this gorgeous crescent where the junior suites are located together with the crescent shaped pool, which is divided into a children’s park, an adult park. Then you have all the sun loungers and the beds and the cabanas even have a palm grove with the swinging hammocks. Incredible. Then you see overlooking the beach, we have these semi-circular tables where you can have private breakfasts and private lunches and dinners and oh, my goodness, it’s incredible. Then when you look down there, you have this reflecting pond. Huge. In the middle of which is this wonderful, circular seating area and coming out of which is the main sculptural feature of the entire hotel, which is a massive corten bowl where fire comes out and the bowl has the appearance of being supported by this cascading water, which is jetting up to the underside of the bowl. So you have this illusion and then you’re looking down at that and you’re looking straight out and you see the sea and all the trees and the plants and the and there’s trees in the lobby and it’s just incredible. Then you walk downstairs and you come to the beach club, which is called Beach Rouge, and you have the Beach Rouge Bar. Well, when you walk in there, you have this Indian stone, which is illuminated. Gorgeous. You walk from the bar into the Beach Rouge restaurant. and of course, we’ve done away with the three-meal restaurant.

I hate three-meal restaurants.

Here we will serve, yes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But it doesn’t feel like a hotel dining room. This is Beach Rouge. This is incredible. Every table has a view of the lagoon.

Ron: The advertisement that you’ve just shared and created for this most extraordinary property, really is the property at the pinnacle of your career. You have been involved for decades in the development of the industry, the development of the Island, the development of brands, the creation of brands. This is really the pinnacle property.

Paul: Well, there may be more. There definitely will be more. For sure there’ll be more. But for the moment, yes. This is the place to go. This is the summit. This is Mount Everest for me for now. You know, we opened three hotels this year. Two in China, one in Mauritius.