THE KONSORTIUM

Richard Branson's in the Spa Business

Having already set up jet-set playgrounds in South Africa, Morocco, and Necker Island, Richard Branson is now set to debut his first American resort in idyllic...New Jersey. Seriously. Opening this spring, the Natirar—a nearby town's name spelled backwards, in case you were wondering—is a spa-hotel complex spread over 500 acres in rustic Somerset County, and it came to Branson via an old friend. "The King of Morocco rang me up one day and said he was selling his estate in New Jersey," the British billionaire says with trademark nonchalance. "And another friend of mine happened to live [nearby] and said they didn't have a really special spa in the area." So Branson teamed up with local developer Bob Wojtowicz to build said spa along with a state-of-the-art conference center. He invited Nobu maestro (and Jersey resident) Drew Nieporent to oversee the property's two restaurants (which include a culinary institute), and he asked David Rockwell to mastermind the spa design. The resort's centerpiece, though, is the ivy-covered, Tudor-style mansion, which offers 66 rooms of varying shapes and sizes. Branson envisions Natirar as a weekend bolt-hole for moneyed Northeasterners, and if spa treatments and nature hikes aren't exciting enough, we hear there are some nice little gentlemen's clubs just off the Turnpike.

Natirar, room rates not yet set (they won't be cheap), 2 Main St., Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, www.natirar.com

— Mark Ellwood

Louis Vuitton buys Aston Martin

Aston Martin is being bought by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the most high-profile luxury goods consortium in the world, joining the 60-or-so other brands that already make up the group. Aston Martin will be the first luxury car brand in LVMH's portfolio and it is the first to be run by a lifestyle/luxury goods group. The sale price wasn't revealed, but Aston Martin was reportedly valued at as much as $1.2 billion last December. Ford Motor Company, which put Aston Martin up for sale to begin with, is said to be retaining 15% interest.
We're not expecting to see a LV logo roadster entering the automaker's lineup anytime soon, but we wouldn't be too surprised if a limited edition, branded car rolled out of the factory at some point in the future.

Entrepreneurs: Tiger Plans His First Golf Course in Dubai

Tiger Woods is clearly ready to move on to the second part of his golf career, the mogul part. Fast on the heels of the announcement of his new partnership with Ernie Els in the Bahamas, Tiger has announced that the first-ever Tiger designed course will be the "Tiger Woods-Dubai." Tiger's company, Tiger Woods Design is joining up with Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding, to create an exclusive golf community that will include 'Al Ruwaya,' a Tiger Woods designed Golf Course, golf academy; a 60,000-square-foot clubhouse; an 80-suite boutique hotel for VIP guests; 300 luxury villas; 20 mansions and a community retail area. The course itself will be a par 72 designed to challenge all levels of golfers. In the press release Tiger is quoted as saying that he is "excited about the challenge of transforming a desert terrain into a world-class golf course." The community should be completed in 2009 and will be located in the massive Dubailand project.

Planning a Babymoon

Have you ever heard the term "babymoon"? This word describes the blowout trip that more soon-to-be parents are taking before they have their first child. The premise is that babymoons give "expecting couples a few days of pleasure and relaxation before the diapers, sleepless nights and adolescence take their toll." Perhaps the concept takes a dim view of parenthood, but the trips themselves are anything but. As you might expect, they are akin to honeymoons with the level of luxury that couples are demanding from them, though the focus is not as much on getting some alone time as it is on getting some adult time. The trips generally cost several thousand dollars with travel expenses, and include accommodations in high-end hotels, posh spas, gourmet food at four star (or 3 Michelin star) restaurants and other amenities depending on where the couples go. One thing that they do not include, however, is a lot of drinking, since the women participating are often already up to 7 months pregnant.

Most travel agents can arrange the trips, but some hotels offer packages, like the W Hotels' Baby Me.

THE NEW AMERICAN CLASS SYSTEM - Giga-billionaires are climbing the ladder and pulling it up behind them. Your six-figure salary won't even get you on the bottom rung.

By Jeff Gordinier

You know this guy from college. He runs a hedge fund—let's call it Colossal Capital Strategies—and if you’re diligent or masochistic enough to do a little research, you’ll find out that he made about $100 million last year. He’s 36 years old and he has billions under management. The Wall Street Journal likes to refer to him as a “high-net-worth individual,” but that wording seems so odd and clunky—the sort of boardroom-pretzel terminology that some lawyer from Enron might use to explain away a phantom transaction.

No. Let’s call him a luxocrat.

A luxocrat is not merely rich, but rich in a way that you couldn’t have imagined back in college. (Otherwise you would have been nicer to the guy.) He’s rich enough to guarantee that every calorie that passes his lips has been fussed over by a master chef, rich enough to share his truffled foie gras with the treasury secretary on a Gulfstream headed for Barbados, rich enough to impulse-buy doodads from the Robb Report with a black American Express Centurion card (whose existence you weren’t even aware of), rich enough to make your proud and dutiful little 401(k) look, in comparison, like the mound of coins that an Appalachian beet farmer might stash away in a pickle jar. A luxocrat is enormo-rich, robber-baron rich, 21st-century rich, swelled up with a wealth of such magnitude that it suggests the American class system would have to undergo a wholesale restructuring in order to accommodate it.

Which is arguably what’s happening at this very moment.

FULL STORY

Westin Hotels Go Smoke Free

I read on Hotel Chatter this morning that the Westin Hotels are going smoke free as of January. According to them, 92% of hotel guests request a non-smoking room anyway. While no one enjoys walking into a room that smells like old cigarettes, I am wondering if this will be a popular move especially since they will also be banning smoking in all their restaurants, bars and public areas as well. Nicotine-hungry guests can still smoke on balconies and outdoor areas. According to USA Today, alll of the Westin’s 2,400 U.S., Canadian and Caribbean smoking rooms will get a deep cleaning and new air filters.

Money Making Actresses

Reuters has an article on the top paid actresses in the industry, and Julia Roberts tops the list. If you’ve ever wondered how movie stars are able to afford the lives they lead, here’s an indicator. The list shows Mrs. Roberts fetches $20,000,000 per title, regardless of how absolutely dreadful Ocean’s 12 was. Kidman, Witherspoon, Barrymore, and Zellweger round out the top five. Be mindful that this is a per movie number and doesn’t include endorsements like make-up ads or a lucrative fashion ad campaign.

Clinton and Sting Party It Up In Russia

It was all in the name of charity but is sounds like a pretty good time anyway. The St. Petersburg Times reports that celeb guests such as Bill Clinton and Sting spent the weekend in St. Petersburg for three days of balls, concerts and parties at the Grand Hotel Europe and other places in the city. Richard Caring, a British clothing multimillionaire, flew 450 guests to the event, which was held a benefit for Britain’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Guests paid $8,600 each to attend. On Saturday, Elton John, Tina Turner and Sting performed at a banquet and ball held at the Catherine Palace. Guests at the ball were dressed in Napoleonic-era outfits which were waiting for them when they arrived. The event also included a charity auction and raised more than $17 million.

Did Kanye West Donate His Diamond Watch?

Contact Music is reporting that Kanye West donated his $360,000 diamond encrusted watch to London’s Natural History Museum in support of diamond conflict charities. Like Usher, Kanye had a watch with his face on it courtesy of music mogul and owner of Tiret, Damon Dash.

The $3 million stamp swap

BBC News is running an article about U.S. stamp collector Bill Gross who recently accomplished a feat even the National Postal Museum (or anyone else, for that matter) has been unable to pull off: he now owns a complete set of every known 19th century U.S. postage stamp. The stamp which completes his collection is a one-cent “Z Grill” stamp printed in 1868, one of only two known to exist. He acquired it by trading a sheet of four “Inverted Jenny” stamps which he bought at a cost of $2.97 million specifically for the trade, making the Z Grill the most expensive stamp ever traded.