COVER STORY
PAST FOR PRESENT The history of Orient Express acts as a lodestar for Perez-Alvarado.( Orient Express employs a 41-year-old, in-house historian, whose PhD work focused on the history of Orient Express. His research involved tracking down original Orient Express train carriages.) In fact, her curiosity in its past is a driving force for the brand’ s future. A voracious reader and eager researcher, Perez-Alvarado drops easily into days of yore in discussing Orient Express.“ Every asset that we have opened celebrates the time period,” she said, before recounting Orient Express La Minerva’ s palace days and subsequent transformation into a hotel in the 1800s. Here, Perez-Alvarado added her own imprint, paying homage to the past. The hotel features a ground-level speakeasy, Perez-Alvarado’ s own idea to add a 1920s-era bar that was reminiscent of the underground bars that emerged during the reign of Benito Mussolini. Certain elements of the hotel take cues from Roma
Orient Express La Minerva in Rome opened in 2025. It was originally a 17thcentury palazzo. Photo credit: Alexandre Tabaste
Ostiense railway station, which was built to receive Adolf Hitler in 1938, and features classic design, from the Travertinemarbled facade to the black-and-white mosaics of its main entrance.
Accor’ s upcoming Venice property was a noble residence built in 1436 and formerly the private residence of the Dona and Giovannelli families, known as great patrons of the arts. Yachts celebrate the 1920s; La Dolce Vita harkens back to postwar Italian glamor.“ What I’ ve enjoyed most about the Orient Express projects is their connection to history,” Perez-Alvarado said.“ You wish the buildings could talk to you.”
Accor’ s control of Orient Express could be fleeting. In 2024, LVMH took a 50 % stake in Orient Express. It was later disclosed that as part of the deal, LVMH could exercise an option to acquire the remaining 50 % from Accor by 2027. LVMH already operates the Venice Simplon- Orient-Express train service through its Belmond subsidiary.
FINDING HER WAY Perez-Alvarado’ s position with Accor isn’ t transitory; she’ s a linchpin, with an upbringing that readied her for success in the global profession of hospitality, even if she was unaware of it at the time. Her introduction to hotels began at an early age. Born in Costa Rica, Perez- Alvarado’ s grandmother owned a hotel and a restaurant and her mother worked in the largest hotel in the Central American country.“ I grew up in hotels,” she said.“ It was the early’ 80s. Everything was still done old school.” She fondly remembers working a switchboard.
Despite an early hospitality induction, Perez-Alvarado wanted to be a biochemist; a rough first day of organic chemistry forced a rethink. She returned to hospitality and ended up graduating from the famed hotel school at Cornell University. Her affinity for the profession of travel is an expected outcome of a sundry family: an El Salvadoran father, an American mother, married to a Spaniard. She also moved around a lot in her early years, with time spent living in Madrid and Algeria. She went to high school in West Lafayette, Ind., where, ironically, another famed traveler studied at Purdue University, Neil Armstrong.“ I’ m very curious. I like to travel,” she said.
Her first gig out of college placed her in
30 hotelsmag. com Mar / Apr 2026