The Man Who Scaled Six Senses Just Took Over Three London Landmarks

Constellation Hotels has named Neil Jacobs chief executive of a new hotel operating company that will run The Connaught, The Berkeley and The Emory - the three London hotels the Luxembourg-based investment group kept when it split from Maybourne in July. The appointment was made on September 2 and detailed by Skift on September 8.

Jacobs ran Six Senses for 13 years, taking it from a small Asian wellness group to a brand IHG bought in 2019. He left in mid-2025 and started an advisory firm, Wild Origins, weeks later. He is now stepping back from its day-to-day operations, keeping a shareholding, to build the Constellation platform from scratch.

The mandate goes well past the three London houses. The pipeline includes a hotel in the Saint-Germain district of Paris, a development in Marrakech, and Hackwood Park, a country estate in Hampshire. A name for the collection is due before the end of the year.

The argument for a third way

Jacobs is pitching something between a global operator and a standalone independent: a collection of roughly 12 to 30 hotels that layers lifestyle energy - bars and restaurants that pull in locals, not just guests - onto upper-luxury service. Big enough to negotiate procurement and distribution terms, small enough that nobody loses track of the details.

The company also plans to manage hotels Constellation does not own, positioning itself as a boutique alternative to third-party operators like Highgate. A corporate team is still being assembled, and serious contract talks are expected around the first quarter of 2027.

Why it matters: ultra-luxury owners have spent a decade choosing between the distribution muscle of the big brand groups and the independence of running their own house. A credible small-collection operator with real balance-sheet backing changes that calculation - and Constellation, controlled by a vehicle of former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, has the balance sheet.