Chinese Luxury Brand Naked Opens Ginkgo Getaway Ahead Of Big Holiday
naked Grand Home is situated in an ancient forest in China.
Chinese luxury brand 'naked,' jointly owned by the naked Group and online travel giant Trip.com, last week launched a new luxury getaway in time for the country's upcoming long May 1-5 holiday travel boom.
naked Home Grand Ginkgo Valley · Suizhou is located in China's millennium-old ginkgo forest. The area boasts '48 ancient ginkgoes which have lived for over 1,000 years, 180 over 500 years and 4,370 over 100 years, 36 scenic spots with more than 25 over 1,000-year contiguous ginkgoes and four parks of king of ginkgoes, cherry bay, cypress and Phyllostachys bambusoides,' according to a web posting by the Hubei provincial government.
naked, founded in 2007 then Shanghai by expatriate couple Grant Horsfield and Delphine Yip-Horsfield, has carved out a niche in luxury, eco-friendly resorts. Its properties include naked Stables and naked Castle in the Moganshan area in Zhejiang province, along with naked Water in Suzhou, naked Valley in Zhengzhou, and naked Hill in Nanjing.
The new location's opening comes as the government is looking to promote rural tourism; it also fits in with a traveler interest in sustainability, naked Group CEO Manoj Mehta said in a statement. 'We aim to promote the preservation of local culture in Suizhou, the revitalization of agriculture, and the enhancement of employment opportunities,' he said. Rates range from 2,500 yuan (about $343) to 14,000 yuan a night for a four-bedroom villa; houseboat rooms go for 4,000 yuan, Mehta said via WeChat.
Along with the couple, investors include Trip.com and Mehta. When Trip.com invested in the business in 2023, its CEO Jane Sun noted the benefit of tourism to rural economies. 'Rural tourism is key to revitalizing rural areas, which will, in turn, impact the level of economic and social development,' said Sun, who ranked No. 16 on earlier this year on Forbes China's annual list of the country's top businesswomen.
Trip.com's U.S.-traded shares have gained 19% in the past year on growing domestic travel in China. The upcoming May 1-5 long Labor Day holiday is one of the country's busiest travel seasons.
Visitors packed the Nanjing Road shopping district in Shanghai during the long May Day holiday a ... More year ago. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
A push by naked's parent naked Group into shared workspaces through a business called naked Hub ended with its purchase by WeWork in 2018 for an undisclosed amount.
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