Fresh off the launch of a campaign that’s giving all kinds of travellers a spin in the spotlight, Max Aniort, founder of Le Collectionist, sits down with OutThere to examine the courage it takes to turn the wrong homeowner down, and unpacks what it really means to make every guest feel right at home.
For Max Aniort, exclusivity and inclusivity are not the contradiction they might first appear. Rather, they are, in equal measure, the principles that guide his impressive edit of the world’s finest private homes, generously available for rent.
Here, we’re not talking about hotel rooms or investment properties dressed up as artificially storied residences; at Le Collectionist, these are characterful properties – a villa, chalet, or estate in the most coveted corner of Europe, Morocco or St. Barts – genuinely owned, curated, and lived in by the tastemakers of today.
It’s the latter that stirs the curiosity of the collection’s many returning guests. Sifting through a stocked pantry in the rolling Tuscan hills, four varieties of local olive oil leave a clue that is rarely ignored. Could it be that a chef is the persona behind this very property? The guessing game, and the fantasy that follows, are all part of the pull, Aniort explains.
In his new campaign, a focus on capturing real people, over product, is one thing the founder certainly gets right. An evocative eight-minute film sits in stark contrast to an industry marketing standard that struggles to show, rather than tell. The work is immediately transportive, even enthralling; its emphasis on the informal, organic everyday luxury is worth more than all the uses of ‘experience’, ‘immersive’ or ‘authentic’ in the sector’s well-worn playbook.
Aniort’s film is also quietly activist. His decision to show different kinds of families, from a queer couple to partners of divorce, is, right now, radical. In luxury, 73% of diverse travellers are excluded from marketing – a number that’s far from niche, and actually an alarming majority. At the current moment, with rollbacks on DEIA and dwindling corporate Pride efforts, genuine representation matters perhaps more than it ever has.
The subtlety of representation in Le Collectionist’s campaign is, to us, quietly reminiscent of the Jonathan Anderson era at Spanish fashion house Loewe; both understand that the most powerful statement is one that doesn’t announce itself as a statement at all.
It’s all personal to Max Aniort, like Anderson, as a gay man himself. When we meet, he is disarmingly honest – explaining how queer culture has, out of unfortunate necessity, become expert at cultivating welcome. When you have had to redraw your family, as Aniort has, you come to know, instinctively, what it takes to make any guest feel at home.
In leading Le Collectionist, this spirit of open welcome demands the occasional ‘no’. The organisation has, in the past, unlisted a property whose owner expressed concern about certain groups of travellers staying. What Aniort believes is that a preference to avoid partygoers is one thing, but a barring of guests on discriminatory grounds is something else entirely.
His stance is genuinely countercultural for a business with investors and a bottom line. As Le Collectionist heads out on its next voyage, it does so with a point of view it’s willing to pay for.
With OutThere, Max Aniort unpacks that ethos further and speaks on some of the most meaningful reactions to his impactful new campaign.
With an impressive global network of private properties, how do you ensure that each homeowner aligns with the brand’s founding values?
It’s always difficult to have the conversation, upfront, like: ‘Who do you vote for?’ It doesn’t work, and for us, it’s not about that. But when you start talking about certain groups of visitors, we see quite quickly, during the listing process or even the vetting process, if it’s not a match.
When the homeowner is coming from a place of discrimination – say, based on race or sexuality – it’s an absolute no-go for Le Collectionist. And we’ve unlisted properties for this reason. The impact these decisions have on other owners, on the business, on the commitment of the teams, is huge.
Your recent campaign softly centres on a same-sex couple as part of the story. Why was it important for you to portray queer travellers in this way?
The first thing to acknowledge is that this genuinely represents our guests. And secondly, I’m gay, so it would have been strange not to showcase all the different kinds of families.
But it’s about more than that. For instance, when my best friend saw the film, she was immediately emotional. She’s divorced, and seeing representation of a family with a child from a former marriage is so rare in luxury hospitality. Representation is so important, and it seems obvious – but, to many in the market, it’s not.
Have you had any memorable reactions to the campaign?
Olivier, who’s in the film, shared the final cut with his mother, who said: Wow, that’s beautiful. But he was quick to explain to her that it was more than just beautiful. Thirty years ago, when he was growing up, there was no advertisement like this. And today, he’s actually in that advert.
I know that he was so proud that the first person he shared this with was his mother. And, of course, he’s already had similar conversations with her before, but it was just a new way of telling her that this was important to him.
Do you have many queer owners?
We have a lot of them, and many own big properties. I think there’s something about our culture – and maybe it’s cliché to say it – that sometimes, when you’re not lucky, you find yourself having to recreate your family. Friends become that family, and I know a lot of people who have lived this; I lived it too.
And I believe it makes you a great host, with the opportunity to design amazing properties and welcome all kinds of people in.
What else, to you, makes a great host?
Guests come back to us for our concierge service. When you travel somewhere new, you’re always trying to find a friend, or a friend of a friend who’s living there, to get the best recommendations. We really believe in this. It’s our foremost priority to have local people on the ground, everywhere our properties are.
And it’s about the little things, like: ‘It’s windy today, you should avoid this beach and head here instead’. In Ibiza, for example, we’ve got Bernie working for us, who’s born and raised on the island – and so proud of where he lives. Or, at our chalet in Switzerland, for the first two days, your concierge is also your ski instructor. That’s the point of curation to me.
Photography by Aliocha Boi and courtesy of Le Collectionist
