Big Sur Corridor Reactivates — and Monterey Car Week Is Four Weeks Out
Highway 1 through Big Sur has reopened, restoring direct coastal access to Post Ranch Inn and Alila Ventana Big Sur — two of the corridor's flagship ultra-luxury properties that had been operationally complicated by the closure. Front-queue fall shoulder-season availability now that demand for the route will spike.
The timing lands four weeks before Monterey Car Week (August 11–17), where RM Sotheby's anchors with a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato — one of only 19 ever built, estimated at $12–15M and a 2019 Pebble Beach Best of Show finalist. That estimate calibrates the buyer room firmly at the top of the collector market. Lodging across the Carmel-to-Big Sur corridor — Bernardus Lodge, L'Auberge Carmel, Quail Lodge area — will be at peak pressure August 11–17; treat accommodation confirmation as urgent for any client with auction interest.
A new D.S. & Durga fragrance partnership with See Monterey adds a client-ready narrative scaffold: a Monterey-to-SLO itinerary layering Julia Pfeiffer Burns, Nepenthe, and Treebones with branded scents ('Big Sur After Rain,' 'Big Sur Eucalyptus') retailable as departure gifts.
THE PIG Breaks Ground in Warwickshire — 35 Rooms, Grade II Manor, Summer 2027 Target
THE PIG Hotels has formally begun construction on its tenth property — THE PIG-on the farm on the Walton Estate in Warwickshire. The Grade II-listed manor and farm buildings occupy 53 acres and will open with 35 bedrooms alongside what CEO Kevin Styles describes as the brand's largest kitchen-garden restaurant to date, pushing the restaurant-with-rooms concept further than any previous PIG property.
Summer 2027 is the stated opening target — firm enough for client calendar conversations, and early enough that preferred-access or preview-booking arrangements could still emerge in H1 2027. For advisors building UK touring itineraries, Warwickshire adds a Midlands anchor to a brand historically concentrated in the south and southwest, extending its utility for clients pairing a Cotswolds corridor with a country-house stay. THE PIG's repeat-guest base generates reliable waitlist pressure; pre-qualifying interested clients now is the correct posture.
O'Rourke Family Estate Opens in Okanagan — the UHNW Wine-Country Alternative Canada Has Been Missing
O'Rourke Family Estate has opened in Kelowna, British Columbia, with 23 bedrooms currently live — four private suites in the Owner's House plus a hotel wing — alongside fine-dining restaurant Row 188, the casual Granite Café, a concrete amphitheater, and a full event center. At 220,000 sq ft of interior space, the property was designed by Backen & Backen, the architecture firm behind several definitive West Coast winery estates, which gives it serious design provenance. Rolls-Royce has already hosted client events on-property — the correct calibration signal for UHNW positioning.
For advisors, the Okanagan pitch is straightforward: all the ritual of Napa or Willamette, none of their overtourism friction, with a currency differential that often benefits US clients. The estate's scale supports small-group buyouts and corporate UHNW events. A 100-room buildout is planned; pricing and allocation will be most advisor-favorable in this opening phase.