Mr. & Ms. Connoisseur | #5

Berlin, here we come! At ITB Berlin, we welcome and meet the most important players in luxury tourism. The Maldives surprise us with a new ultra-luxury resort. A pub festival in the Salzkammergut literally makes you happy. And the most unusual travel book of the year comes from Lucerne.

Hear (yourself).

The Home of Luxury (HOL) on course for success at ITB Berlin - we're there!

Meet us @Home of Luxury ! Here, in the Palais am Funkturm, premium brands, tour operators and buyers met at ITB Berlin for curated networking formats, business meetings and exchange at the highest level. This "world of sophisticated travel" had long been fully booked when the world's largest travel trade fair, ITB Berlin, opened its doors on March 3 . The Home of Luxury is THE platform for discussing current trends in the luxury travel market and making high-quality international contacts.

The luxury travel magazine Connoisseur Circle is delighted to once again be a media partner at this marketplace of the global luxury industry in 2026. Together with ITB Berlin, we welcomed and entertained our guests here, shielded from the hustle and bustle of the trade fair, with controlled access and subdued aesthetics: instead of the hustle and bustle of the hall, background discussions, instead of coffee-to-go, a busy workshop atmosphere. Those who entered felt a sense of belonging: to an exclusive area that optimally combines business, networking and high-quality encounters.

This year's success has a name: For the first time, ITB manager Katharina Rutz is in charge of the luxury line at ITB : "I am happy when our exhibitors perceive their presence positively and can enjoy their success," says Rutz with regard to "her" exhibitors. ITB Berlin itself is well aware of the rapidly growing luxury segment: as an umbrella brand, it is the only B2B platform in the world that brings together the entire tourism industry spectrum in one place.





In an interview with Connoisseur Circle, ITB Berlin CEO Deborah Rothe is convinced: "In the anniversary year of ITB Berlin, the Home of Luxury is an impressive demonstration of what our trade show has stood for for 60 years: top quality, exclusivity and encounters with sustainable added value. I am particularly excited to see how valuable relationships grow here and how good conversations lead to concrete cooperation. As the central platform for luxury tourism, we create a stylish setting that does justice to this dynamically growing market and brings people, brands and ideas together in a unique way.

Viewed.

Is there a higher level of luxury? If so, then here.

Local inspection in the Indian Ocean. The expectations for a new, ultra-luxury private island resort called .HERE (pronounced: dotHere) are correspondingly high. Two small islands, developed as a top-class "jewel" of the renowned sister resort Finolhu in the Baa Atoll, are set to define "a new level of exclusive island culture" in the Maldives. Can the developers' ambitions live up to the highest expectations?





The vision for their .HERE comes from the owner siblings Gregor and Anoushka Gerlach, who founded the Seaside Collection in 2019 from their father Theo's small, fine hotel collection. From the company headquarters in Hamburg, they are now responsible for ten exquisite hospitality gems in Germany, Spain and the Maldives. They also operate three award-winning river cruise ships on the Rhône, Rhine and Danube under the Riverside Luxury Cruises brand. The fact is that there are proven luxury insiders at work.

With .HERE, they are now presenting their most ambitious project to date: a two-private island ensemble worth around 50 million dollars with exceptional consistency. The resort is divided into Somewhere - seven ultra-luxurious two- and three-bedroom villas for discerning cosmopolitans - and Nowhere , an exclusive island with one three- and one five-bedroom villa, which can only be booked as a complete ensemble and guarantees maximum privacy.





The first WOW moment is not long in coming: After a stylish, three-minute yacht transfer from Finolhu , guests arrive directly at the jetty of their own villa on the island of Somewhere . Resort manager Elina and private butler Asif greet guests with a welcome drink - discreetly, personally and without any check-in formalities.another highlight is revealed in the two-storey private villa itself. The exterior is an elongated wooden building with a palm tree roof in classic Maldivian style, while the interior is a surprisingly modern designer statement: playful wall installations made from natural materials, a circular seating area set into the floor in the living area, a fully equipped bar and a professional kitchen for the private chef.





On the upper floor, two bedrooms provide a perfect retreat. One of them floats spectacularly above the lagoon and impresses with a free-standing, pink bathtub as an iconic eye-catcher. The second bedroom offers an unobstructed view of the beach and open sea. An extraordinary 60-metre-long mosaic pool spans between them, which merges into further terrace pools at both ends as a waterfall - an architectural masterpiece.

The ingenious concept of .HERE: Guests do not have to choose between beach or pool villa, sunrise or sunset . Each villa casually combines all of this. The interior of the ensemble was conceived and designed by the renowned designer Inge Moore, founder of the London studio Muza Lab, who blended the most precious materials with casual island charm to create a harmonious whole. The spectacular open-air restaurant and bar Afar, whose curved white roofs and bold design are an experience in themselves, also deserves great acclaim. Situated at the intersection of the two islands, Afar is the stage for Greek chef Georgios, who stages a cosmopolitan, brilliant cuisine. One of his masterpieces: the pomelo salad. You'd be hard pressed to find a better one even in Thailand. The smart and internationally trained Greek easily manages to lure the guests of Somewhere out of the private seclusion of their villas - and make their island happiness perfect.





"With .HERE, we have created a new dimension. There is nothing like it in the Maldives," says owner Gregor Gerlach. It's hard to disagree - even if we've only been able to experience half of the HERE universe so far: Nowhere Island was still being completed at the time of our visit.

Loved.

The inn as a way of life - happiness on Lake Traunsee

When Lake Traunsee shows itself in its best light in spring, a special culinary format in the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut invites you to a meeting place for insiders. The FELIX festival brings traditional tavern culture into the contemporary - and not only that: Celebrated by the best chefs from near and far, the Traunsee-Almtal region will be the stage for more than twenty gourmet events from 19 March to 31 May 2026 - from down-to-earth classics to finely chiselled gourmet cuisine, always supported by regional craftsmanship, well thought-out and impeccable ingredients and a very personal approach to hosting. The latter is primarily thanks to the initiator couple of FELIX, who have awakened the idyllic village of Traunkirchen from its slumber: Wolfgang and Monika Gröller . Here, hotelier Gröller carefully highlights the region's culinary treasures without "riding roughshod over" traditions: the result is not a stiff stroll for "Zugroasts", but a festival that allows proximity - to the landscape, to producers, to kitchens and experts who can tell stories.





In 2026, the motto of the program is "Women shaping taste": Curtain up for female chefs and gourmets who show their signature style - for example at the Kranabethhütte on the Feuerkogel , where culinary delights range from alpine to Japanese-inspired ideas. "Ryokan am Feuerkogel" invites you to enjoy the culinary delights of the two Japanese chefs Risa and Yumi on March 20 and 21 (from 4 pm). The Kranabethhütte will be transformed into an alpine ryokan, minimalist, warm and open.

Further culinary highlights: Chef Parvin Razavi celebrates "A feast for vegetables" on April 11, 2026. The culinary artist is bringing her cuisine, which is characterized by Persian roots, migration and a deep love of vegetables, to the Belétage. Together with the team, she creates a relaxed chef's choice sharing menu in which vegetables play the leading role.

On April 25, 2026, at Poststube 1327, Theresia Palmetzhofer shows what modern upscale restaurant cuisine sounds like: classically rooted, multi-award-winning and at the same time interpreted in a contemporary way.

What we particularly like about FELIX in these sometimes melancholy times: at Wolfgang Gröller's FELIX, "the no-worries feeling" is particularly experienced when eating and drinking together. Or, quite programmatically: "Life is wonderful".

All FELIX events with the Gröller family can be booked at
www.groellerhospitality.com/wirtshausfestival-felix

Read.

A "wacky" book - and a joke

We haven't amused ourselves to death for a long time. Multimedia overkill and permanent machine accessibility are well and truly out, digital detox is the new salvation for the mind. Consequently, a journey for pleasure - as decelerated as possible - is the great personal reward, the time-out, the adventure, the escape from all constraints and obligations. But how do we deal with the fear of missing out?

In his new book ABGEFAHREN ( Reisen zum Vergnügen - Konstanz University Press), historian and essayist Valentin Gröbner shows a thoughtful but also ironic side to this. His book is not a travelogue, but a diagnosis: for him, being on the road today means above all gliding through standardized spaces - whether in Greek parking lots, in the shadow of melting glaciers, on the dream beaches of the Peloponnese and the Atlantic coast or with best agers on a wellness vacation in Sri Lanka. The traveler appears less as an explorer than as part of a system that steers, accelerates and holds him at the same time.

What does freedom mean when every route is predetermined? What remains of the promise of being on the road when surprise becomes the exception?

Abgefahren is a book against the glorification of travel. It exposes modern mobility as a paradoxical promise - limitless and standardized at the same time. Anyone familiar with the promise of luxury tourism to offer one-time-in-a-lifetime experiences will understand their customers (even) better after reading Gröbner's essays: Being on the road in a time when everything seems accessible at all times only promises enjoyment if the focus is on the uniqueness of an experience. On the subject of travel dreams, we also discovered the famous icing on the cake in this volume - and had a good laugh. A couple in their sixties stroll along the beach. The proverbial good spirit appears and asks for their wishes. I would like, she says," a camper van with heating and air conditioning and a designer kitchen so we can go anywhere". Snip - and there you are with that precious thing. "And you?" The good spirit turns to the man. "I want a woman with whom I can go on all the trips I've always wanted to take and who is 20 years younger than me." No problem, says the ghost. He snaps his fingers again and the man is already twenty years older. That's how it can work!