Hilton's luxury collection brand LXR Hotels & Resorts is focused on growing across the globe with a focus on unique identities and experiences for properties, and the head of the brand said it has accomplished that despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

LXR Hotels & Resorts launched in 2019 with a mission to grow its collection of independent luxury properties, said Feisal Jaffer, global brand head. While the brand has a similar name to Blackstone's LXR Luxury Resorts that was launched in 2005 and was comprised of approximately 20 independent hotels, Jaffer said Hilton's LXR is not affiliated. LXR Luxury Resorts was created when Blackstone owned what was then called Wyndham International and is no longer in use. The properties that were part of Blackstone's collection are now part of other brands or independent. Blackstone did own a stake in Hilton, but sold it in 2018.

• Read "Where LXR Fits in With Hilton's Luxury Growth Plans"

Jaffer said he joined Hilton and the LXR brand in late 2019. At that time, the brand had one hotel. Now, it has four hotels open around the world as of the end of 2020 and nine slated to open by the end of September, "with one hotel opening every month between June and September."

The brand has been "pretty selective" when it comes to taking on new properties since the collection was launched, he said, and has been very careful to make sure each hotel enhances the overall collection, "and adds something unique and different to the experiences that our guests can enjoy in those new destinations."

The opening of Crockfords Las Vegas at Resorts World was a milestone for the brand as it is LXR's first new-build hotel in the U.S. and is only the brand's second hotel "so far in the U.S.," he said. Resorts World opened on June 24.

“We were very happy we had the opportunity for Crockfords Las Vegas when it came up because it was our owner’s desire to position that hotel at the very top of the Vegas market, which I think is a great opportunity for a brand that’s starting out," he said. "Obviously, Las Vegas being such a highly visited market, it’s a great place for a brand to be showcased and certainly when it’s positioned at the top of the market.”

Jaffer said the property is geared toward what he likes to call “distinguished players" or "high rollers." The hotel offers exclusive access to everything Resorts World has to offer — including a 117,000-square-foot casino — but also offers more beyond Resorts World.

Some of those more exclusive perks include getting guests access to the various attractions in Las Vegas.

Rooms and suites at the hotel are at the top of the tower, but closer to the grounds there are villas and palaces, which have within them extensive dining, entertainment facilities, music rooms and spa rooms for “those so-called high rollers,” he said.

Another property Jaffer is particularly excited about is Mango House in the East African country of Seychelles, which has a “truly unique” culture that’s a mix of African, Indian and European influences. The hotel is expected to open in July.

The hotel only has 41 rooms, but has five food-and-beverage experiences within the resort. The property was built by Italian photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri on six acres of land filled with fruit trees near private, crystal clear waters. In the '60s and '70s, Barbieri would invite friends who were writers, artists and musicians to spend months at the property, and it was a creative community.

As a brand that caters to the "sophisticated global traveler looking for a one-of-a-kind luxury experience," LXR considers properties such as Mango House as a good representative of the experience and storytelling the brand's properties can offer as Barbieri's creative spirit is “run through the entire property," Jaffer said.

While the brand has new-build hotels like Crockfords Las Vegas, Jaffer said LXR is all “about hotels having their own identity and their own story and their own way of delivering hospitality,” which is easier to do with conversion hotels like Mango House.

“It’s not to say you can’t create it with new-builds, but then you do have to spend a lot more time and effort to create that identity, to create that service culture, to create those rituals and those experiences on property,” he said.

At the height of the pandemic, LXR had a number of properties that were forced to halt operations, and Jaffer said in some regions of the world such as the Caribbean, there wasn't the same level of government financial support for owners as there was in other places like the U.S and Western Europe.

“Having been on the ownership side for well over 10 years before coming to Hilton, I really empathize on the ownership side,” he said. Jaffer served as senior vice president of business development at Capella Hotel Group, which is part of Pontiac Land Group, before joining Hilton.

“Building and running a hotel is not easy. It’s not a small task. Unless it’s a major renovation, we generally never shut down our hotels. So to have so many of our hotels shut for so long, it was really heartbreaking for all of us but most of all for our team members and our owners at those properties," he said.

Considering LXR is comprised of hotels around the world, Jaffer said business is a bit varied right now “especially with these complex travel rules and restrictions from one country to another."

To unlock value during slower periods, hotels like The Biltmore, Mayfair in London converted an area off the street adjacent from its restaurant that was used as a drop-off area for banquet and catering into a terrace dining area.

The enclosed terrace with greenery, which serves up food from a Michelin star chef, is called Terrace Café at The Biltmore and is “now one of the most sought-after tables in town,” he said.

To navigate the labor crisis the hotel industry faces, Jaffer said LXR is offering competitive wages at its properties across the globe while also instilling a sense of purpose in its team members and "giving them a higher reason to work, and that is, in the words of our founder, to spread the light and warmth of hospitality around the world."

He added that Hilton is consistently rated as one of the best places to work around the globe and that Hilton offers time to its employees to travel for leisure with their families, take time off and take sabbaticals to serve in communities that interest them.

While pay is important, providing that higher sense of purpose is key to attracting and retaining talent, he said.