You'll never guess which luxury company is planning the world's southernmost hotel
There's about to be a new southernmost hotel in the world — operated by a company you might not expect.
Silversea Cruises on Wednesday revealed it would build a 150-room luxury property just south of Puerto Williams, Chile — the southernmost settlement in the world.
The Miami-based luxury cruise line, which has not been in the hotel business until now, plans to use the property to house its luxury-loving customers at the start and end of cruises to Antarctica.
"It's going to allow for a much more comfortable, on-brand experience," Silversea president Bert Hernandez told TPG during an exclusive interview in advance of the announcement.
Silversea sells all-inclusive trips to Antarctica that include precruise and postcruise stays at hotels near the southern tip of South America. But, until now, it has used hotels operated by other companies for the hotel stays.
The new Silversea hotel will allow the brand to offer a more seamless, upscale experience during its Antarctica trips, Hernandez suggested.
"There's not a lot of great accommodations in the area, so that really kind of creates a big gap in the experience," he said.
The new hotel will be built in partnership with a consortium of Chilean investors, according to Silversea. It'll overlook the Beagle Channel, a scenic waterway at the southern tip of South America that is the traditional jumping-off point for Antarctica cruises. The channel is part of the Patagonia region, known for its stunning mountains, glacial fjords and temperate rain forests.
Related: Best Antarctica cruise ships: 11 stylish expedition vessels exploring the White Continent
Silversea said the hotel would be surrounded by pristine forest and feature views of the Beagle Channel and snowcapped Patagonia mountain ranges.
Construction of the hotel begins this week with completion scheduled for the end of 2025.
Silversea is the only cruise line that operates Antarctica trips out of Puerto Williams. Most cruise companies with Antarctica trips operate the sailings out of Ushuaia, Argentina.
The latter is a bigger tourism hub than Puerto Williams but slightly farther away from Antarctica. Like Puerto Williams, Ushuaia is along the Beagle Channel, which leads into the famously rough Drake Passage — the ocean passage between South America and Antarctica.
Unlike many Antarctica cruise operators, Silversea offers both traditional cruise-across-the-Drake trips to Antarctica and rarer "fly-cruise" trips to the continent.
Related: How to get to Antarctica: The pros and cons of flying vs. cruising
"Fly-cruise" trips begin with a flight from the southern tip of South America across the Drake Passage to a Chilean base in Antarctica that has a gravel runway. On such trips, a Silversea vessel awaits passengers at the Chilean base.
The flights across the Drake Passage that are part of the fly-cruise trips currently operate out of Punta Arenas, Chile, which isn't as close to Antarctica as Puerto Williams. They'll switch to taking off from Puerto Williams when Silversea's new hotel opens.
Silversea voyages to Antarctica that include crossings of the Drake Passage already use Puerto Williams as their hub.
Silversea said the new hotel would include an expansive restaurant designed for group gatherings, a bar and lounge, a fitness center and a gift shop showcasing handicrafts and art by local artisans. It was designed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding environment and draw inspiration from local traditional art, architecture and materials, the company said.
As part of the announcement, Silversea said it is committed to fostering a partnership with the communities of Puerto Williams. It said it will work with stakeholders to create opportunities for economic growth while preserving the unique cultural heritage and minimizing environmental impact in the area.
Hernandez told TPG that Silversea will use a modular construction process for the hotel, with rooms built off-site. He called this process both more sustainable than on-site construction and more practical given the remote location. He noted that Silversea had a lot of experience with modular construction of rooms, as it is how rooms are built for cruise ships.
Hernandez suggested that Silversea passengers would be able to extend their stays at the hotel to spend more time exploring the Patagonia region in addition to traveling to Antarctica. It could serve as a "home base" for such exploration, he said.
"The region itself has a lot to offer if you wanted to stay a couple of nights before or after," he noted. "So, I think that's how we're thinking about it."
Related: I just spent the night in an igloo in Antarctica — here's how you can, too
Hernandez added that the property would only be open during the Antarctica cruise season, which runs from November to March. It was designed primarily for the use of Silversea customers, but it might someday take in non-Silversea customers, too.
"The models that we used to develop this project did not assume outside people, but that's very possible as we get our sea legs and understand how this all works," he said.
Silversea is one of the biggest operators of trips to Antarctica. Three of the line's small expedition ships — Silver Endeavour, Silver Wind and Silver Cloud — operate a diverse range of six- to 20-day voyages to the continent.
All three of the vessels are luxury ships with crew-to-guest ratios of nearly 1:1 — an unusually high ratio.
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