Mandarin Oriental Hotels Group has a small worldwide footprint that allows for the management company to maintain a high standard of luxury. With a limited number of hotels in the portfolio, it’s no small announcement whenever a new property joins the brand.
The newest hotel to become a Mandarin Oriental will be the Casta Diva Resort & Spa, Lake Como, which will close for a renovation and reopen as the Mandarin Oriental, Lake Como in the Spring of 2019. The hotel will be the brand’s second property in Italy, complementing the existing Milan property, and it will also be the first Mandarin Oriental Resort in Western Europe.
Like many hotels surrounding Lake Como, the hotel is a conversion of a private estate. The original house was built in the 19th Century and is purported to be where composer Vincenzo Bellini wrote the operas Norma and La Sonnambula. The estate was converted to a hotel in 2000 and will continue to operate as Casta Diva until the renovation closure.
When reopened, the Mandarin Oriental Lake Como will have 76 rooms and suites spread across the resort’s nine villas. Two of the villas will be available for booking on their own, for guests who prefer privacy. Most of the accommodations are planned to have lake views and either a balcony or a terrace. The resort has four restaurants and bars, some of which take advantage of outdoor spaces for dining al fresco with views of the water. In additiont to swimming in the lake itself, guests can bathe in the indoor pool in the hotel’s spa, or in the floating pool on the lake.
Most of the hotels in the Lake Como region are historic, many of which are family-owned and operated, and have thus far resisted flagging properties with global hospitality brands. Following the renovation and rebranding, the Mandarin Oriental Lake Como will be one of the few properties on Lake Como belonging to a global luxury brand.
Named for historic flagship properties in Hong Kong and Bangkok, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group operates 32 hotels around the world. Each hotel is a harmonious blend of local sense of place and the brand’s Asian heritage.
