Archives for posts with tag: Swimming Pool

It’s official! Palacio Nazarenas is launched

September 27, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

Last week saw the culmination of years of hard work: a spectacular party launched Palacio Nazarenas onto the Cuzco scene. The evening was filled with fireworks, fabulous food and fashions, and lots of fun. Our team welcomed over 150 guests to the hotel, including politicians, diplomats, film stars and international media.

The evening kicked off with the official cutting of the ribbon beside Cuzco’s first outdoor swimming pool, and finished with the Afro-Peruvian sounds of one of South America’s top musicians, Micky Gonzales.

The celebrations marked the conclusion of four years dedicated to restoring this beautiful building while taking it forward as a contemporary hotel. Now we turn our attention to our guests, and to ensuring that they discover all that Cuzco has to offer in an exceptional way.

So now that the hotel is fully fledged it’s time to say “goodbye” to this blog. This is the final post, as we focus all our energies on ensuring that our guests have a fantastic stay.

We’ll be leaving the blog in place for a while so that anyone who wants to discover our “back story’ can find out more. Please, come and visit us and let us turn these words and pictures into an experience to remember.

Candles illuminate the area surrounding Cuzco's first outdoor pool

Candles illuminate the area surrounding Cuzco's first outdoor pool

Vanessa Saba

Vanessa Saba

Anna Laevski, Dominika Paleta and Lorena Pérez Moya

Anna Laevski, Dominika Paleta and Lorena Pérez Moya

Eduardo Ferrero and his wife Verónica, María Rosa Arrarte

Eduardo Ferrero and his wife Verónica, María Rosa Arrarte

Mauricio Bustamante and his wife Claudia Abuid. Pedro Diez Canseco and his wife Jessika Gómez

Mauricio Bustamante and his wife Claudia Abuid. Pedro Diez Canseco and his wife Jessika Gómez

Gina Gabbard and her husband Chris, Kimberly Wilson Wetty

Gina Gabbard and her husband Chris, Kimberly Wilson Wetty

Mr. Manuel Zúñiga

Mr. Manuel Zúñiga

Fátima Arrieta and her husband Alfredo Arosemena

Fátima Arrieta and her husband Alfredo Arosemena

Vania Masías and her husband Erick Hanschke

Vania Masías and her husband Erick Hanschke

Our first week in action

June 22, 12 //
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By Laurent Carrasset, Managing Director, Peru.

Opening a new hotel is always a challenge, and nowhere more so than a heritage property like Palacio Nazarenas which we have spent many years restoring. But our exceptional team has risen to to the occasion and now it is now a week since we actually opened our doors. Over last weekend we tested the system with friends and people we know in the hotel industry. Then, on Monday our first fully-fledged guests arrived. They knew they were in for an adventure, with everything starting up around them, but I’m happy to report that we got the key elements working. For instance the water in the swimming pool heated up to the right temperature and kitchen of Senzo restaurant swung in action, with the menu by chef Virgilio Martinez getting good comments.

Cuzco's only outdoor swimming pool, heated to just the right temperature.

So, as we enter our second week, I’m delighted to confirm that we’re up and running and on course to make our mark as Cuzco’s newest luxury urban retreat.

Shooting for the stars

June 1, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager Palacio Nazarenas

Only a few days to go now! Things are gathering pace, and yes, the hotel really is happening. This was brought home to me a couple of weeks ago when a team came over from our Orient-Express head office in London to do our pre-launch photo shoot. You can see a selection of their images on our new website.

Two Adrians (Adrian Houston, Photographer, and Adrian Hulf, Creative Director) led the charge. They were joined by our Peru team. Carlos Gonzalez, who runs our Orient-Express Peru tours, deserves a special mention. He soon proved that escorting our guests requires similar skills to organising a shoot—an absolute determination to overcome hurdles and pull everything together.

Photographer Adrian Houston (far left) and his team.

Photographer Adrian Houston (far left) and his team.

The hotel was a hard hat site, so our first challenge was to arrange permission for our models to lounge by the pool without blue helmets on their heads. The builders were still tiling the pool while the team were setting up tracks for the movie camera. But they finished just in time, the water went in—and just visit the website to see the result. This was the moment that I realised that everything is falling into place—and how wonderful the pool area will be when guests arrive and bring it to life.

All photo shoots seem to take forever, but this one took even longer! Whenever someone asked for a couple of glasses to go on a table, we couldn’t just go to the restaurant and fetch them. We had to find them in the store, dig them out of packing cases and polish them up. I can hardly believe it is only a few days now before they are all actually in use.

But do visit our website and as you’ll see from our photographs, we’re nearly there. And come 15 June, we will be. Perhaps you’ll be with us too?

Palacio Nazarenas: Taking Shape

June 20, 11 //
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by Stephan Post, General Manager Hotel Monasterio and Palacio Nazarenas

Life is going into overdrive for me as I take on my new role as general manager of both Hotel Monasterio and our new Palacio Nazarenas project. One minute I am welcoming guests to the gracious surroundings of Hotel Monasterio, the next I am putting on a hard hat and stepping through the dust of what is essentially a building site next door.

But despite the wheelbarrows and handsaws scattered throughout Palacio Nazarenas, the new hotel really is taking shape. It is essentially two separate areas.

First comes the ancient convent section which you enter as soon as you step through the heavy wooden doors and into the main courtyard with its beautiful stone fountain. To the left is a chapel with an upper gallery that is being restored and transformed into a library where objects discovered during excavation work will be displayed.

Artist's impression of the new swimming pool.

Then, as you move deep inside, comes the newer section. A more modern extension to the original building, this is essentially being rebuilt to feature a cloistered patio with an infinity-edge swimming pool that will be the first of its kind in Cuzco. Nearby will be the spa, which will offer exciting Inca-inspired treatments, and the restaurant, for which we’re planning a leading-edge menu centred on organic Andean ingredients from our own community agricultural project.

There’s still a long way to go, but every day brings a new development. Stay tuned to hear more.