The worlds of Hollywood and hospitality rarely conjoin, but there is the occasional exception. Actor Richard Gere has been selected to serve as a “brand ambassador” for Relais & Châteaux, the elite Paris-based hotel sales and marketing consortium. Gere is himself a hotelier—he owns the 8-bedroom Bedford Post in Bedford, N.Y., which is now a member of Relais & Châteaux.
Innkeeper Richard Gere's Bedford Post
In his introduction published in Relais & Châteaux’s 2011 guidebook, Gere writes: “In my long career, I’ve played many challenging and demanding characters, but believe me, none more so than my real life role as innkeeper. We share a kindred spirit with the other Relais & Chateaux innkeepers: a genuine commitment to serve, a rather insane attention to detail, a passion for beauty in all its forms and a personal aspiration to make our world a little better for us having been here.”
Gere succeeds previous brand ambassadors, author Douglas Kennedy and actress Carole Bouquet.
“It is an absolute honor to welcome Mr. Gere as the new 2011 Relais & Châteaux ambassador,” says Jaume Tapiès, international president of the consortium. “Not only is he one of Hollywood’s most admired actors, he is the quintessential innkeeper whose personal journey to revive and maintain a historic property is an exceptional example of the passion that binds Relais & Châteaux together.”
Each the Relais & Chateaux properties I have experienced in my travels has absolutely perfected the arts of hospitality and gastronomy.
For a full line-up of the group’s luxury hotels and gourmet restaurants in both domestic and international locations, visit: http://www.relaischateaux.com/spip.php?page=home&lang=en
