Monthly Archives: February 2022

The most expensive resort in the world is ready for a rebrand.

When the Philippines' Banwa Private Island had its soft opening in May 2019, it boasted a nightly rate of $100,000. The luxury resort offered six oceanfront beach villas, spacious Jacuzzis, and infinity pools that's in addition to 12 garden rooms with panoramic views of the island. The grounds were replete with everything from spas to elevated bar lounges, and guests had access to jet skis and yachts.

Then came a pandemic-related closure in 2020. When the resort reopened in May 2021, it was to a greatly reduced cost: Its new nightly rate was $45,000.

The reduced rate is part of the resort's effort to revamp its reputation as the world's most expensive resort.

"We don't want to claim that title right now," the resort's marketing consultant, Judith Los Banos, told Insider on a video call. "We had a different team [when it launched] who wanted to market it as the most expensive," she added.

Banwa now wants to be known as an "air travel bubble" destination that offers "crowd-free" luxury holidays amid the pandemic. It's cut down capacity, too: Banwa now allows 36 people to stay on the island during charters, down from 48 guests when it first opened. The resort formed a partnership with aviation company Ascent Flights Global in December to introduce private air travel to their guests, per their website.

"We want the guests to be more comfortable and to have [more] privacy," said Los Banos.

The discounted price comes with a minimum three-night stay, which means that even with the price cut, guests have to spend at least $135,000 to charter the island.

The resort was initially only for exclusive charters, but Los Banos said individual villas are now also available for bookings. The nightly rate for a villa starts from $2,500 for two guests, with a three-night minimum stay.

Los Banos said the villas are the most popular option for guests staying on the island. Each villa comes with a private butler and full board meals, which include breakfast, lunch, a choice of afternoon snack, and dinner.

Banwa may have an outsized reputation because of its price tag, but it hasn't played host to many guests.

"There were some days we didn't have any guests," Los Banos said.

Los Banos estimated that "almost" 100 guests have stayed on the island. She added that the resort's clientele are "very private people [who] don't usually have social media accounts."

Fiona Harper, a travel writer who visited Banwa on a media tour in 2019, told Insider the "personal attention from the staff" was what made the island special.

"Much of the value at this high end [resort] is in the privacy it buys," Harper added.

The resort is located in tourist paradise Palawan in the Sulu Sea, where many of the country's most famous private islands are located.

One these islands is Amanpulo, which is managed by Aman Resorts, the famed hospitality company with resorts in places like New York, Venice, and Bali. The resort's nightly rate for its villas start from around $1,430. Amanpulo boasts a star-studded clientele, including celebrities like Bill Gates, Mariah Carey, and Beyonce.

"Banwa is in the Sulu Sea so it's not as popular as other beaches," said Los Banos on what sets them apart from other resorts. "It's a garden island with a beautiful landscape, without dangerous animals like other parts of Palawan. It's like a private sanctuary," she added.

Link:

The most expensive resort in the world is looking for a rebrand - Insider

Former world No. 1 tennis player Ana Ivanovic and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti are among several sports stars to buy virtual islands in The Sandbox, the blockchain-based virtual world computer game. Islands were also bought by Bayern Munich winger Kingsley Coman, Swiss tennis player Stan Wawrinka and Dan Holzmann, co-owner of the Swiss soccer club FC Basel.

Exclusible, an NFT marketplace that works with luxury brands, sold a total of 25 private islands in The Sandbox for a combined 910 ETHwhich currently equals about $2.9 million. Exclusible limited sales of its last available virtual private islands to influencers with at least 1 million social media followers. Former Victorias Secret model Sara Sampaio was among those to buy the digital land, as well as crypto trading platform eToro, which ran an ad during Super Bowl LVI.

Coman, who also plays for the French national team, bought his metaverse island in collaboration with CHMPS PARISSE, a French streetwear brand that will promote its products in The Sandbox. The Sandbox is owned by Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, which also made Olympic pin NFTs for the IOC.

Warner Music Group, Adidas, Gucci, Atari and Snoop Dogg are among other brands and celebrities to have bought land in The Sandbox to launch NFTs and digital experiences in its virtual world. On Tuesday, JP Morgan launched a virtual lounge in Decentraland, which competes with The Sandbox for metaverse prowess as virtual worlds fueled by cryptocurrencies.

Whether its large tech players such as Microsoft planning to create realistic workspaces, or Ariana Grande holding a concert in Fortnite, the opportunities presented by interactive, digital worlds seem limitless, reads a report from JP Morgan. The metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues.

JP Morgans report titled Opportunities in the metaverse says$54 billion per year is spent on virtual goods and that NFTs have a current market cap of $41 billion. The report also says that 60 billion messages per day are sent on Roblox, whose users have been able to buy NFL-branded digital jerseys and helmets to dress their in-game avatars and visit Nikes virtual campus called Nikeland.

The term metaverse was first used in Neal Stephensons 1992 dystopian science fiction novel Snow Crash, but the phrase has burst in popularity since Facebook rebranded to Meta last year to re-position itself as a metaverse first company. Rob Shaw, director of North America sports partnerships at Meta, will speak more on the companys metaverse vision at SportTechies State Of The Industry conference from April 12-13 at One World Trade Center in New York.

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Athletes and Celebs Pay $2.9M for Islands in Metaverse - SportTechie

Good morning. Its Wednesday. Well look at settlements in two high-profile lawsuits one filed against the company that manufactured that AR-15-style rifle used in the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut 11 years ago, the other filed against Prince Andrew by a teenage victim of his friend, Jeffrey Epstein.

The families in the Sandy Hook settlement said it was worth $73 million. The money, to come from insurance companies for the gun manufacturer Remington, was believed to be the largest payout ever in a liability case against a gun maker.

But beyond the money, the settlement represented a major setback for the gun industry. The lawsuit had used a novel legal strategy to sidestep a federal law that shields gun companies from litigation. The families lawyers argued that the gun maker had violated Connecticuts consumer protection law by promoting its products in ways that appealed to so-called couch commandoes and troubled young men like the 20-year-old gunman who stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first graders and six adults.

Similar consumer protection measures in other states, including New York, could provide a framework for families of victims in other mass shootings.

[Sandy Hook Families Settle for $73 Million With Gun Maker Over Massacre]

This is an important win for victims of gun violence and the movement to hold the gun industry accountable, said Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel for Brady, the gun control group formerly known as the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which has been suing gunmakers and dealers since the late 1990s. It sends a powerful message to these executives even with your special protections, you can and will be held accountable for gun violence.

Lawyers for the company did not immediately return calls for comment. The agreement was disclosed in documents filed in Connecticut Superior Court on Tuesday that did not provide details of the settlement, including the amount the families would receive. And the settlement will be paid by insurance companies that had represented Remington because it is in bankruptcy. As a result, gun industry officials said that the decision to settle was not made by a member of the firearms industry.

Remington had proposed settling with the families for $33 million last year as a trial date approached. Josh Koskoff, the lead lawyer for the families, said in July that they had rejected the offer because of its glaring inadequacy.

The families had maintained that Remington marketed the AR-15-style Bushmaster rifle as a weapon of war, using slogans and product placements in violent video games played by troubled young men like the Sandy Hook gunman. One ad showed a photograph of the rifle with the words Consider your man card reissued.

The families had said that a central goal of the lawsuit was to pry open the industry and expose it to more scrutiny. Remington had resisted turning over any internal documents, arguing that the families had not presented a legal justification for seeking them.

But lawyers for the families said on Tuesday that Remington had agreed to release thousands of pages of internal company documents, including possible plans for how to market the weapon used in the massacre a stipulation that had been a key sticking point during negotiations.

Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son was killed, said the documents included in the settlement were crucial and paint a picture of a company that lost its way, choosing more aggressive marketing campaigns for profit.

Weather

Expect a sunny day with temps reaching the mid-40s. In the evening, will be partly cloudy with temps in the low 40s.

alternate-side parking

In effect until Monday (Washingtons Birthday).

Weeks before he was to be questioned under oath, Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of raping her when she was a teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein.

The financial terms of the settlement, announced in a court filing in Manhattan, were not disclosed. The deal saved Andrew, the disgraced second son of Queen Elizabeth II, from having to go to trial. Giuffre had claimed that Andrew, known as the Duke of York, sexually abused her when she was under 18 at Epsteins mansion in Manhattan and on Epsteins private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The lawsuit had cast a shadow over the royals as Queen Elizabeth was celebrating 70 years on the throne, the longest reign of any British monarch. Last month she stripped Andrew of his military titles, and Buckingham Palace said he would no longer use the title His Royal Highness.

Andrew, in a joint statement by the two sides that was attached to the court filing, did not admit to any of Giuffres accusations but said that it was known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. He also said that he regrets his association with Epstein and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.

That characterization of Giuffre was noticeably different from the way Andrews lawyers had described her when they moved to have the lawsuit dismissed last fall. The lawyers said then that Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and the expense of those closest to him.

Eva Petric creates site-specific artworks and oversees their installation. She was on hand with the technicians and the riggers when Collective Heart, a translucent work made of lace, was hung over the high altar at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan several years ago.

The sexual-misconduct allegations. The accusations against Prince Andrew first surfaced in 2019, after Mr. Epstein was arrested on federal charges. One accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, claimed that Mr. Epstein had trafficked her to Prince Andrew, and that the prince had raped her when she was 17.

The settlement. Prince Andrew settled the lawsuitfor an undisclosed amount on Feb. 15, just weeks before he was scheduled to sit for a deposition. He did not admit to any of the accusations against him in the statement announcing the deal.

She cannot supervise the installation of two of her latest works. For now, anyway, she cannot go where they are going, even though they are going only about 250 miles, roughly the distance from Times Square to Rochester, N.Y.

They are heading to the International Space Station, as a prelude to establishing an art gallery in an even more distant place: the moon.

The Moon Gallery Foundation, a nonprofit that says its partners include the European Space Agency, will announce plans for the mission to the space station and the lunar gallery today in Manhattan. Reaching low Earth orbit on our way to the moon is the first step in extending our cultural dialogue to space, Bernard Foing, the chairman of the foundation, said in a statement. He was the lead project scientist of the European agencys first moon mission, a satellite that orbited the moon in 2003.

The foundation said the gallery, a collection of 65 works, would be launched on Saturday on a rocket bound for the space station. The foundation said it was collaborating with Nanoracks, a company that arranges for experiments to fly to the space station. NASAs description of the mission said another part of the Moon Gallery would be photographs and videos from a new camera that could be used on future space platforms.

There are space constraints in space, so the artist had to think small each compartment in the grid-like rack being sent to the space station is slightly more than a half-inch wide and a half-inch tall. Petric, who divides her time between New York, Vienna and the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, said she was happy to bid her two tiny works goodbye, though she said she regretted that she could not be on the space station when they arrived.

Dear Diary:

One night, after searching for parking in Washington Heights for almost an hour, I reluctantly decided to put my car in a garage.

Finding one, I asked the attendant if they took cars overnight.

Yes, he said, for $40.

As I reached into my wallet, the attendant motioned toward me and then pointed to a car parked in a spot just outside the garage entrance.

Although he didnt speak English very well and I didnt really understand what he was saying, I realized that the car he was pointing to was his. It soon became clear that he was offering me his spot instead for $25 in cash.

A few minutes later, I was happily walking to my destination, and he was enjoying the fruits of an enterprising approach to solving my parking problem.

Jean Molot

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Eleven Years After the Sandy Hook Massacre, a $73 Million Settlement - The New York Times

Private planes. Resort buyouts. Whole-ship charters.

It's the upper end in the world of luxury travel, something Virtuoso calls "ultraluxe," and it's been growing in popularity.

"What really tipped us off was all the increase for private villas," said Misty Ewing Belles, Virtuoso's vice president of global public relations. "Villas were the first piece of that, which we all know for obvious reasons when Covid hit, that was where [clients] migrated toward. That's continued on, but then we started to see other luxury services and other add-ons and then other, more elaborate trips."

Virtuoso tapped into its community of ultraluxe specialists to delve into what was going on.

According to a survey of advisors, 76% of respondents who specialize in luxury excursions have seen an increase in interest in private and unique experiences. The majority of respondents said their clients are spending an average of $25,000 to $50,000 on ultraluxe trips. And, 26% said clients are spending in excess of $100,000 per trip.

Misty Ewing Belles

"Ultraluxe," Belles said, is most easily defined as "exclusive use:" private transportation, accommodations and more.

Luxury tourism is on a faster recovery track than budget tourism, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. The company found that 29% of respondents to a live poll said their budgets for travel are "a lot" or "slightly higher" than they were pre-pandemic. Additionally, in the U.S., total hotel revenue from leisure travelers for luxury hotels increased 147% year over year in 2021.

GlobalData travel and tourism analyst Ralph Hollister called that figure "a significantly higher percentage increase" when compared with the number for U.S. budget hotels, which saw a year-over-year revenue increase of 42%.

"The ongoing recovery of luxury tourism looks to be in good stead as the number of high-net-worth individuals continues to grow across the globe and especially in important source markets such as the U.S.," Hollister said. "Increasing amounts of disposable income will boost demand for premium products and services."

The uptick, Virtuoso says, is coming from both Covid-related pent-up demand and Covid-enabled wealth accumulation. The affluent, now with higher travel budgets, are interested in hitting the road.

And, Belles noted, people wanted to travel but at the same time avoid others.

"Maybe they've redone their home or homes, and now they're putting it into their travel," she said. "I think that it's not just the 1% who are doing it; I think you have the aspirational travelers who are wanting to get back out there and who have more money than they normally would, as well."

But for the ultrawealthy, Belles said, the trips are grand. Private yachts around Greece, long-term villa stays and private islands are just some of the trips she's seen Virtuoso members plan.

Victoria Boomgarden

For Victoria Boomgarden, president of Elan Travel in Naperville, Ill., ultraluxe travel has been the focus of her 40-plus-year career in the industry. But interest in private transportation and stays "has just exploded," she said. It's more comfortable and, in a pandemic, more controllable. Clients are also motivated to get out into the world. Even those who were more budget-conscious before the pandemic are spending more on blockbuster trips.

Boomgarden has planned a number of over-the-top trips recently, from a 10-year-old's birthday in Paris (including receiving a pair of handmade Repetto ballet flats) to a 60th birthday aboard the Belmond Royal Scotsman. For the latter, Boomgarden chartered the train, added a Scotch whisky expert and bagpipe entertainment and stocked it with 100 varieties of the spirit for guests to enjoy.

"Did they know that existed? No," she said. "I knew the train would be a good match. But then it just kept building and building, and it was so much fun."

Limor Decter

Limor Decter, an advisor with Embark Beyond in New York, was recently accepted into Virtuoso's Ultraluxe Community, a group of advisors and preferred suppliers focused on that sector of travel.

"I think that everyone has had time to reprioritize the travel experience," she said. "And I know that everyone is craving connections and time with loved ones. Celebrations now need to be so much more impactful and meaningful than they were in the past."

Private yachts have been big sellers for Embark, Decter said, especially among multigenerational groups interested in cruising the Caribbean, Mediterranean or the Adriatic.

Kristin Chambers

Kristin Chambers, the Boston-based founder of D.A. Luxury Travel and Travellustre, said ultraluxe trips run anywhere from $100,000 to $2 million per week.

She recently chartered a SeaDream Yacht Club ship for a family celebration. The ship will cruise the Adriatic starting in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Chambers bought out Sponza Palace, where the group will enjoy a traditional Croatian dinner and an orchestra performance. She's planned a number of out-of-the-box experiences for the cruisers, before they end in Venice with a rooftop celebration where the host of the journey honeymooned 55 years ago.

"Travel is no longer about booking a trip," Chambers said. "It's now, 'I'm investing in a journey.'"

Cate Caruso

Cate Caruso, owner of True Places Travel in Vancouver, Wash., said she believes ultraluxe travel's boom is tied to the effects the pandemic has had on society as a whole, like the Great Resignation. "People are just reevaluating their lives," she said.

A client had a number of travel plans on the books before the pandemic hit. He pulled away from all of them. Last year, though, he decided to sell his business and wanted to go all-out; he rented two villas for a family of four at the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita over festive season. The bill was over $50,000.

"A lot of people are reevaluating their lives," she said. "When they step into that retirement, then their bucket list becomes their to-do list."

Update: This report was updated to note that Misty Ewing Belles, Virtuoso's vice president of global public relations.

See the article here:

'Ultraluxe,' the tip-top of luxury travel, expands as travelers seek exclusivity - Travel Weekly

Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley said that efforts are in full effect to bring a prompt solution to the existing backlog at the Department of Labour and Workforce Development.

A virtual stakeholders meeting was held on Thursday, February 10 where the Government representatives and members of the private sector came together to speak about existing issues contributing to the backlog as well as discussions on possible solutions.

Honourable Wheatley stated that although there are challenges, the ultimate goal is to make business with the private sector easier and more efficient.

He said, Over the last weeks, I have heard the many concerns about work permit issues, and we thought it best to come together in a forum such as this to find the best solution forward. I want to commend business owners who have understood the vision and have also made their contribution to address some of the concerns. Remember that we are in this together and we want the same things you want, which is to find an amicable solution and a sustainable system.

Meanwhile Acting Labour Commissioner, Mrs. Michelle Mc Lean shared a report highlighting the number of work permits which have been processed since July 12, 2021 when the Online Work Permit System was activated.

According to the Acting Labour Commissioner, the Department received 5,466 work permit applications, with 3,546 being renewal applications. From the total number of renewals, 2,005 have been processed.

A total number of 1,573 new applications were submitted and approximately 1,050 were processed. Additionally, 347 entertainments, emergency and temporary work permit applications were also processed.

Mrs. McLean said, I am confident that with a few additional staff, and by tweaking the existing Online Work Permit System, the backlog will undoubtedly be significantly diminished in a few months. In the meantime, we at the Department of Labour and Workforce Development continue to work tirelessly to process the work permits as we strive to meet the needs of our clients.

The Department of Labour and Workforce Development continues to promote good labour practices at workplaces to ensure stable and harmonious labour relations between employers and employees, and to protect the rights, wages, working conditions, safety, health and welfare of workers through enforcement of the British Virgin Islands Labour Laws.

Notes:

Photo 1 of 2: Official photo of Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley

Photo 2 of 2: Official photo of Ag. Labour Commissioner, Mrs. Michelle Mc Lean

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Stakeholders Meeting Addressing Labour Concerns Held - Government of the Virgin Islands