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Missoni is the latest designer name to go into the hotel business.

The Italian fashion house signed a deal a couple of years ago with the big hospitality group, Rezidor, which already has around 330 hotels in 51 countries, including the brands Park Inn, Regent and Radisson SAS.

The first two hotels from Rezidor’s partnership with Missoni will open next year – in Kuwait City and Edinburgh. “We believe that hotels are a natural extension for our core brand and that they will work with, and complement, our fashion business,” said Director, Vittorio Missoni.

Since 2000, more than a dozen designers have either set up a partnership with a hospitality company to co-brand a new property or signed on to redesign the interiors of an existing hotel. They include Armani, Versace and Lagerfeld.

Lucian James, founder of the Paris-based brand consultancy, Agenda, said: “In the past five or ten years, fashion designers have begun to understand that the best way they can increase business is by recreating themselves as lifestyle brands. They have to find other ways to build revenue in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.”

Designs for the Kuwait and Edinburgh hotels are being kept secret, but the Missoni team will be heavily involved in creating the look, so expect the signature zig-zag print on curtains and cushions. And the branding is likely to extend to other areas such as tableware and furniture.

by Andy Moreton

Fans of the Harry Potter books have found a new place of pilgrimage – and a luxurious one at that.
J K Rowling completed her phenomenally successful series of novels in a suite at the five-star Balmoral Hotel in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. Now Room 552 has, with the author’s permission, been re-named after her.

Since the venue for her final chapter was revealed, the wealthier of the Potter fans have been arriving and specifically requesting the suite. The rooms include the writing desk she used and the queen-size bed in which she slept.

There’s also a marble bust of the Greek god, Hermes, on which Rowling wrote in black marker pen: “J K Rowling finished writing Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows in this room (552) on 11th Jan 2007.” A brass plaque has been put on the door and the door knocker’s been replaced by a brass owl in homage to those featured in the books.

Rowling’s background was famously a lot more modest than the plush surroundings of the Balmoral – she wrote the first of the novels in several Edinburgh cafés.

The Balmoral is, of course, on Luxique’s list of luxury hotels in Edinburgh. We can’t promise you’ll get Room 552, but we can promise the best rates with no booking fees.

by Andy Moreton