LUX* Island Resorts launching in the Indian Ocean

Which is the best kind of tropical island holiday? One where you lie on the same spot of the beach every day, read a couple of paperbacks, barely leave your lounger and pay exorbitant prices for imported water? Or one with benefits that last well after the tan has faded? Where you come back feeling re-energised, reinvigorated, re-inspired and re-ignited? For those who tick the second box, LUX* Island Resorts launches this month at three hotels on Mauritius, one in the Maldives and one on Ile de La Réunion. The new brand, which replaces Naïade Resorts Ltd, represents the complete re-launch of the company and the culmination of an intensive twelve months of painstaking preparation and rehearsal. CEO Paul Jones, a passionate hotelier and travel industry expert, was previously a key member of the team responsible for launching the highly aspirational One&Only brand. When he took over the fading Naïade Resorts group in late 2010, he and his management team saw an opportunity to create something truly unique in its place. They recognised that luxury itself had undergone a sea change: no longer synonymous with excess and bling, true luxury has become simpler, fresher and more individual. Inspired by this change, it was agreed that rather than offering the standard sun, sea and sand 5-star vacation, LUX* Island Resorts would be defined by an experience that had been entirely and radically re-conceptualised. The manifestation of this change is Island Light, the signature concept that will run at all LUX* Island Resorts. Adopting a name which is Latin for light, the new brand is dedicated to staging a lighter, brighter and less complicated holiday experience. Jones compares the concept to a musical production, where each resort is a theatre and its staff is the cast producing a show-stopping performance every day. At its core is the commitment to doing the ordinary extraordinarily. Freshly-roasted organic coffee, retro-styled ice-cream parlours, on-the-beach film screenings, pop-up restaurants, integrated wellness & spa programmes, honesty bars and libraries of cool magazines are individually tempting, but it is the cumulative impact of these and a whole raft of other carefully choreographed Island Light experiences – underpinned by truly incredible service – which adds up to an exhilarating change of direction within the ‘sea of sameness’ that most resorts offer. LUX* recognises that it is the audience – the guests – who count most and Jones is confident that this new brand of simpler, more relaxed and more individual luxury – underpinned with truly incredible service – will have wide appeal: “I have spent 35 years designing, building, operating and managing resorts in exotic destinations around the world”, says Jones, “this project has presented me with an opportunity to contribute all that knowledge and insight. We are doing more than simply changing the name of the Company or putting a new brand on our hotels. Island Light is the summation of many different ingredients, which when experienced as a whole are a very powerful alternative to the usual island resort holiday. LUX* has determined its purpose as ‘Helping People Celebrate Life’ and that is what every member of our team is committed to and has pledged to deliver”.