Interviewer / Host (3:08)

You've been with Belmont for a decade now. Can you tell me a little bit about your own journey in the company and how sort of Belmont has evolved?

Arnaud Champenois (3:16)

Well, yeah, indeed. I joined almost a decade ago. It's been an amazing journey with different moments. Because actually at the beginning when I joined, the company was stocked at the New York Stock Exchange. It was listed there, and so we had the board and it was kind of like a complete different approach to now where we are part of LVMH. So the acquisition was in 2018. And since then it has been an amazing journey, you know, working with the group on how to. To shape the future of travel. So me being a brand guy has been very rich, you know, in learnings and also embracing contemporary culture, which is very, very important for us at Belmont today.

Interviewer / Host (4:12)

And what kind of positions did you have before Belmont?

Arnaud Champenois (4:15)

Oh, so I chany, I started my career at Cartier, the jeweler in London, where I was product manager. Then I. My. My big career is at l'. Oreal. So I work of years for l', Oreal, so managing fragrances mostly, like the licensed fragrance like Georgia, Armani, Ralph Lauren. But I really work with also a lot of young designer like Victor and Rolf. I don't know if you know Flower.

Dan Rubenstein (4:43)

Yeah.

Arnaud Champenois (4:44)

So I created. I created Flower Room.

Dan Rubenstein (4:46)

Oh, okay.

Interviewer / Host (4:46)

All right.

Arnaud Champenois (4:47)

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein (4:47)

Celebrity with us.

Arnaud Champenois (4:48)

Yeah. And it was an amazing journey, creative journey with them. I work with Martin Margiela with different fashion designers at l' Oreal for their fragrance and beauty brands. And then one day a headhunter called me and say, hey, what about travel? And I've always been passionate about travel, so I say, why not? And so I joined Starwood, the American group spg. And I was actually based in Asia and I worked on the synergies for luxury collection W hotels. And I launched their brand and their positioning across Asia Pacific. So it was really like booming time for hospitality and travel in that part of the world. So it's been. I was based in Singapore and it's been very rich for me because I was traveling everywhere in China, in India, in Indonesia, in Taiwan. And so it was like, fantastic. And then from that I moved to Belmond where they were looking for a chief brand officer And I joined to manage and develop the brand, completely rethink the brand platform, the programming, the guest experience. And this is where we are today, you know.

Interviewer / Host (6:01)

And Belmond is quite unique in the world of travel, at least from my point of view, in that it includes many different kinds of travel and modes or experiences, if you will. There's hotels and trains and safaris and boats. So on the one hand it's so wonderful in terms of its variety, but I'm sure it's also quite the challenge, just from a travel universe point of view, both in how you communicate this idea of the quote unquote Belmond Way, or is there a Belmond Way? Or a vision of how this is

Dan Rubenstein (6:31)

all how you guys think of yourselves in this way? Because in travel it's usually you're either,

Interviewer / Host (6:37)

you know, just cruising or just hotels or just something else and you guys do everything. So it's quite extraordinary.

Arnaud Champenois (6:45)

So what I try to do with the brand is to position the brand as a lifestyle brand, first of all. So it's about travel, but it's also about gastronomy, it's about wellness, it's about like contemporary culture as well. So I think what is beauty, the beauty of the brand today is that we try to, to shape the future of travel and to perpetuate this legendary art of travel. Think golden age of travel, but reinvented for a new generation of guests. And this is really what we want to do today. And recently we really embraced this concept of slow luxury, which is this idea to disconnect. And when you travel with Balmond, try to take your time, invest your time in the experiences we build for you and discover a new pace of travel. And this is, I think where we are very different from other brands. We invest a lot in experiences where we want people to disconnect, to reconnect to what matter the most for them. Nature, culture, their own well being, and also the idea of celebration, celebration with their friends, with their family, how they can really kind of have good time with, with us and enjoy wonderful destinations, but also time with their very own friends and family.

Interviewer / Host (8:14)

And speaking about the golden age of travel, like, what does that mean to you? I mean to me it means like

Dan Rubenstein (8:19)

sort of jet, the early days of

Interviewer / Host (8:21)

jet travel and before the Internet, I think.

Arnaud Champenois (8:24)

Yeah, I think actually it's before the Internet and I think it's the time where you had time to enjoy the, the travel. And it was not only about the destination and going there, it was also about the journey to go there. And I think at Belmont it's very important because the journey is as important as the destination. And the best example for that is our legendary trains. So, you know, we own the Venice simple and Art Express that we have completely restored and we keep restoring all the time. It's absolutely legendary travel. And it's really the perfect example of how you. You disconnect to have a fantastic journey in almost in a time capsule, you know. And this is for me, what really is interesting with the brand and the experience we offer to our guests and

Interviewer / Host (9:19)

travelers around the world and, you know, bringing up the Orient Express.

Dan Rubenstein (9:24)

Tell me a little bit about the

Interviewer / Host (9:26)

history of this particular line and how it came into Belmond's hands, because it is a fascinating history.

Arnaud Champenois (9:32)

Yeah. So actually, the group has been funded by an American eccentric, Jim Chiarwood, and his wife, Lady Chiawood, and together they build this exquisite portfolio of properties around the world. And the founding act of the group is when they acquired the Cipriani in Venice and they collected 17 original carriages from the original Orient Express from the 20s, 30s, and they started to restore this, this train and they relaunch it in 1982 with Lisa Minelli, actually, who was one of the first passenger on board. And. And the idea of, of the group was really how you can connect through transports, all these different properties across the world and travel with your friends and families. So it was very. It was actually a quite personal journey for them. And this is the story of the trend completely restored by them and that we kept engineering and reinventing with many, many initiatives over the past few years. But this is kind of like how the. It's a funding act of the group and the incredible story of the Venice Simplon Orient Express that we operate today.

Interviewer / Host (11:04)

And how many trains are there just to get to the nuts and bolts, like how many carriages does Belmond sort of operate today?

Arnaud Champenois (11:12)

We have seven trains. So we have this legendary train from Paris to Venice to actually 20 destinations in Europe, and the legendary trip to Istanbul twice a year. But we also have a couple of trains in the uk. We have a day train called the British Poonan. We recently had an amazing collaboration with Wes and the sun, who decorated one of a carriage. We have just launched a new train in the UK called the Britannic Explorer, which is a train going to England, Wales, but also the Lake District. And really it's a journey because you have experiences on board, but also off board to discover the countryside of the uk. We have incredible trains in Peru. Peru has always been a very big market for us and we have five hotels and two trains. One train is going to the Machu Picchu and the other train is crossing the andes. It's at 4,000 meters so you better be fit and comfortable with oxygen. But it's an amazing job journey and experiences from, you know, Arequipa to Cusco, passing through the Lake Titicaca. It's the incredible landscape and an amazing experiences. And then we also have a train in Southeast Asia called the Eastern and Oriental Express from Singapore to Malaysia, going into the jungle, going to Pennong, which is an amazing foodie destination. So it's also an offline, onboard and off board experience. So these are kind of like the portfolio of our trends. And we also have one in Scotland which I almost forgot, which is incredible from Edinburgh to the Highlands North Islands. And it's like a really the beauty of a journey again, but also discovering the, the incredible landscapes of, of the north of Scotland which are epic. So and each of his journey are very. It's adventure. Adventure with champagne.

Dan Rubenstein (13:26)

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Interviewer / Host (14:43)

that we had taken for, for the second issue of the Grand Tourist magazine, which will be coming out probably around the time that this is, that this is ready for download. It is, it is not just a nice train, like it is sort of a, a luxury hotel on wheels that is sort of like a five star hotel on wheels essentially, right? I mean, like how many people work on each train? Like how much Give me an idea for people that have never been like the kind of the staff that's required and like the.

Arnaud Champenois (15:12)

Yeah, you know, it's quite extraordinary on the Venice and pronounced Express, which is, it's, it's a hotel, but it's almost like a museum on, on wheels, you know, it's like proper marquetry. It's like it's history because you even have a heritage cabin which are like bunk beds, you know, so it's like really kind of part of the history of, of travel. And that golden age of travel was what I was mentioning. And it's very well maintained by a fantastic team of engineers and conductors and stewards on board with their iconic blue uniform. Actually the uniform was designed by Balenciaga at the beginning of the century. We have chefs on board, so in total we have about 100 passengers on board and I would say we have maybe 50 staff. A great team of passionate people and they are very professional and sometimes more often, actually quite often, it's like from generation to generations, we have many Stuarts who have in mind this guy Rory, his father and his grandfather were also stewards in the Venice Emperor Express. So there is something almost like a family transcendence mission in our, in our staff, which is beautiful to, to see. But what is so special about the, the train is really that it's almost like a legendary time capsule. You step aboard the train and it's almost like you're part of a legend. And it's, it's, it's behind these closed doors you have this kind of team and the gas. It's almost a play is going to happen. You know, you have these characters, staff and guests. You have this notion of time which is very Precise. It's like 24 hours journey. And you have like this train which is quite narrow actually, so you have the corridors where you can bump into people and staff, you have your rooms, you have the restaurants, you have the bars. So there is almost like a decor and a scenery which is very interesting for a special atmosphere. And everything can happen in the Venetian Parent Express.

Interviewer / Host (17:39)

And why do you think? Because the switch from Belmont to join LVMH was like a year or two before the pandemic. And now in this era, the sort of post pandemic age, things like these trains are so popular and so successful and just the idea of it is very romantic and very appealing lately. Why do you think that is? Why do you think people are flocking to a train when they could easily fly in a tenth of the time

Arnaud Champenois (18:08)

or Like I think it's really about slowing down and it's really about time being the biggest luxury today. And people are really living and especially high net worth individuals in a very hectic world and when they travel they want to really sever this notion of time. So the fact that you are on a train and that you going to take 24 hours to go to Venice instead of like couple of hours and that the journey is as important as the destination and that you're going to be able to enjoy lavish dinner and parties in the train and you will be able to retire into your cabin and have this incredible sleep with the sound of a train. It's really something which you've never experienced before. So I think you say romantic and I think it's a beautiful word to use for this experience because it's really what travel represents for me. You know, it's kind of an experience which is almost imaginary. And this is what I love so much about our train journeys and this idea of slow travel and to really take the time to disconnect, to slow down, to absorb the surroundings of a place to just, you know, look at through the window and see when on that journey you cross the Dolomites, for instance, with incredible mountains, you have journeys where you go through multiple countries from France to Austria to Italy to up to Turkey. So it's like really crossing Europe and it's an imaginary but legendary travel which is a beautiful experience.

Interviewer / Host (20:08)

And yeah, our creative director, as I mentioned, Matthias Ernstberger, had quite the journey from Paris to Florence on the train. Can you describe the journey a bit and where that particular journey?

Arnaud Champenois (20:21)

Yeah. So actually on that particular journey you board the train in Paris. So it's like middle of the afternoon, you're going to go into your cabin to rest and to change. Then you will have a very nice afternoon tea with champagne. Then you will dress up. So you know, we highly encourage people to wear black tie but of course it can be like modern black tie. So very elegant and romantic to go back to your, to that world that I love.

Dan Rubenstein (20:52)

But. Jacket required.

Arnaud Champenois (20:54)

Jacket required. Then you have a great culinary experience. You can have like a nightcap at the bar with musicians. There is a piano bar, so it's always like really, really happening. Then you retire to your cabin and you have this kind of like moment in your, in your cabin to feel the movement of a train, the adventure of a as well. It's quite adventurous, that train. And then the next day you're going to wake up with a lovely brunch with lobsters and then you're going to go through fantastic landscape, arriving in his case to Tuscany and you will cross the Tuscan landscape and the hills of Tuscany and it's going to be a very special arrival near one of a hotel close to Siena, Castello di Casoli, where he stayed for I think two nights. So the beauty of these new trips that we are launching across Italy is like they're coupled with some of our legendary hotels. So of course we initially we had the Venice Saint Pernant Express going to Venice at the Cipriani Hotel, which is really a journey because you take the train, then you take the boat to reach the Cipriani. So it's really like all about this idea of travel. But we also have a journey on the Amalfi coast, going to a hotel on the Amalfi coast in Ravelo called Caruso. We have the one that your editor, our director did, which is from Paris to Tuscany to Castello di Casoli and. And yeah, this new village Atura by train, how we call them, it's like always linked to a train experience. And then on the Venice Saint Pernant Express and you reach one of our property in Italy. And the last one we are launching is the one going to Florence, where you will reach Villa San Michele in Fiesole, which is on the hills of Florence. And it's going to be volunteer big launch next year because we are completely renovating the Villa Samichele, which is an amazing property and it's going to be the big relaunch of next year in April 26th.

Interviewer / Host (23:28)

And obviously there's a lot of the journey revolves around service and food. And is there sort of a culinary point of view to these trains that might differ from kind of an ordinary

Dan Rubenstein (23:38)

sort of hotel experience? Or what is the food?

Interviewer / Host (23:42)

Someone just said what is the food like? Because so much of it revolves around that sort of cycle of dining and everything.

Arnaud Champenois (23:51)

Yeah, I think today the culinary experience on boards is different from train to train, you know, but we try to be authentic and relevant and most of the time linked to the countries we are crossing. So, for instance, French and Italian for the Venice Impressions Express or British with a twist in the Britannic explorer, more Peruvian in Peru. I think a good example is in Southeast Asia. We on the Eastern and on express we work with Andre Chong, with this incredible chef from Taiyo from Taipei, and his passion is about spices and especially pepper. And he's done this curation of a fantastic big gastronomic experience around the spices of Asia. And so we always try to Invite celebrity chef or for long term or for pop up to kind of, you know, offer a very genuine and authentic experience linked to the food of the countries we are crossing.

Dan Rubenstein (25:04)

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Interviewer / Host (26:27)

And you know, speaking of this sort of like sort of slow, romantic vision of the world, Belmont has quite the program with books, you know, which is in a very, in a very kind of like atypical way, very like non typical way that you would see and it's quite artfully done. So I was kind of. Can you explain this program for me?

Arnaud Champenois (26:48)

Yeah, I think, you know what is interesting is that for us print is back. And I'm so happy actually you're launching your. Yes, launching your magazine. Now it's the second edition because you started as a podcast and now it's becoming a print. So I think print is back. And this is something about publishing beautiful books where people can again slow down and experience a moment where they can read and touch the paper and discover like a destination in our case in, in a different way. So we have, I have with my team, we, we publish three collections of books. The first one is on contemporary photography. So I've been lucky enough to work with very, very talented photographers around the world from Francois to Rosie Marx to Jack Davidson to Chris Rods. But we also have a photo residency where we encourage young photographers from all around the world to apply. And once a year with a jury of experts, we pick one winner. And actually the winner last year was Cece Young, and she did the residency at the Castello di Cazole in Tuscany. And I will send you her book. But the way she captured whether lands, daring lands, the beauty of the. Of the region and the hotel and the food and the wine and the community is very, very, very beautiful. This year we just announced the new winner of the residency. She's Indian, and she will shoot and do a retreat in our property in Sicily at the Villa San Andrea on the beach. And she will discover the sea and the gods of ccd. Okay, so this is our first collection, which is in partnership with the Parisian publisher called RvB, and it's called Asin by, where we invite contemporary photographers from all around the world to shoot our destinations and our properties. The second collection is around cookbooks, and we partner with Apartmento, the Spanish publisher. Of course.

Interviewer / Host (29:08)

Yes, I know Nacho is over there.

Arnaud Champenois (29:10)

Course, yes, of course. So we work with them on. It's really about food and it's about terroir. And so we pick very specific destinations. We did one like the last one which we launched is El Vallejo. It's the region of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. And we really work with the best chef and contributors there. And we. Because we have a property, Casa de Serra, Nevada, and we go to farms and suppliers and we really try to understand the food and the region of the region, the food and what they cook, what they eat, what they drink. We've done one in Penong, we've done one in Campania, which is the region of the Amalfi coast, where we. They do. They produce the best mozzarella, lemon groves and, you know, and we've done one in Liguria, which is the region around Portofino, where we have the legendary Splendido. And it's also a fantastic food experience. So this is the second collection of books, cookbooks, but always with a party period around. Photography as well, where we invite great photographers to capture the. The food region through their lens. And the last collection is with Asulin. They were on your podcast very recently.

Dan Rubenstein (30:41)

Yeah.

Interviewer / Host (30:41)

Francois Lard as well.

Arnaud Champenois (30:43)

Yeah. Oh, okay. So we work with Prosper and Martin on a new collection focusing on our destinations. The first one we're launching is on Splendido, which is our legendary hotel in Portofino, just restored by Martin Brodin's ca,

Interviewer / Host (31:01)

Also on the podcast.

Arnaud Champenois (31:02)

Okay. Of course. And. And the legendary Villa Beatrice which is this incredible villa at the tip of the. Of the peninsula. And it's really beautiful. It's a villa that we are renting. It's a full buy. You can have a full buyout of a villa with five bedrooms and suite and private pool, access to the sea. It's like really an exceptional villa. One of the most beautiful villa in Italy. And the second book we are launching with the Asulin family is on Peru. So we were talking about the trains in Peru. So here it's the trains in Peru, but also the hotels in Peru. We have Monasterio and Cusco, which is an old monasterio. We have Palacio Nazarenas where we have an amazing hidden palace and we have a great chef. We have Pia Leon, I don't know if you know Pierre Leon, she's one of the best female chef in the world. And she's with us at Palacio Nazarenas. So three collections of books, photography, food and I would say heritage and legendary travel. And why we do so, it's really to connect with different audiences across the world. We want to reach different type of audiences according to their passion points. So if you're a foodie, if you are into photography or if you, you're into heritage, you can connect with us through our beautiful book collections.

Interviewer / Host (32:40)

And you know the, as you mentioned, the hotel that also owned and run by, by Belmond, the Castello di Casale, which is where Matthias stayed when he got to Italy, is also an incredible property.

Arnaud Champenois (32:52)

Can you.

Interviewer / Host (32:53)

With a really strong sense of place and, and it links up with the Orient Express so well, it joined I think Belmont around 2019, just right after the group joined LVMH. Can you tell me like what makes the property like a Belmont property?

Arnaud Champenois (33:08)

Well, most of our properties are heritage properties and we try to revamp them to make them relevant for a new generation of guests. But in that case it's really the fact that you feel at home in Tuscany and It's a restored 10th century castle. Actually it was a village initially with you know, the school, the church, the working farm producing olive oil, olive oil, wine, wheat, cheese. And we kept that spirit, you know. So this is still very much a village with different buildings. Actually this, this hotel was owned by Eduardo Visconti, which has the brother of a filmmaker, Luscino Visconti, where they hosted the lavish parties. And so there is so much history on that place. You know, like most of our hotels around the world have this kind of history and background. But you, at the same time, they are. You feel at home in the hotels. You feel something very special and very genuine. It's also our teams and our staff, they don't act. They are very proud of where they work and they are full of personality. They like to engage with our guests in a very genuine way. And our guests, a lot of times they remember their names and they come back to interact again with our teams and to have this very personal connection with our staff and our teams around the world.

Interviewer / Host (34:53)

And it's quite the relaxing sort of classical Tuscan getaway in some ways. But how would you spend a weekend there personally, if you had a good three days in the Castello di Cazale?

Arnaud Champenois (35:06)

Well, there is plenty of things to do there. First of all, you are between Siena, which is an amazing city, where you have Il Palio in July and August, which is this very impressive horse race. I think Madonna actually just experienced that for her birthday last August. You can check online, but you have fantastic wellness experiences at the hotel. You have great food. Stargazing is a very, very big thing there because the sky at night is really dark because there is no light in the countryside. So you can really experience an amazing sky. And I think this is something very, very special for walks by night, but also maybe at sunrise, like a first light experience, which can be very, very beautiful. There are lots of animals in the land, so it's a big land. So we can also experience the fauna and the flora and the beautiful of a beautiful region. And in the fall, there is something which is really important, is like truffle hunting. So you go with the dogs, walking coca spaniel, and you go and hunt for truffle black truffles, and then you bring them back to the chef and you can cook the truffles you found with the chef and have delicious pasta and amazing Italian food. So, yeah, so. And of course, the Tuscan wine. So we have incredible, you know, cellars where we have. You can experience the best Tuscan wines at the hotel. So it's. I would say it's a very complete experience between nature, culture and also gastronomy.

Interviewer / Host (37:14)

And, you know, obviously, as one of my last questions, so much of luxury travel today revolves around preserving legacy, a sense of place, storytelling, obviously, especially with these books and the sort of unrushed romantic charm we've been talking about that people feel like the world outside in 2026 generally lacks. So I'm wondering if there's some future plans for Belmond that might help us understand this sort of Moment we're in

Arnaud Champenois (37:41)

when it comes to brand programming, restoring our heritage, reinventing, reimagining, perpetuating this legendary art of travel. I think we are very dynamic as a brand. I would mention two things you mentioned contemporary, contemporary heritage. We have a fantastic hotel in Mount Nelson in Cape Town in South Africa. It's called the Mount Nelson and it's a pink hotel, completely pink. And it's a 100 years old hotel. And you know, we keep rethinking and reinventing and inventing contemporary artists to, to bring a new perspective on travel. And we are inviting this winter. Tebe Magugu, I don't know if you know him, he's like the, this incredible African fashion designers and I went to really love him. Michelle Obama is a big fan of his collections. Tebe Magugu and he's designing a suite for us and he's also opening Magugu House which is going to be part retail but part art galleries on, on site, on, on this hotel. Another big launch for us is the launch of Villa San Michele in April 26. I mentioned it earlier, but this is really an amazing property with the facade is designed by the Michelangelo school. It's an old monastery again. And it's like going to be a complete reinvention of this property with a Guerlain spa with the gardens are going to be completely reinvented as well. And so it's a perfect retreat in the heart of Florence. And it's also a place where. Which really embodies slow luxury. And slow luxury, as we said at the beginning of the call, is really our philosophy. How you invite people to discover a new path of travel, to disconnect and reconnect with nature, culture, their own self and celebrate life with their friends and their families. And I think Villa San Michele is going to really embody that. We also have a relaunch of the Copacabana palace which is also, also 100 years old in Rio de Janeiro.

Dan Rubenstein (40:14)

Okay.

Arnaud Champenois (40:15)

And we have two wings there. We have the historical wings and we have the pool wing. And we are restoring the pool wings with the best craftsmen from Brazil, lots of Amazonian marquetry which will be displayed everywhere in the building and in the rooms. And the, and the pool is going to be really the energy center of the hotel with a new bar, some retail component, a new restaurant, a dual spa, a big fitness. So it's going to be like really kind of a wellness center for the city of Rio. And we are really looking forward to relaunch the Copacabana Palace. In November 26th.

Interviewer / Host (41:00)

Well, I'm going to ask you as my last question, I'm going to ask you the most difficult question this summer. What if you had to choose one of the experiences or any property or any experience from Belmont to personally take for a week vacation this summer? Where would you go?

Arnaud Champenois (41:17)

Well, let's go back to the Venice St. Fernandes Express, I think. You take the train from Paris and you go to Venice, you discover the Cipriani. The Cipriani is actually being renovated by Peter Marino this summer where we open a complete renovated Oro restaurant. One star Michelin. We will have a new Dior spa. So it's going to be a fantastic way to rediscover Venice in one of the most famous hotel in the world. Sicily is always a good idea, I think.

Interviewer / Host (41:52)

Always a good idea.

Arnaud Champenois (41:53)

Yeah. Our properties in Taormina are great and we are revamping also the Villa Timeo, which is part of the Grand Hotel Timeo. Think the White Lotus and it's where season two was shot. And it's really very, very special destination connected to, to nature, but also to the Greek Theater next door. We have a secret passage from the hotel to the Greek theater. So it's very special. And the city of Taormina is the best view over Vietnam and, and, and the sea. So we have plenty to offer us. We have about 45 hotels, trains, safaris and boats around the world. 20 countries. So you have plenty to choose from.

Interviewer / Host (42:41)

But you would choose the Orient Express to Venice to see the new Cipriani.

Arnaud Champenois (42:46)

Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's the founding act of the brand and it's always, it's a once in a lifetime trip.

Dan Rubenstein (42:56)

Thank you to my guest Arnaud Chaupenois, as well as to everyone at Carlo Auto PR for making this episode happen. The editor of the Grand Tourist is Stan Hall. To keep this going, don't forget to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. The Grand Tourist curator@thegrandtourist.net and follow me on Instagram danrubenstein and follow the Grand Tourist on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. And leave us a rating or comment. Every little bit helps. Till next time.