Richard Gere's New Gig As Hotel Ambassador

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 18th 2010 at 5:01AM

We already knew that Richard Gere was in the hotel business. He and his wife Carey Lowell are the owners and proprietors of the charming Bedford Post Inn, a retreat about an hour north of New York City. The inn was recently named as a new member of the Relais & Châteaux hotel association and Gere is taking on an additional role; he has been named the 2011 ambassador of Relais & Châteaux.

As my colleague Jared Paul Stern recently pointed out, The Bedford Post Inn is an eight-room luxury inn featuring marble baths, fireplaces and Frette linens, two restaurants and a yoga studio. Gere and wife Carey Lowell recently hired Jeremy MacMillan, formerly of A Voce Columbus and A Voce Madison in Manhattan, as the new chef at the Inn, where he will emphasize high-quality seasonal local ingredients at both its restaurants. Rates at the hotel range from $295 per night for a basic bed and breakfast experience to $630 per night for the Inn's King Deluxe room with a terrace, breakfast at The Barn, the Chef's Tasting Menu at the Farmhouse and a yoga class for two guests.

The Bedford Post is one of 36 new members that were approved this year, bringing the membership of the organization to more than 500 hotels and restaurants in nearly 60 countries. The 2011 Guide includes six new destinations: Vanuatu, Estonia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Chile and Hong Kong. Properties have an average of 30 rooms and are often family enterprises. It's no easy job. As Gere put it: "In my long career, I've played many challenging and demanding characters, but believe me, none more so than my real life role as innkeeper."

Gallery: Bedford Post Inn