Founder - Luxury Partners

With more than 30 years of career behind him as an advisor to blue chip and mid cap clients in the C-suite and described by Management Today as “one of the world's consulting thinkers”, Piers Schmidt is a highly regarded luxury consultant and brand expert in the travel, tourism, hospitality and wellness sectors. A graduate of Cambridge University, Piers began his career in 1990 with Charles Barker and since 1993 with Interbrand, where he led the rebranding of Barclays Bank, Selfridges and British Airways and created the oneworld brand for the airline's global alliance with American Airlines.

In 1998, Piers co-founded The Fourth Room, a strategic marketing boutique that he and his partners sold four years later to NASDAQ-listed US Interactive.

In 2002, Piers founded Luxury Branding, the coveted luxury consulting firm that developed the Kerzner International corporate brand and masterminded the conceptualisation and $16 million launch of One&Only Resorts. Soon after, Giorgio Armani commissioned Piers to translate his eponymous brand into hospitality. Subsequently, the Brunei Investment agency hired Piers to create a soft brand for its growing portfolio of prestige hotels presented under the name Dorchester Collection.

Since then, Piers has led brand building and transformation programmes for AfrAsia Bank, Annassurra, Belmond, Boutique Group, Constance Hotels & Resorts, Corinthia Hotels, Celebrity Cruises, Cirque du Soleil, Globacom, Lionstone Development, LUX* Resorts & Hotels, Paramount Hotels & Resorts, Seeff, Sunlife, Taj Hotels and Villa Resorts.

Between 2021 and 2024, Piers Schmidt served on the advisory board of Red Sea Global, the visionary developer behind THE RED SEA and AMAALA, two of Saudi Arabia's most exciting giant projects based on regenerative tourism principles. Piers is also a strategic advisor to Dr Isaac Jones, one of the world's leading longevity experts, assisting in the conceptualisation and launch of a next-generation hospitality concept focused on longevity.

Piers is a respected media commentator who regularly speaks, moderates and participates in panels at conferences in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States. In April 2025, Piers gave a speech entitled “The Longevity Lever” at FIBO in Cologne, Germany, and also gave a speech entitled “The Emperor's New Wellness” at the Longevity Med Summit held in Lisbon in May 2025.

He is an adjunct professor at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), where he taught a regular course for the MBA programme of this prestigious Swiss hotel management school. He has also lectured at Cornell.

Piers continues to build and maintain an extensive and influential global network in the luxury hospitality industry.