The new Th Roma Carpegna Palace Domus Mariae, a historic building owned by Catholic Action, has just opened as a 4-star property. The management has been entrusted for 15 years to the Th Group which recently announced ambitious development plans to create an integrated tourist hub with an annual €400-500 million turnover over the next five years. 

203 rooms, meeting rooms and a church in a private park

The new Rome hotel, a grandiose Renaissance building, has 203 rooms and is in the private Villa Carpegna park, just three kilometers from St. Peter's Square. There are several meeting rooms –one can take 550 people - two restaurants, a bar set in an old cloister, a large high-tech gym and a private church.

Th style, spirit and values in the Eternal City

“We are very pleased to have completed this operation which takes us directly into the heart of Rome,” said Graziano Debellini, President Th Group.  “The challenge is to bring the Th style, our spirit and our values to the capital​​.” 

Three PDO designation of origin products – basil, oil and wine - have shot Liguria into the national and international spotlight, and Food Ambassador by Liguria is an ambitious project that is making quality into an ambassador for a system.

Training the supply chain to promote its products

Food Ambassador by Liguria is an alliance with a business and consumer soul, aimed at raising awareness along the supply chain to the importance of bringing certified products to the table. It uses training and in-depth programmes to teach producers how to share with guests the values ​​and identities of the areas in which these products originate. It is also designed for the general public through a gamification app featuring the products and ingredients for traditional Ligurian recipes. And it will become a digital strategy campaign, using food influencers to promote the Food Ambassador by Liguria box which will contain POD oil, wine and basil, and offer food experiences in Liguria.

Promoting the Liguria region’s unique food traditions and itineraries

"Tradition, innovation and genuineness are the leitmotif of a new path for the enhancement of Ligurian PDO products, promoting training and events and creating a catalogue of thematic experiences and taste itineraries,” explains Alessandro Piana, Liguria’s Vice President for Agriculture and Territorial Marketing. “The project is called Food Ambassador by Liguria because it highlights the role producers, wineries, oil mills, farmstays, wineries, restaurants and the entire supply chain play as ambassadors for our agricultural and food traditions. The PDO oil of the Ligurian Riviera, the PDO Genoese basil and the PDO and IGP wines of the Enoteca Regionale della Liguria are all protagonists of the Milan Wine Week this October.” 

Gastronomic excellences that make Liguria a destination for all seasons

"We have launched a territorial marketing strategy involving the entire supply chain,” says Roberto Moreno, Commissioner of In Liguria. “It is an original format that can be repeated year after year and adapted to the new challenges the market faces. It replies to the ever-growing demand for unique and authentic food and wine experiences, promoting the areas where they are produced and their stories. We have identified taste itineraries to many of the hidden riches and excellences of our region. This is an exceptional experiential tourism key for making Liguria a holiday destination every day of the year.”

The Nh Group’s 58 hotels in Italy are all operational again. “And we are already seeing substantial growth. Indeed, we have been surprised by the response of some markets,” said Director of Business Development Ambra Lee Agnoletti  “In addition to the demand from Italians and neighbouring countries like Germany, Switzerland and France, we also had excellent results from the Middle East in our properties in Milan, Rome and Verona. And since last month we have also started to see some Americans, both individuals and groups, especially in Rome and Venice.” 

Even in the most difficult moments half our hotels remained open

The goal of course is to return to pre-Covid levels, when an average 40 percent of guests in Nh’s Italian properties were international. "But our Italian portfolio is particularly varied, so in some destinations with a strong leisure vocation the figure was completely overturned, with 70 -75 percent of guests from abroad," said Lee Agnoletti. Despite the pandemic, the company never stopped operating. "Even in the most difficult moments, about half our hotels remained open, and in 2021 four former Boscolo hotels in Venice, Florence and Rome were rebranded.

Italy’s first Anantara luxury hotel has opened in Rome

The first Italian Anantara luxury hotel opened in the capital, and Nh intends further expanding this urban resort formula, focusing not only on the so-called Big Four (Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice) but also on particularly appealing leisure destinations such as the Amalfi Coast. Last year also saw the inauguration of the Nh Collection Murano Villa, which will be followed in the near future by the neighbouring Nh Collection Murano, and which "has already met with considerable success for the way it brings Venice to life in a decidedly more relaxed style.”  2021 will also see the debut of a new 5-star hotel in Verona, "which is giving us great satisfaction, and will cover a segment that has been missing in Verona.”

A growing portfolio of properties in Italy 

The Nh Collection CityLife, which is expected to open in Milan in 2022, will have 185 rooms and a lobby which is in fact a deconsecrated church. There will also be a new skyscraper unit with extensive meeting spaces and a rooftop swimming pool. The 101-room Nh Buenos Aires is also scheduled to open. "And over the next few years we will be adding other properties including a 5-star in Cagliari."

The importance of working with travel agencies and consultants

Flexibility is the name of the game for Nh. “Both Italian and international guests expect us to be flexible and we have been working on an ad hoc and last-minute basis for some time. If flexibility is perhaps becoming even more important than price, travel agencies and consultants can only benefit from guests’ growing demand for professional advice, further strengthening the relationship with hotels and hotel chains.”  

Una Group continues to expand in Rome, having inaugurated the 47-room Hotel Art Unaesventure and the 110-room Empire Palace at the beginning of September, and now getting ready to open the Unahotels Trastevere, in Piazza San Cosimato in the heart of Rome in Q1 or Q2 next year,  “Thanks to these new additions,” said Managing Director Fabrizio Gaggio, “we will have a total of 453 rooms in the Eternal City, with a good representation across our brands.”

Fashion and trade fairs  generate good demand in Milan

Urban areas, he said, are beginning to show the first, albeit timid, signs of recovery. “In Milan the Super Salone and fashion have generated good demand, even if the booking window remains limited and we have to do a lot of work on the revenue management. The real question mark remains the corporate segment. Even when fully operational it will probably be around 20% below its usual levels.”   

The focus is on individual travellers and on experiential products. 

“We are focusing first on the individual traveller but we also have to work on the experiential product. So we are preparing a series of leisure packages not only dedicated to specific events, but also created ad hoc; our new Milan Verticale flagship is a clear example of multi-functionality for how it adapts flexibly to the needs of each guest.”   

Ca 'di Dio, the Vretreats Collection’s new luxury property in Venice, is located in the Castello district along the Riva degli Schiavoni and is designed by Patricia Urquiola. The 13th-century building was once a refuge for pilgrims and women in difficulty and was renovated by the famous architect Jacopo Sansovino. In 2019 it was taken over by Alpitour World who invested €25m in a total renovation.  



Decor and accessories that mirror the reflections in the lagoon

The hotel has 66 rooms, including 57 suites and nine deluxe rooms, most of which overlook the lagoon and have views of the Island of San Giorgio and the water. The rooms  feature textiles and  boiseries that frame the windows, as if to underline the relationship between the interior décor and the landscape, and they also have custom-designed lamps by master glassblowers. The project is an homage to Venice and to its past, celebrating the materials, hues and suggestions of a city that lives on the water. The colours are sober and soft, with radiant nuances and transparencies mirroring the reflections of the lagoon. After Rome and Taormina, Ca 'di Dio is the latest luxury hotel in the Voihotels brand’s Vretreats Collection. 

Norwegian Cruise Line relaunches on the Mediterranean with the Epic and the Gateway, both of which are based in Rome’s port of Civitavecchia. "After more than 500 days we are finally returning to the high seas, and today with the Gateway we can count on five operational units, three in Europe and in the Mediterranean and two in the Caribbean,” said Eamonn Ferrin, Vice President International Business.  

Strict protocols and free excursions 

The Norwegian Gateway itinerary officially restarted on 13 September. “Protocols are very strict: the crew does not go ashore and we only accept vaccinated passengers who have also had a test. This choice is paying off, and people perceive us as a place for safe holidays. The excursions are free, except in Italy where the protocol currently only provides for the bubble mode, and all on-board activities are available from the spa to the shows to live music. Even our buffets, which have been repositioned, are notable experiences.”  

The Norwegian Prima will debut in June 

“Italy is a strategic market, not only is it one of the first to restart, we also have a double boarding here.  For the future Ncl will continue investing. The new Norwegian Prima is scheduled to arrive in June 2022 and other new ships will be coming online every year up to 2026.   

Omnia Hotels is preparing for a re-launch season. With the reopening of the Imperial Hotel, the group’s historic flagship and the inauguration of the St. Martin, the group now has seven properties in Rome.  They are: the Donna Laura Palace Hotel overlooking the Tiber river in the Prati district, the Grand Hotel Fleming nestled in the heart of the Fleming Hill, the Hotel Imperiale right on Via Veneto, the Hotel Shangri La Roma in the modern EUR district, the Hotel Santa Costanza next to the mausoleum of the same name on the Via Nomentana, and the Rose Garden Palace boutique hotel on Via Boncompagni, acquired at the beginning of 2021.


Hotel Imperiale - Rome

The new Hotel St. Martin has 134 rooms and a conference centre for 200

The last in order of arrival, the Hotel St. Martin, is a new eight-storey hotel with 134 rooms and suites, a bar, restaurant, fitness area and conference center for 200. The rooms are very bright thanks to the large windows throughout, and the style is contemporary with warm tones and quality materials.  The suites with outdoor terraces on the top floor also have Jacuzzis where guests can relax as they enjoy the views over Rome. Both the Café Sidus and Sidera Restaurant are the perfect choice for relaxing or working at any time of day, and the conference center has been designed specifically for meetings and events close to Rome’s main Termini Railway Station.

“Family tradition, entrepreneurial innovation, and hospitality as a passion”

The Omnia properties embody the values of the group: family tradition, entrepreneurial innovation and hospitality as a passion, values ​​that have distinguished the brand since 2019 when it was founded by Francesco and Riccardo Lazzarini. “We are happy to be able to offer our guests all seven hotels again. They offer a range of solutions suited to different needs in various parts of the Eternal City,” said Francesco Lazzarini, CEO Omnia Hotels. "Following the opening of the new Hotel St. Martin, which has already established itself notwithstanding the difficulties of recent times, the reopening of the Hotel Imperiale in Via Veneto is very important, allowing our group to return to full operation.”