Ultra-luxury line Regent Seven Seas has introduced a more relaxed evening dress code, allowing guests to dine in ‘refined’ denim and ‘dress sneaker’ after 6pm for the first time.
While some agents have welcomed the move, saying it was ‘about time’ and ‘people should be able to dress how they want,’ others are not pleased.
Posting on Travel Gossip’s Facebook page, one agent said that, for some clients, dressing up was part of the Regent experience and another said their customers had already expressed concern.
One agent assumed the new ‘elegant casual’ dress code had been introduced to suit Regent’s American clientele.
However, Regent Vice President Paul Beale insisted the dress code hadn’t been relaxed with Americans in mind, pointing out that Europeans were already well ahead of the ‘smart casual’ curve.
“If you walk into any fine dining restaurant or luxury hotel, you’ll see the dress code is changing, and we are evolving to make sure we move with these trends,” he said.
“We are definitely not dumbing down. Luxury is about choice and people can still dress up if they want to.”
Paul said, previously, Regent guests were turning up at restaurants in ‘$500 jeans and Versace trainers’ and being turned away. “Expensive jeans and trainers are acceptable in any top restaurant now, formality is changing and we’re acknowledging that,” he added.
“We are absolutely providing for luxury clientele, and people will still dress well in our environment. I think they will embrace this new dress code and dress impeccably.”
Regent defines ‘refined denim’ as jeans that are ‘stylish and free of rips or distressing’, and it says sneakers (trainers) must be ‘clean, polished and in neutral or classic tones’.
Men must still wear collared shirts with t-shirts, baseball caps, shorts, athletic shoes, flip flops and bathrobes still banned in public areas after 6pm.
