Max Aniort is one of the founding members and the CEO of Le Collectionist, an ultra-luxury villa rental company (it’s the highest-rated luxury holiday rental brand in the world) with homes and villas in over 30 destinations. A lifelong traveler, Aniort was born in Brittany, France before moving to Saudi Arabia at the age of seven. Family vacations and summers were spent in Greece’s Dodecanese Islands, and a youth spent living in place such as New York, Hong Kong and London and traveling the world in between impacted his love for travel and unique experiences.
Today, Aniort continues to grow the company, adding to their seven offices and securing new properties to meet demand. Growth, explains Aniort, is all about curation, “We have a waiting list of thousands of properties across Europe that apply to be listed on Le Collectionist’s platforms—so this part of curating only the best homes is key.” Aniort is also focused on the time-consuming task of ensuring local teams are in place in all of the destinations they serve to offer clients, “the best services and experiences on-site.” Here he talks about what makes Le Collectionist different than every other villa rental company and his favorite travel experiences.
What experiences made you into a world traveler?
I suppose my expat years influenced the creation of Le Collectionist, especially in terms of the product idea (large, beautiful homes designed to host large groups) rather than the broader idea of travel itself. My own home was very much like that: an open house always ready to welcome people joining at the last minute for dinners and parties. Particularly on Christmas Eve, we would host young expats who couldn’t make it home for the holiday. This certainly influenced how I approach hosting and my desire to create a company offering large properties to gather loved ones.
It is still my perfect holiday to spend a full day in a summer house balancing my time between going to the market, cooking, eating, reading, and playing games with family and friends.
Why did you start Le Collectionist?
The idea stemmed from the realization that owners of luxury properties would not list their homes on traditional platforms alongside “cheaper” options. At first, it was definitely more of an owner move than a guest one. But once we launched, we quickly noticed the guests’ reactions, as clients who would have preferred booking a private property over a hotel. As the business rapidly took off, we soon decided to focus more on the guest experience, especially creating local concierge teams across all our key destinations, which have been our biggest strength since day one.
What is your favorite destination for a family vacation? For a romantic vacation?
For a family holiday, I spend most summers in Greece island hopping one summer after the other to discover as many of them as possible. I love this country. I spent all my summer as a kid in Kalymonos in the Dodecanese, and I am happy to share the same memories with my husband and daughter. But last summer, to change it up, we decided to discover an entirely new destination, and we went to Mallorca. I was astonished by the beauty of the Western coast with the green cliffs falling into the sea and the traditional houses lost in the trees. It was magnificent.
For romantic vacations, they can be pretty much anywhere. I don’t think the destination matters much; romance is about the person you are with.
My latest trips have been to Holbox, Rome (always a good idea), Madrid, Ibiza, and Zermatt.
What part of the world do you want to explore next?
I’m a very old person in a not-that-young body. I love having routines, and that’s also why I love returning to the same places, whether it’s Greece or the Swiss Alps. I also enjoy revisiting my favorite addresses and exploring places I’ve already been to. That’s more my thing than discovering every corner of the world. Also, having a young daughter now has changed my way of travelling. As a young person, backpacking all over Asia without knowing where I’d sleep or what train I’d catch the next day was my thing and the best way to feel completely free. But now that I’ve grown up and have a family, I’ve changed my plans a bit!
What Greek Island do you most enjoy and why?
There are so many of them. Antiparos is one of my favorites as it is a tiny island with a lovely traditional Greek village. Also Sifnos is one of the greenest islands in the Cycladic area, with the best restaurants in Greece (Omega 3 being my favorite). Next summer, we will visit Corfu for the first time, so I’ll keep you posted about this one!
What does Le Collectionist offer that other villa rentals do not?
Our portfolio is unique and carefully selected. We offboard between 10 and 20% of our portfolio of properties every year that don’t meet our increasingly high standards.
As we have this unique structure, we don’t really compare ourselves to other villa rentals. We’d rather compare ourselves with other luxury companies, also by having them close, just as with the Pinault family who is one of our investors. This changes everything because we don’t ask ourselves how to be a better option than another rental company; instead, we focus more on creating a luxury product that would compete with any other luxury goods. For instance, convincing people that they would be happier spending their money on having an amazing stay with their loved ones rather than buying another bag or pair of shoes.
Talk about the local experts you have – what do they offer to villa renters?
Our concierge teams can almost do anything—legality is the limit. From bringing camels for a Moroccan birthday in St. Tropez to organizing a high-altitude private dinner reachable through a helicopter ride. We are the best at creating off-the-beaten-track experiences or just getting you to any place you want.
How do you find your local experts?
Often in our most busy destinations, many come directly to us as they want to share their local knowledge and passion, knowing we truly value local expertise. When we’ve opened new destinations, we’ve often acquired on-site companies to be sure to become fully part of the local economy and actively contribute to the sustainability of the destination.
Describe some of the cool personalized experiences that your local experts might plan for guests?
Our experiences are varied, just like our guests. Depending on the destination, we can go from a very “simple” booking to some of the most difficult-to-book restaurants in Mykonos, to cutting the lines in the best clubs and meeting the DJs or fellow pop stars in Ibiza, to touring open markets in Provence with a Michelin-starred chef and stealing his best Provencal recipes. This year, we also had a client enjoying the Musée d’Orsay privatized, completely for himself, for an exclusive private visit.
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