From exclusive retreats that lie deep in the mountains to untouched islands and up-and-coming art meccas
There are 2,153 billionaires worldwide (11% fewer big ones than last year) and, although it’s easy enough to spot mega-yachts and MLB teams among their collective assets, some of their expenditures are a bit more under-the-radar: A handful are behind one-of-a-kind boutique hotels.
If many hoteliers focus on the bottom line, billionaires provide nearly bottomless budgets (price tags upward of $100 million—no, $350 million) in pursuit of hospitality that lives beyond the margins. Ranging from remote destinations previously out of reach to daunting renovation projects with stratospheric costs (to say the least), they’re not all purely capitalist ventures; quite a few of these properties are passion projects, philanthropic ventures, or annexes to extensive private collections. But without question, they are all exceptional.
Islas Secas Reserve & Lodge, Panama
Conservation is the province of many billionaires, especially Louis Bacon, whose projects—from Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountain Lodge to New Mexico’s Taos Ski Valley—have long stressed preservation. Islas Secas Reserve & Lodge isn’t virgin terrain per se; it was formerly the site of a different hedge funder’s resort. Even so, it’s Panama’s first private archipelago hotel, and privacy is just another way of protecting the fragile marine ecosystem.
Read the full article at Architectural Digest.