St. Regis Opens in Budapest With a Palace Hotel Aimed at Luxury Travelers and River Cruise Extensions

Marriott International has expanded its Greek luxury footprint with the opening of Amoh, a Luxury Collection Resort, Rhodes, marking the brand’s debut on the island. Set above the Mediterranean on Kavos Beach in Pefki, near Lindos, the resort enters Rhodes at a moment when high-end hospitality in Greece continues to spread beyond the best-known islands and into destinations with deeper year-round cultural weight.

For Marriott, the opening is less about adding another beach resort and more about extending The Luxury Collection’s “sense of place” formula into one of the eastern Aegean’s most storied landscapes.

That positioning is central to the project. Amoh is built beside a Hellenistic-Roman limestone quarry, and the resort’s design leans heavily on that archaeological context. London-based Studio Lost used stonework, mineral tones, sculptural surfaces, and locally rooted material references to create a resort that feels intentionally tied to Rhodes rather than transplanted onto it. The result is a softer, more restrained interpretation of Greek island luxury, one that emphasizes tactile design and heritage over spectacle.

A New Luxury Base Near Lindos

The resort includes 197 rooms and suites, with a mix of sea-view accommodations, private-pool options, and higher-end suite categories. At the top of the range is the Rhoda Presidential Suite, which includes a separate living room and bedroom, a large private terrace, and direct access to a private pool. The broader accommodation design follows the same philosophy as the public spaces: contemporary, quietly refined, and rooted in the natural palette of the island.

Location is a major part of the appeal. Pefki sits close to Lindos, one of Rhodes’ strongest tourism draws, but offers a more secluded coastal environment than the island’s busier resort zones. The property also has access to two sandy beaches, Kavos Beach and Kymata Beach, both within walking distance from the core of the resort.

That combination of relative privacy and proximity to a major cultural landmark gives Amoh an advantage in a Greek market where travelers increasingly want both beach access and a stronger destination story.

Dining and Wellness as Core Pillars

Marriott is also using food and wellness to define the resort’s identity. Amoh opens with eight restaurants and bars, ranging from the Mediterranean-led Lithos Main Restaurant to Cava di Pietra for Italian dining, Glaze Meat Restaurant, Kymata Seafood Restaurant, and more relaxed options such as The AMOH Lounge, Isle Pool Bar, and AMOHNITE Beach Bar. There is also Oniro Patisserie, which adds a more local, craft-driven pastry layer to the culinary offer.

The resort is trying to go beyond straightforward dining with immersive touches such as a daily Olive Grove Experience, where guests sample six infused olive varieties, and a weekly Sunset Aperitivo centered on Greek small plates served around a firepit. These are small details, but they support the wider idea that Amoh is selling Rhodes through curated experiences as much as through room categories.

On the wellness side, the signature Elispa spa uses natural Greek ingredients such as olive oil, orange extracts, Cretan raki, mineral salts, and herbs. Facilities include six treatment rooms, a steam bath, sauna, and hair and nail salon, alongside a 220-square-meter Technogym fitness center, reformer Pilates with virtual training, tennis courts, and indoor and outdoor pools.

Why This Opening Matters for Rhodes

Amoh’s launch also says something broader about Rhodes. For years, the island has had strong tourism infrastructure but a less distinct position in the ultra-luxury conversation than Santorini, Mykonos, or even Crete. Marriott’s entry through The Luxury Collection helps shift that perception. It presents Rhodes not just as a mass-market summer island, but as a destination where heritage, landscape, and premium hospitality can work together at a different level.

For Marriott, Amoh strengthens an already growing Greece portfolio. For Rhodes, it adds a new kind of luxury resort – one that is trying to feel more archaeological, more grounded, and more quietly sophisticated than the usual island formula.

Minor Hotels is moving further beyond the traditional hotel model, using private jet journeys and curated itineraries to push deeper into the fast-growing experiential luxury segment.

Through its travel experiences platform and Anantara-branded private jet offerings, the group is packaging hotels, transport, and destination programming into a broader high-end travel proposition rather than treating accommodation as the end product. The strategy is clear: luxury travelers increasingly want seamless, highly designed journeys, and hotel companies want a larger share of that spend.

On its travel experiences platform, Minor already groups together several premium products under one umbrella, including private jet travel, luxury rail in Vietnam, river cruising in Thailand, and Mekong journeys in Laos and Thailand.

The private jet element is the most striking because it turns the company’s hotel footprint into the backbone of multi-stop itineraries rather than single-destination stays. The messaging is explicitly about tailor-made travel, with destinations ranging from the Maldives and Africa to Southeast Asia, and with itineraries that can be adjusted around guest preferences.

Hotels Are Becoming the Anchor for Bigger Luxury Journeys

This matters because the luxury market is shifting from property-led selling to journey-led selling. Instead of choosing one resort and building a trip around it, wealthy travelers are increasingly buying into a connected experience where flights, transfers, accommodations, and local access feel integrated from the start.

Minor appears to be building exactly for that audience. Its private jet offering includes curated journeys such as Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Middle East-to-Africa combinations, all centered around destinations where the group already has strong brand presence.

That gives the company a strategic advantage. Unlike standalone travel designers, Minor can direct guests into its own luxury brands and properties along the way, deepening revenue capture across the whole trip. It also helps the company present itself less as a hotel operator and more as a full-spectrum luxury travel curator. In today’s premium travel market, that distinction matters.

Travelers at the top end are looking for exclusivity, convenience, and a strong narrative, not just high thread counts and good room service. Minor’s newer product framing shows that it understands the value now lies in orchestration as much as in hospitality itself.

The White Lotus Angle Shows How Lifestyle Travel Fits the Strategy

The strongest example of how Minor is blending hospitality, media, and aspirational travel is Anantara’s “The White Lotus Exploration,” an eight-night private jet itinerary through Bangkok, Koh Samui, and Phuket.

The product ties directly into locations associated with The White Lotus Season 3 while anchoring the trip in Anantara properties and branded experiences. That is more than a themed package. It is a way of converting pop-cultural interest into premium bookable travel, while reinforcing Anantara’s position as a lifestyle-driven luxury brand.

The larger takeaway is that Minor Hotels is not just adding a flashy transport option. It is reshaping how its brands fit into the luxury ecosystem. Private jets, trains, river cruises, and cinematic itineraries all point in the same direction: a hotel group trying to own more of the traveler journey from inspiration to arrival. In a luxury market where differentiation is increasingly about access and storytelling, that may prove more valuable than simply adding another resort.

Ryanair is planning a major retrenchment in Berlin, announcing that it intends to close its seven-aircraft base there on October 24, 2026, and reduce its flight schedule to and from the German capital by 50 percent.

The move would cut Ryanair’s Berlin traffic from around 4.5 million passengers to roughly 2.2 million in 2027 and remove more than 2 million seats a year from the market. For one of Europe’s biggest low-cost carriers, it is a sharp statement about what it sees as Germany’s growing lack of competitiveness in aviation.

The airline says the decision is a direct response to rising costs at Berlin Airport and in the German aviation market more broadly. According to Ryanair, Berlin’s airport fees have risen by 50 percent since the pandemic, with another 10 percent increase scheduled between 2027 and 2029.

At the same time, the airline argues that Germany’s aviation tax, security fees, and air traffic control charges have all moved sharply higher. In Ryanair’s telling, that combination has made Berlin structurally unattractive compared with other European airports and countries that are lowering costs or abolishing aviation taxes entirely.

Berlin Flights Cut, Aircraft Reassigned Elsewhere

Ryanair says all seven aircraft currently based in Berlin will be reallocated to lower-cost airports in other European markets, including countries such as Sweden, Slovakia, Albania, and Italy. The carrier will still serve Berlin, but with aircraft based outside Germany. That means Berlin will remain on the map, just with far less capacity and weaker frequency than before.

The cuts are expected to affect UK links as well, including routes involving London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh. For travelers, the practical effect will likely be fewer options, less schedule flexibility, and potentially firmer fares on remaining services. For Berlin, the move is more symbolic. Ryanair has called the airport one of Europe’s weakest performers, pointing to traffic that remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

The airline also says staff consultations are beginning, though it added that Berlin-based pilots and cabin crew would be offered opportunities elsewhere in its network. That softens the labor message somewhat, but the commercial point remains clear: Ryanair no longer sees Berlin as a place where it can profitably base aircraft under the current cost structure.

A Wider Warning About Germany’s Aviation Model

The Berlin decision also fits a bigger Ryanair narrative about Germany. The airline says it has already closed bases in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Stuttgart since 2019, while also ending flights to Dresden, Leipzig, and Dortmund. In its view, Germany has failed to reform a high-tax, high-cost aviation model that is costing the country traffic, jobs, connectivity, and investment.

Whether one agrees with Ryanair’s rhetoric or not, the move highlights a real tension in the European airline market. Low-cost carriers are highly mobile and increasingly willing to shift aircraft to airports and countries offering better economics. Berlin, despite its size and political importance, is not immune to that logic.

For Ryanair, the base closure is framed as network discipline: aircraft will go where costs are lower and growth prospects are better. For Berlin, it is a reminder that in today’s aviation market, airport relevance depends not just on demand, but on whether airlines believe the math still works.

Connect Barbados 2026 is set to return this June as the island’s flagship tourism trade event, bringing together international buyers, travel advisors, tour operators, airlines, cruise partners, media, and local tourism businesses for several days of meetings, networking, and destination experiences. Organized by Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., the event will take place at the Hilton Barbados Resort from June 23 to 26, with arrivals and welcome activities beginning on June 22.

This year’s theme, Rooted in Culture, Powered by Partnership, gives the event a clear identity. Connect Barbados is designed not only as a business marketplace, but also as an immersive introduction to the island itself. Delegates can expect a schedule that mixes formal appointments and industry sessions with beachfront receptions, local music, culinary showcases, and curated site visits.

The event is being positioned as a place where international partners can meet local stakeholders while also gaining a stronger sense of Barbados as a destination.

Meetings, Networking, and Awards

The event begins with arrival days over the weekend, followed by registration at the Hilton Barbados Resort on June 22 and a welcome reception that evening. The beachfront event, themed Rooted in Culture, will introduce delegates to Barbados through live performances, local artisans, Bajan cuisine, and sunset networking by the sea. It sets the tone for an event that wants to feel both commercially useful and distinctly local.

The formal business program starts on June 23 with breakfast and an opening session featuring remarks from tourism leaders and policymakers, along with presentations and discussions on the future of Barbados tourism. From there, the conference moves into one of its core elements: pre-scheduled B2B meetings between international buyers and local tourism suppliers.

These one-on-one appointments are meant to drive real business outcomes, helping overseas partners connect directly with hotels, attractions, villa operators, and other tourism businesses on the island.

Those meetings continue into June 24, giving the event a strong trade focus across two full days. That evening, delegates will head to Harbour Lights for the Connect Barbados Media and Trade Awards, which will recognize tourism storytelling, photography, and strong partner performance. The awards night is designed as both a celebration and a networking opportunity, pairing recognition with entertainment and a more social atmosphere.

Culture and Product Experience Beyond the Ballroom

The final day of the event shifts the focus from meetings to the destination itself. On June 25, delegates will take part in a Villa and Attractions Day, leaving the Hilton for a curated program of site visits that showcases the wider tourism product. These tours are intended to help attendees experience Barbados beyond the conference venue and understand the island’s appeal in a more direct, practical way.

That balance between business and immersion is what makes Connect Barbados more than a standard conference. It is a trade event, but it is also structured as a hosted destination experience. Delegates are not only being asked to sit through presentations and scheduled meetings. They are being shown the island through food, music, settings, and product visits that give more depth to the commercial conversations.

For attendees, the value lies in how much can be covered in a few days: networking, structured business appointments, policy insight, cultural events, and on-the-ground product exposure. For Barbados, the event is a concentrated way to present its tourism offer to the people most likely to sell, market, or shape demand for the destination in the months ahead.