You’ll never guess which luxury company is planning the world’s southernmost hotel

There’s a new southernmost hotel in the world — run by a company you might not expect.

Luxury cruise line Silversea Cruise revealed Wednesday that it will build a 150-room luxury estate just south of Puerto Williams, Chile – the southernmost settlement in the world.

The luxury brand, which until now has not entered the hotel business, plans to use the property to accommodate its luxury-loving customers at the start and end of their excursions to Antarctica.

“It will deliver a much more comfortable, brand experience,” Silversea President Bert Hernandez told TPG in an exclusive interview ahead of the announcement.

Silversea sells package trips to Antarctica, including pre- and post-trip nights at hotels in Puerto Williams. However, until now, they have been using hotels operated by other companies to stay in Puerto Williams.

Hernandez suggests that the new Silversea hotel will allow the brand to deliver a more seamless, upscale experience on trips to Antarctica.

“There aren’t a lot of great places to stay in the area, so that really creates a big gap in experience,” he said.

According to Silversea, the new hotel will be built in partnership with a group of Chilean investors.

It will overlook the Beagle Channel, a famous and scenic waterway at the southern tip of South America that is the traditional starting point for Antarctic cruises. This channel is part of the Patagonia region, known for its stunning mountains, icy fjords, and temperate rain forests.

Related: Best Antarctic cruise ships: 11 stylish expedition ships exploring the White Continent

Silversea said the hotel will be surrounded by virgin forest and have views of the Beagle Channel and the snow-capped Patagonia mountains.

Construction on the hotel began this week and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Silversea is the only cruise line operating Antarctica cruises from Puerto Williams. Most cruise companies offering Antarctica trips operate trips from Ushuaia, Argentina.

The latter is a larger tourist center than Puerto Williams but a little further from Antarctica. Like Puerto Williams, Ushuaia lies along the Beagle Channel, leading into the notoriously rugged Drake Passage – the sea route between South America and Antarctica.

Unlike many Antarctic cruise operators, Silversea offers both traditional trans-Dake cruises to Antarctica and rarer “flying tourist” trips to the continent.

Related: How to get to Antarctica: Pros and cons of flying versus cruising

The “flying cruise” trips begin with a flight from Puerto Williams across the Drake Passage to the Chile base in Antarctica with its gravel runway. On such trips, the Silversea awaits passengers at the Chilean base.

Silversea said the new hotel will include a spacious restaurant designed for group gatherings, a bar and lounge, a fitness center and a gift shop showcasing arts and crafts products by local artisans. It is designed to blend seamlessly with its surroundings and draws inspiration from local art, architecture and traditional materials, the company said.

As part of the announcement, Silversea said it is committed to fostering a collaborative relationship with the Puerto Williams community. They said they will work with stakeholders to create opportunities for economic growth while preserving unique cultural heritage and minimizing environmental impacts in the region.

Hernandez told TPG that Silversea will use a modular construction process for the hotel, with rooms built off-site. He calls the process both more sustainable than on-site construction and more practical in remote locations. He noted that Silversea has extensive experience in building modular rooms, since that is how rooms are built for cruise ships.

Hernandez suggested that Silversea passengers will be able to extend their stay at the hotel to spend more time exploring the Patagonia region in addition to traveling to Antarctica. He said it could serve as a “base” for such probes.

“The area itself has a lot to offer if you want to stay a few nights before or after,” he notes. “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 do it too

Hernandez added that the property will only be open during the Antarctic tourist season, which runs from November to March. It is designed primarily to serve Silversea customers, but one day it could also attracts non-Silversea customers as well.

“The models we used to develop this project are not being used by outsiders, but that is very possible once we get the sea legs and understand how all these things work,” he said. this”.

Silversea is one of the largest operators of trips to Antarctica. Three of the line’s small expedition ships — Silver Endeavor, Silver Wind and Silver Cloud — make a variety of six- to 20-day trips to the continent.

All three ships are luxury ships with a crew/guest ratio of nearly 1:1.

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