2025 promises to be a big year for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Asia.
Part of the global hospitality group Accor, Fairmont is bringing its historic legacy of exceptional properties and personalised service to the region to transform the hotel landscape with five new openings in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and India.
Building on Fairmont’s well-established presence and strength in the Americas and Europe, the brand now looks eastwards for the next step of its evolution. “Our ambition is to strengthen Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ position as a global leader in luxury hospitality. Our first step outside the Americas came in 2008 with the opening of Fairmont Dubai, and since then, we’ve steadily expanded across the Middle East and Europe,” Omer Acar, CEO of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, tells Robb Report Hong Kong. “In 2025, we are focused on new openings and expansion, many of them in Asia. […] In Asia, we already have hotels in Singapore, South Korea, and India and it is particularly exciting when we can introduce Fairmont Hotels & Resorts into new destinations.”
Among the five new hotels in the pipeline for the brand, Mumbai was the first to open its doors this year, welcoming guests starting from April. Inspired by the glamorous Art Deco period that characterised New York in the 1920s and 1930s, the property puts a modern spin on historic elegance coupled with contemporary luxury, featuring 446 rooms and suites, a standalone floor dedicated to holistic wellness and longevity treatments, an expansive multipurpose event space spanning 75,000 square feet—one of the largest in the city—and five F&B concepts ranging from Indian to Sichuan, Cantonese, Mediterranean, and Indo-French flavours, and more. “Fairmont Mumbai stands out for me because, as we can already see, it is redefining hospitality in the city. With some of the largest and most refined event spaces in Mumbai, it’s poised to become a true social epicentre and I look forward to seeing all the unforgettable celebrations and meaningful moments that will unfold there,” Acar shares.
Fairmont Tokyo in the Shibaura district, which had its first guests at the start of July, is another new property that is close to Acar’s heart, and is poised to become a favourite among dog lovers, too—Serene, a Labrador Retriever and the chief happiness officer of the hotel, plays a key role in welcoming visitors. Canine ambassadors and resident pups have long been a familiar sight at select Fairmont hotels around the world, and Fairmont Tokyo is determined to uphold the tradition as the brand enters a new era.
Dining is, as expected, a major highlight of the experience, with seven outlets specialising in French, Japanese, and Mediterranean cuisines. “Fairmont Tokyo is our [latest] opening and marks our debut in Japan, which is a milestone we’re incredibly proud of. I’m especially excited about the hotel’s approach to dining experiences. Off Record, our intimate listening bar, is something really special. It captures the essence of Tokyo’s underground bar culture, with vinyl, rare spirits, and a moody, immersive atmosphere that’s unlike anything we’ve done before. And then there’s Migiwa and Totsuji, which are two venues that honour Japanese culinary traditions while reimagining them with bold creativity and refined technique,” says Acar.
Melbourne-based Bar Studio captures the vibrancy of local craftsmanship and artistic heritage, incorporating traditional techniques such as kintsugi and weaving into the fabric of the interior design philosophy. Similarly, the layout of the 217 rooms take inspiration from architectural features such as the Japanese engawa veranda.
Fairmont Udaipur Palace follows closely behind, and Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit and Fairmont Hanoi are slated to open this year as well, scheduled for November 2025. Both are designed to serve as visual and experiential odes to their respective cities, capturing the unique heritage charms of the colourful urban centres through interiors that serve as a window to the past. “Asia is a region of immense opportunity,” Acar affirms. “Rapid economic growth, rising affluence, a growing appetite for luxury, and a new generation of discerning travellers make this the right moment for expansion. With a strong domestic tourism base and increasing demand for experience-led hospitality, we see tremendous potential to bring the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand to a wider audience while continuing to uphold our legacy of excellence.” He continues, “While Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a storied name globally, in some parts of Asia, we are still relatively new [and] that presents a powerful opportunity: we’re bringing something fresh to the market while introducing travellers to a brand with a rich legacy. We believe Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is well-positioned to meet this moment by combining extraordinary hospitality with a strong sense of place allowing us to create memorable experiences that resonate deeply with discerning Asian travellers.”
While Fairmont’s growth plan in Asia is ambitious, the locations and cities for the 2025 openings were carefully chosen by the brand for the greatest impact. “Importantly, we’re not expanding for scale—we’re expanding with intent,” Acar explains. “We are highly selective about where we grow, choosing only destinations where we can truly deliver on our promise of becoming a social epicentre. Each new hotel is carefully considered, ensuring it reflects the unique character of its location while upholding the global standards of service, thoughtful hospitality, and authenticity that define the Fairmont experience.” In India alone, the brand is adding four more hotels to its portfolio, with Fairmont Udaipur Palace set to launch within the year and others in the near future. Acar expands upon the fact that these openings “reflect our strategic focus on gateway cities and cultural hubs where Fairmont Hotels & Resorts can deliver meaningful, memorable experiences that celebrate the spirit of each destination.”
Building upon the new properties, Fairmont also concurrently paid homage to its long history with the “Make Special Happen” campaign, supported by the launch of a cinematic story directed by award-winning filmmaker Jean-Claude Thibaut. Channelling the nostalgic charm of a classic film, the creative is inspired by the legacy of the brand. “We are embracing Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ heritage as host to storied celebrations and history-making moments. […] Fairmont hotels have long been the backdrop for some of the world’s most extraordinary occasions […] [and the] campaign celebrates bringing this tradition to life for a new generation of discerning travellers, while our hotels remain social epicentres that blend genuine encounters with the pulse of the destination, creating vibrant spaces where communities gather, moments are turned into special memories, and history continues to be made,” Acar shares.
“In a world where exceptional service, beautiful settings, and world-class amenities are baseline expectations for luxury travellers, we had to ask ourselves what truly differentiates Fairmont Hotels & Resorts,” says Acar. “Our heritage is unique; only seven global hospitality brands can claim a history of over 100 years, of which Fairmont is one. We have to figure out a way to celebrate our storied past, building upon it, in order to be relevant for the luxury traveller of today and tomorrow.”
He continues, “Our guests and clients feel passionately that staying with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts makes them feel ‘special.’ We decided to double down on this, building into new service culture training, to ensure that every colleague worldwide is equipped to create special moments for our guests. […] It was important for us to demonstrate that ‘making special happen’ isn’t just about major galas and events, but it’s also about making every moment of every day special in its own way. We are true advocates of the belief that luxury is not one-size-fits-all—that’s why we see every interaction with our guests as an opportunity to surprise.”
All images courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
