A Brand Redefining Wellness for a New Era of Hospitality

As lifelong hotel geeks, we’re endlessly fascinated by the ways in which hospitality brands evolve and expand.

Since 1993, Kerzner has proudly embraced its identity as a hospitality industry disruptor, forging unique brand identities that spark the imagination.

New properties have a way of breathing new life into a destination, and with Kerzner International’s established legacy as the brand behind some of our favorite resorts, hotels, and private homes, each opening within its portfolio signals thoughtful growth. Since 1993, Kerzner has proudly embraced its identity as a hospitality industry disruptor, forging unique brand identities that spark the imagination. With nineteen exceptional properties spanning Atlantis, One&Only, SIRO, and Rare Finds, Kerzner is entering an expansion phase—one that prioritizes meaningful, extraordinary experiences over an increased footprint for sheer numbers’ sake. 

As much as Kerzner leans into industry disruption, its properties are also regularly the recipients of leading industry distinctions. Two properties, One&Only Mandarina in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, and Atlantis, The Royal in Dubai, have been recognized by the World’s 50 Best Hotels list. Atlantis, The Royal was awarded three Michelin Keys in 2026, following fifteen Kerzner properties that were awarded the Michelin Key distinction in 2024 and 2025. Rare Finds and SIRO are the newest brand additions to the Kerzner, launched in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Rare Finds opened its first property in April 2022 when Bab Al Shams Desert Resort debuted just outside Dubai. SIRO followed shortly thereafter with SIRO One Za’abeel in Dubai in February 2024. 

To dig deeper into the growth and uniqueness of these brands, we sat down with Mattheos Georgiou, Head of Operations for One&Only, SIRO, and Rare Finds. Georgiou brings three decades of hospitality experience to the table, previously holding leadership positions at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and Park Hyatt Tokyo. He shared insights into why the expansion of these newer brands matters, what sets each apart, and what travelers and advisors can expect next from Kerzner International. 

Read on for highlights from our discussion with Mattheos Georgiou, exploring the future of Rare Find and SIRO, each brand’s direction, and the defining characteristics of these Kerzner properties. 

SmartFlyer (SF): Each Kerzner brand is distinct. Can you share what defines SIRO as a brand and how the concept came about?

To move, perform, and better themselves—this really kicked off the idea of having SIRO as a brand. 

Mattheos Georgiou (MG): It is the amazing experiences and everlasting memories. That’s something we create for all our brands. SIRO really came to life when—I hate referring to Covid, to be honest—people understood they had to look after themselves more. Drawing on our history of managing, owning, and operating ultra-luxury beach resorts, we noticed that our guests relaxing at the beach with a glass of champagne or a cocktail and enjoying lavish dinners felt an increased urge to do something for themselves. To move, perform, and better themselves—this really kicked off the idea of having SIRO as a brand. 

When you travel for business, you need to be sharp for meetings, in your interactions with people, and that’s also when you have to compromise most on your performance, because you haven’t slept well, you’re sitting in an aircraft, you eat crappy food, you don’t sleep in your own bed, all of this led to the idea of creating a hotel environment which caters to all these needs. 

SIRO is not a hotel with nice wellness features; it is a hotel concept built on these five pillars. We don’t say “biohacking pillars,” but that’s what they are: sleep, fitness, recovery, nutrition, and mindfulness. So, it’s the first time a hospitality company has created a brand that caters to all five pillars under one roof. The difference between Kerzner and other companies that offer similar things: Our DNA is hospitality. We did not come from the fitness and recovery world and start doing hotels; it’s the other way around. We understand hospitality, and combining it with fitness and recovery, performance enhancement, and well-being—the right nutrition—is obvious.  

SF: Looking ahead, what is your vision for SIRO over the next three years, the next ten years?

MG: We want to start with Tokyo, Miami, and then London, Paris, and New York—everywhere C-suite individuals travel most—because they need support. An elite athlete has five to ten people around him; a modern-day CEO has no one, maybe except their partner, who is back home. We want to be there and build infrastructure around them. SIRO in these gateway cities is milestone number one.  

We want SIRO to be somewhere you go because you aspire to be the best version of yourself or a better version of yourself. Not just for elite athletes, but for anyone looking to be inspired to improve. We will help you improve and become a better version of yourself, whether it’s how you eat, sleep, perform, or recover.  

SF: Beyond CEOs, who else have you been surprised to see as SIRO guests?

…but we’ve seen that these high performers in business have leaned heavily into this brand. They’re the main audience, accounting for sixty to seventy percent of our guests. 

MG: To be honest, we were surprised that the CEO was coming because we thought that it would talk to a much younger audience and to a younger crowd in the mid to late twenties, early and mid-thirties, but we’ve seen that these high performers in business have leaned heavily into this brand. They’re the main audience, accounting for sixty to seventy percent of our guests. Through the fitness and recovery labs—which differ from most gyms—we open the door to the local community. Dubai is a very good example, and in Montenegro, we have many members who have started spending more time at the hotel, not just for fitness or recovery, but also for co-lounging, co-working spaces, events, running clubs, and paddle.  

It took a direction we did not expect. We thought, you know, five pillars: gastro, breakfast, fitness, recovery, finish, but it is now an entire ecosystem. Now we do incredible collaborations with brands [the iconic soccer team AC Milan being one]. We’ve partnered with people who take this brand in a very different direction than we initially thought. We’ve created an advisory board, and we surrounded ourselves with five individuals who have nothing to do with hospitality. This advisory board helps us stay relevant and think of out-of-the-box ideas. 

SF: What is SIRO’s overarching strategy moving forward?

MG: We want to establish SIRO as a preferred lifestyle brand and ensure people understand it’s not just about fitness and recovery. Yes, performance will always be the main driver, but in locations like Miami or in other cities where we will be opening in the future, which are more lifestyle-heavy, you also have to allow the brand to expand into other aspects of this hospitality concept. The brand will take us in its own direction because of the people who fall in love with it 

SF: Switching gears to Rare Finds, how does a property become a Kerzner Rare Find?

They are mostly owned by families or people with an emotional connection to their asset, but don’t necessarily know how to put it on the world stage. We help unlock these properties through our brand and marketing machine…

MG: Rare Finds is a collection of unique assets waiting to be found by us. It can be a castle in Italy or a resort in the desert of Dubai, like Bab Al Shams. They are mostly owned by families or people with an emotional connection to their asset, but don’t necessarily know how to put it on the world stage. We help unlock these properties through our brand and marketing machine, and we also connect them to our distribution system to unlock their assets and make them available to a broader audience. These are unique places, such as Shamwari Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Nobody knew exactly what Shamwari was, and it had a certain reach to a certain audience, but what we do now with Rare Finds is unlock this asset, inject unique experiences that you cannot recreate with ChatGPT, and add the emotional and human element.  

So, the idea of a Rare Finds resort is that you can experience something you cannot experience elsewhere. It’s easier said than done, because every hotel company thrives on unique experiences. It can be very “come to us, and we have better beds, and we have better food, and we have better chefs.” But we went as far as to create a position here at Kerzner’s global head office for someone whose job is entirely dedicated to experiential development. And these don’t necessarily have to be materialistic experiences. They can also be emotional experiences that touch your heart and soul, so you never forget the trip.

SF: How do you envision Rare Finds growing, and if there are any exciting benchmarks you have for the brand?

Ultra luxury also comes with scarcity; it’s something not immediately available to anyone everywhere. 

MG: Yes, our core brand is, of course, One&Only, and we understand that to protect the brand’s DNA, you need to grow with intent, and you cannot have one hundred One&Only properties around the globe. Ultra luxury also comes with scarcity; it’s something not immediately available to anyone everywhere. We put a cap on One&Only at thirty-five resorts. We will not exceed this number in any case—we will only ever have thirty-five One&Only resorts around the globe. That, of course, restricts the company’s growth, as we already have fifteen One&Only resorts and nine in the pipeline.  

We are also in the business of growth, so we need to find another vehicle to scale the company and its footprint. This is where we will tap into SIRO and Rare Finds, because these are brands you can replicate and multiply. There is no limit to how many SIROs you can have. Big cities can absorb three, four, or five SIROs, depending on the neighborhoods. This is the vision, and this is why we need these two brands to expand Kerzner’s global footprint. 

SF: What was the process of identifying Shamwari as one of the properties that would be a Rare Finds?

MG: Certain criteria need to be there. It’s either the property itself, the local culture, or the location. For instance, we have a hotel in Dubai, it’s The Meydan Hotel. It is the only hotel in the world built around a horse racetrack, so all the guest rooms overlook this racetrack.  

In the morning, if you are an early riser, you wake up at five in the morning, you see how the jockeys bring their horses out, they walk them, they train them, so you become part of this experience, you know, and that is so unique that no other brand would fit this, it’s very special. In Shamwari, it is, of course, the game reserve, the top five, the big five animals. This property helps to disconnect from your hectic lifestyle. You can escape; you can switch off.  

Sometimes it’s about the location, sometimes it’s about the culture, like Bab al Shams. Gateway to the Sun was a neglected desert resort: it had canals, palm trees, but that was it. But there was such a beautiful story behind it. The moment we walk into a property, we know whether it’s going to be a Rare Find or not.  

SF: What is the brand strategy for Rare Finds?

MG: It is to create a collection of resorts—we currently have three. We have a number of them in the pipeline, but we want to create this tribe of experienced collectors that, if you’ve been to one and had one of these unique experiences, we want you to be like, “Okay, where is the next one? That’s something I need to do, put it on my bucket list. 

With a spate of openings lined up across the world, every year will mark growth for Kerzner’s Rare Finds and SIRO. For SIRO, there are two properties currently welcoming guests—SIRO One Za’abeel in Dubai and SIRO Boka Place in Montenegro. In the next few years, the opportunities for a SIRO stay will expand even further around the globe. SIRO Palmilla, in Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, will open in 2027. It will be part of the Palmilla Reserve, less than a mile away from One&Only Palmilla. In 2028, SIRO Olaya Riyadh will open in the heart of the city’s diplomatic quarter in Saudi Arabia. The following year, SIRO Roppongi will open in Tokyo. Then, in 2030, SIRO Brickell is slated to open in Miami, marking the brand’s first US property.

Currently, there are three Rare Finds properties that you can book: The Meydan Hotel and Bab Al Shams Resort in Dubai, and Shamwari Private Game Reserve in South Africa. While the next gems to be transformed into Rare Finds properties are under wraps, there’s no doubt they will live up to the ethos of something exceptional.