Mr & Mrs Smith

We'd love to highlight a wonderful hotelier doing interesting things. If there’s anyone who understands the healing power of spending time reconnecting with nature, it’s Federico Galligani, General Manager at Oasyhotel. Set in the leafy heart of Tuscany’s Dynamo Oasis Nature Reserve, the lodge has made the preservation and celebration of the natural world its raison d’être, and has just added forest bathing to its roster of restorative back-to-basics experiences. Forest bathing is rooted in the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which was popularised in the 1980s as an antidote to radically increasing urbanisation. The practice is meditative, sensorially immersive and, thanks to the health-enhancing compounds emitted by many plants and trees, aromatherapeutic. At very least, it’s an opportunity to step outside the pressures of life for a moment, slow down, and breathe in. If you’re keen to take the plunge into your own forest bath, Oasyhotel isn’t the only boutique hotel inviting you to dip your toes. You could also try: 🌲 Hotel Saltus in South Tyrol 🌳 Vocabolo Moscatelli | Boutique Hotel & Restaurant in Umbria 🍃 Shishi-Iwa House in Nagano, Japan Given the pressures our forests are under, the opportunity to spend time truly appreciating these wonderful spaces is not to be squandered. So come on in, the forest’s lovely.

And, just like that, it’s ski season already. Here at Mr & Mrs Smith, we’ve stopped looking longingly at pics of beaches, poolsides and margaritas, and started hankering for blazing open fires, timber-led interior decor, and menus that are heavily skewed towards hot liquid cheese. And, of course, spas. If, like us, you’re a sucker for the slopes, an aficionado of the aprés, and a fan of a hot tub in a snow flurry, we’ve collated a shortlist of our absolute favourite ski-hotel spa experiences. This season’s spa highlights include: 🌲 Forest bathing in the Dolomites, courtesy of My Arbor - Plose Wellness Hotel; 📻 Post-piste massages and radio-frequency recovery treatments at Lefay Resorts & Residences in Trentino; 🏔 Alpine honey and mountain salt body scrubs at The Cambrian Adelboden in the Swiss ski chalet town of Adelboden; 🛁 A traditional hay bath at Lagació Hotel Mountain Residence in South Tyrol; ⚫ Floating in pitch darkness in Iceland’s Troll Peninsula, thanks to Deplar Farm’s I-Sopod flotation tanks. Pick up your winter wellness prescription here: https://lnkd.in/ess8AJRA

One of the highlights of working life for our Smith24 team is the opportunity to experience Mr & Mrs Smith hotels first-hand – in other words, to travel the world, check into the world’s most extraordinary places, snoop around the suites, taste-test the dining options, discover the hidden treasures of the local area – and to legitimately get to call it all ‘work’. Last week, the team landed back from such a trip to Switzerland, where they spent time getting to know the glamour-drenched GRACE LA MARGNA ST MORITZ – just in time for the new ski season. S24 Manager Clementine Frost has the responsibility of planning these trips and ensuring they’re as useful to our members as they are fun for the team. We asked her how the trip went – here’s what she said: ‘Our S24 trips are a special part of the year for us. It's such a delight spending a few days working and relaxing together in a Smith hotel – especially one as impressive as Grace La Margna St Moritz. Highlights this year included an Alpine hike, delicious group dinners in the hotel’s three restaurants, and waking up to a proper winter-wonderland snowscape on our last day. A personal highlight for me was realising how close the team are when we're all together. Given that we work remotely, the connection and friendships the team develop are really special, and partly thanks to these trips. It was also rather fun to hear the team booking stays at Grace on the phone with Smith members while sitting in the actual hotel!’ A big thank you to all the team at the hotel that helped put this trip together. #boutiquehotels #lifeintravel #travel

World Mental Health day To mark World Mental Health Day and the Mental Health Foundation, we’re doing one tiny thing to lift the pressure. Today, our teams at Mr & Mrs Smith are taking the day off. As a distributed team, we take wellbeing very seriously and live the ethos that success is not about the hours you put in, but the outcomes we achieve. When you work in a fully remote business, it can be difficult to build effective divisions between work and life and to manage time away from your desk without guilt creeping in. Contrary to the oft-vaunted opinions of the come-to-the-office corporate club, team members working from home can often feel wedded to their work in ways that their commuting colleagues don’t always. A one-day break isn’t going to fix this, of course, and it’s not going to miraculously save anyone who is struggling. But it’s a step towards acknowledging and alleviating the pressures we all face in the modern world of work. Other measures we have in place include: 👐 Days off for volunteering 🧠 Monthly one-on-one personal coaching sessions 🧘♀️ Breathwork and yoga during working hours 🍃 Free access to the Headspace app 💲 Financial health learning sessions – because worrying about your finances is not good for your mental health We know there’s much more we can do, so we’re always interested in hearing what sort of practices and policies other organisations put in place. What does your organisation do to support mental health? #WMHD2024

Thanks to Klaus Oegerli of Travelnews AG for taking the time to speak to our CEO Tamara Lohan MBE about the world of boutique travel and the story of Mr & Mrs Smith. The in-depth and wide-ranging interview covers the full gamut from the birth of the business to the travel trends of today, taking in our approach to curation, our stewardship of our brand, our relationships with hotels, and our plans for the future. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eY3mHbyr #business #travel #boutiquehotels

Welcome and thank you to all the BookVisit team! So happy to have you as partners.

The 48-hour city Is it possible to get your head around the heart of city in just one weekend? The short answer is ‘no’, but that should never stop you from trying. Mr & Mrs Smith’s editorial team of seasoned city-breakers have just introduced a new series of snack-size guides designed to show travellers how to squeeze the most out of a two-day stay in some of the world’s most beautiful cities. Taking you from the thrill-out fun of Friday night to the chill-out vibes of Sunday evening, via under-the-radar cultural highlights, each one is stuffed to the gills with all the insider information you expect from Smith – what to see, where to stay, and the best spots to drink, dine and hang out, avoiding the crowds. Whether you’re planning a tapas tour of Barcelona, looking to make a splash in Bath, eyeing up avante garde galleries in Athens, or hungry for the best bites in Porto, you’ll find what you need. Check out the full ’48 hours in…’ series on our site in the editorial section.

Very proud to showcase our new alliance with Under Canvas Inc. From the towering redwoods and vertiginous rock faces of Yosemite, to the red-rock desert of Lake Powell Grand Staircase, the forest lakelands of Glacier to the scenic seascapes of Acadia, America’s National Parks contain some of the world’s most spellbinding topography. And there’s nowhere better to experience these greatest of outdoors than from the very heart of them. Under Canvas provides the opportunity to do precisely that, giving Mr & Mrs Smith members access to 13 extraordinary outdoor resorts, outside the most iconic national parks and outdoor destinations across the US. Offering luxurious tented suites, spectacular surroundings, all the thrills of alfresco living beneath the stars, and (s’)more(s), these safari-style stays are just the thing to shake the city out of your head and get back to nature in style. A big thank you to the team at Under Canvas for your help and collaboration in getting the new collection live on the site. Check out the collection and pick your park #boutiquehotels #adventuretravel #thegreatoutdoors

Our very own Aimee H. took to the stage at a Spark Session this week at PURE to discuss the importance of maintaining brand identity, culture and values following an acquisition. She shone (of course!) and was in great company on the panel with Damia Boudress and George Filippidis and expertly moderated by Laura McGowan. Thank you to the team at Pure for the opportunity #PURE2024 #ChangeWorlds #boutiquehotels

Delighted to welcome these wonderful hotels to our collection!