The Man Who Built Six Senses Is Back — And He’s Done Playing It Safe

Bernhard Bohnenberger told me a story about the uphill battle of the early days of Six Senses. A journalist had written that he was trying to take backpackerism to $1,000 a night (“good luck!”), and the investment community thought he was unhinged. His GMs were secretly keeping bottles of French luxury water for their guests — they were certain guests would prefer it to the local offerings. 

That was 30 years ago. In the current luxury zeitgeist, $1,000 a night is now $5,000. Six Senses sold to IHG for $300 million in 2019.

Bohnenberger, known to all as BB, left shortly after and has spent the past five years building something he refuses to call Six Senses 2.0. He calls it the Discover Collection and describes his ideal member as someone who has been there, done that, and has also been stung by the spiritual hollowing out of luxury. The type of person who wants to go scuba diving with a marine biologist instead of a dive master, and understands the diffe