Luxury travelers

LMS
By Deng Zhangyu| China Daily| Updated: April 14, 2014

For frequent travelers, a high-quality suitcase and fancy hotels guarantee a comfortable journey. The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts recently cooperated with Rimowa, a luxury luggage retailer, launching a limited edition of custom suitcases designed by Chinese actor Chen Kun in Shanghai.

As the Luxury Collection has opened five hotels in Shanghai, Tianjin, Sanya in Hainan province and Dalian in Liaoning province, each hotel has its own customized Rimowa Topas suitcase based on the color and logo of the individual hotels.

The Rimowa suitcase designed for The Astor Hotel in Tianjin, for instance, is inspired by the hotel's logo of a sailing boat, which is in honor of the founding father who arrived at Tianjin by boat to build the hotel a century ago.

The one designed for the Royal Begonia, the Luxury Collection Resort in Sanya, has a pattern of begonia as its logo because a woman named Begonia sacrificed herself 1,000 years ago to save the fishermen living in the place where the hotel is built, says Chen, the designer of all five styles of Rimowa suitcases.

"I'm always encouraging people to explore the world by traveling and walking. And the custom suitcase paired with the luxury hotel meets travelers' needs for high-quality traveling," says the actor, who initiated the annual event "Power of Walking" in 2011.

Talking about the crossover cooperation with Rimowa, Meredith Dichter, director of global marketing for the Luxury Collection, says they are devoted to providing a special experience for travelers at different destinations since each hotel has been built to integrate local culture.

"We hope to cooperate with other brands in China and invite influential figures in various areas to share with us their traveling stories," Dichter says.

"As Chinese people travel more across the world, we'll launch more projects to offer better service for them," Dichter adds.

The limited edition of custom Rimowa Topas is open for orders from travelers from any hotels of the Luxury Collection until June 27, priced at 8,991 yuan ($1,446). People will get their suitcases by the end of July.

In the next three years, the Luxury Collection plans to open six more hotels in China.

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn

 

Actor ChenKun has designed a limited edition of Rimowa suitcases. Provided to China Daily