The most ambitious hospitality venture in luxury fashion has set sail. LVMH and Accor’s Orient Express Corinthian, a 220-meter sailing yacht and the largest of its kind in the world, launched this week off the French and Italian Rivieras with a target clientele that barely existed five years ago: the AI-billionaire class.
Whether the AI-billionaire class materializes at the scale projected remains an open question. But the Orient Express Corinthian is already booked through its first season, suggesting that for those who can afford it, the promise of a floating Art Deco palace on the Riviera holds considerable appeal.
For the luxury fashion conglomerate, the yacht extends a broader pivot toward hospitality. LVMH has been steadily investing in experience-based offerings—from Cheval Blanc hotels to the Belmond collection—recognizing that the next frontier of ultra-luxury spending is not objects but memories.
The joint venture represents a strategic bet on a demographic shift. Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin has said the new class of ultra-rich produced by the artificial intelligence boom still have a bucket list of experiences, and that the Orient Express brand—with its heritage of transcontinental luxury—provides the cultural weight those experiences demand.
