Accor's long-promised foray into boutique luxury finally takes a tangible step forward this fall with the debut of its first Emblems Collection property: Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa in the U.K.
Set on a 500-acre estate near the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath, Lucknam Park will officially join the Emblems Collection in the fourth quarter of 2025. For those keeping tabs, this isn’t a case of announcing a new brand and opening the first hotel months later like recent additions in the more affordable end of hospitality. The move marks the operational debut of Accor's most exclusive collections brand: one the company has been quietly building since first announcing the Emblems concept in 2021.
“People who are signing Emblems [deals] with us are trusting us and believing in the strength of Accor. They are just trusting us because they know how we do hospitality. They know that we're going to be hands on and deliver, but they haven't seen any Emblems,” Maud Bailly, CEO of Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems Collection said during an interview with Hospitality Investor in Berlin earlier this year at the International Hospitality Investment Forum EMEA. “This is a very unique situation.”
Billed as a curated portfolio of hotels steeped in heritage, design, or nature-led wellness, Emblems aims to capture what Bailly describes as "luxury-plus": elevated, personalized hospitality for the lucky bunch able to fork over the nightly rate.
"With Emblems you are pushing and elevating the sense of luxury. Luxury means, in the very specific case of the new Emblems brand, intimacy," she said. "This is where luxury allows you to buy time and space and the sense of exclusivity."
The Emblems Collection will operate under a tight lens. Properties must fall into one of three brand pillars — “heritage mansions, signature design properties, or wellness retreats” — and be in top-tier destinations (One must assume this reporter’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, won’t be making the cut. Le sigh.). Rooms must meet minimum size standards (at least 430 square feet, or 40 square meters), and every hotel must offer a strong sense of storytelling.
"It’s private luxury," Bailly said. "I don’t want to show off. I don’t want anything bling-bling. I want something extremely refined and elegant. But on the other hand, I want time and quiet and space in an amazing and stunning place."
The 42-room Lucknam Park Hotel fits the bill. With its sprawling grounds, nine stone-built cottages, Michelin-starred dining, and even a falconry program, the property will join the "heritage" pillar of the Emblems portfolio. One can’t help but feel this first Emblems property might cause its distant Ennismore-affiliated sibling, Gleneagles, to start to sleep with one eye open.
According to Accor, Lucknam Park will undergo a few “thoughtful enhancements” to align with Emblems' design and service standards while maintaining its existing charm.
"Lucknam Park will proudly lead our global journey as the first hotel to open under the Emblems Collection, setting the tone for a new generation of luxury hospitality — curated, character-led, and unmistakably original," Xavier Grange, chief development officer for Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, MGallery, and Emblems, said in a statement ahead of the property’s debut.
Grange added that Emblems has already signed ten hotels and is on pace to have fifteen in development by the end of 2025. Properties in the pipeline include Elatos Resort near Athens and the Hotel Bellevue Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
"Every single hotel is different,” Grange said during the interview with Bailly in Berlin. “There is a strong storytelling for every single property."
While Emblems is just beginning to materialize, the move is emblematic of a larger luxury push under Bailly, who also oversees the growing Sofitel and MGallery brands.
Sofitel Legend continues to gain traction as a heritage-driven ultra-luxury extension of the core Sofitel brand — including a recently announced renovation at Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam — while MGallery has topped 120 locations globally with a slate of boutique, design-forward properties. Further, Bailly has made inroads in refreshing the storied Sofitel brand with renovations underway at many of the brand’s properties, including the Sofitel New York flagship.
"Emblems is to MGallery what Sofitel Legend is to Sofitel…It’s luxury plus," Bailly said. "Launching a brand requires lots of discipline, creation [and] capacity to say no. But once it’s starting, and you feel there’s a little fire growing, it’s very exciting."
Originally a private estate, Lucknam Park has evolved into one of Britain’s most coveted rural retreats. Amenities include 500 acres of trails, a spa, equestrian programming, and two acclaimed restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Restaurant Hywel Jones. Cottages range from one to four bedrooms and include log-burning fireplaces and private gardens.
With its new branding, the hotel joins a growing cadre of luxury properties embracing soft-brand affiliations that offer global reach without sacrificing individual identity. Emblems debuts into a playing field with competitors like Marriott’s The Luxury Collection and Hilton’s LXR Hotels & Resorts.
But Emblems is more than a label, Bailly says.
"It’s elevating the art of intimacy, pioneering the sense of happy few experiences with time, space, and this sense of luxury for aesthetic travelers,” she added.
See for yourself later this year.