Contemporary luxury hospitality has long prized movement: more visits, more miles covered, denser itineraries. To mark its 25th anniversary, Anantara Hotels & Resorts is taking the opposite path. The Minor Hotels brand presents a selection of signature experiences built around stillness, slow mornings and wellbeing, rolled out across Thailand, the Maldives and Italy. Each one invites guests to do less in order to notice more.
Italy: the silent wisdom of a 13th-century convent
Above the port of Amalfi, a Capuchin convent founded in the 13th century has preserved its tranquillity through the centuries. At the Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel, this heritage sets the pace of the morning. The journey begins in the terraced gardens with Brother Marcus, who guides guests among rare Mediterranean plants and ancestral monastic herbs while sharing the philosophy of Pace & Bene, before continuing on to the property’s kitchen garden, where the produce used in the hotel’s cuisine is grown.
A sound therapy ritual follows in the convent’s sanctuary, designed to calm the mind and rebalance the body. The morning closes with a picnic of artisan breads, garden produce and aged cheeses, laid out in a secluded spot where the Amalfi Coast drops away to the sea.
Thailand: setting the tempo on the Mae Ping River
In Chiang Mai, it is the river that sets the rhythm. The morning begins aboard the Nam Jai, the handcrafted teak vessel of the Anantara Chiang Mai Resort, for a 90-minute sail along the Mae Ping, passing riverside temples and the peaceful life of the Wat Ket community. On land, the route leads to the old Wat Ket Karam temple and on to Khua Kaek Bridge, where Doi Suthep rises in the distance, while an offering to a monk marks the day with a quiet blessing.
Lunch awaits back at the resort: a Lanna khantoke served beneath 400-year-old banyan trees at the Bodhi Terrace, where the flavours of northern Thailand keep the region’s stories alive.
Maldives: nocturnal contemplation from the SKY observatory
In the Maldives, calm moves skyward. As the lagoon darkens and the day’s last colours fade on the horizon, Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas invites guests to its SKY observatory, perched above the ocean, for a stargazing session with the property’s SKY Edhuru specialist. Through the most powerful telescope in the Maldives, distant galaxies, constellations and planets reveal themselves above the Indian Ocean — a reminder that slowness, too, can be a form of discovery.
Phuket: rebalancing against the backdrop of the Andaman Sea
At Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, wellbeing begins with a personalised consultation at Layan Life by Anantara, which shapes the entire journey. A sound therapy session and a traditional warm-herb Pao Ya massage follow, designed to release tension, support digestion and restore inner balance. As dusk falls, guests enjoy a sunset over the water, stargazing and a glass of champagne beneath the skies of the Andaman Sea.
A differentiation strategy for Minor Hotels
These signature experiences, available across the brand’s more than 50 properties throughout 2026, tap into a broader industry trend: wellness and slow travel are gaining ground on more traditional holiday formats, a shift already visible in other hotel developments positioned around slow travel. For Anantara, this approach reinforces a positioning built since 2001 around local rootedness and Thai-inspired hospitality.
The brand also continues its international growth, between new signings and a strengthened wellness offering, a direction also visible in the recent expansion of wellness-focused Minor Hotels resorts in the Adriatic. Anantara now counts more than 50 hotels and resorts across Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, under the unified Minor DISCOVERY loyalty programme, integrated with GHA DISCOVERY.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
Anantara marks its 25th anniversary with a slow travel and wellbeing experience collection
Brand: Anantara Hotels & Resorts (Minor Hotels), founded in 2001
Campaign: five signature anniversary experiences across Italy, Thailand and the Maldives
Availability: rolled out across Anantara’s 50+ properties throughout 2026
Featured properties: Anantara Convento di Amalfi, Anantara Chiang Mai Resort, Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas, Anantara Layan Phuket Resort
Positioning: stillness, wellbeing and slow mornings as a counterpoint to fast-paced luxury travel
Loyalty: unified under Minor DISCOVERY, part of GHA DISCOVERY
