Some of the world's most luxurious hotels bought in £2.5bn deal

It owns some of the world's most luxurious hotels, including the Cipriani in Venice, the Splendido in Portofino, the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro and Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire, as well as operating the Venice-Simplon Orient Express and Royal Scotsman luxury train services.

And soon Belmond Group, which is based in the UK but listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will have a new owner equally steeped in the world of luxury.

The company has agreed to a takeover by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the French luggage, perfume, fashion, champagne and cognac combine, in a deal worth a total of $3.2bn (£2.5bn) once Belmond (NYSE: BEL - news) 's debts are included.

The deal further extends the reach of LVMH in the luxury travel market.

The company, which is 46% owned by the family of Bernard Arnault, France's richest man, already owns the Bulgari hotels brand and Cheval Blanc, a set of luxury properties in locations such as Courchevel and the Maldives, that cater for the super-rich on their travels.

It also confirms the growing importance of the luxury travel category which, after experiencing a period in the doldrums following the financial crisis, is growing strongly.

For LVMH, the acquisition is something of a coup, as it beat off interest from many deep-pocketed competitors, which are thought to have included the private equity firms Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) and KKR as well as sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East.

Accor (EUREX: 485822.EX - news) , the French hotels giant, was said to have been interested at one stage, while in February this year, The Times reported that Belmond had held initial sale discussions with Britain's Intercontinental Hotel Group, owner of the Holiday Inn chain.

America's Hilton Hotels was also thought to have taken a look at the business too.

The takeover also marks a return to mergers and acquisitions for LVMH after a major €12.1bn deal last year, which united the whole of the Christian Dior (Swiss: CDI.SW - news) brand together under a single owner for the first time in 70 years.

Mr Arnault said: "Belmond delivers unique experiences to discerning travellers and owns a number of exceptional assets in the most desirable destinations. This acquisition will significantly increase LVMH's presence in the ultimate hospitality world."

Yet there is another dimension to the deal from LVMH's perspective: it is a recognition that younger consumers, especially millennials, are more interested in experiences than in possessions. They are viewed as being more likely to pay for a stay in a luxury hotel than they are a luxury handbag.

The story of Belmond is as interesting as the luxury assets it owns. The business was created in 1976 when James Sherwood, the American-born but British-based entrepreneur who founded the shipping giant Sea Containers, bought the then loss-making Cipriani from the Guinness family for $1.4m.

Following an outcry over the closure of the service, in 1977, Mr Sherwood followed this by buying a number of railway carriages from the original Orient Express with a view to reopening it.

The logic underpinning this was that the service would bring more customers to Venice for the Cipriani. He launched the Venice-Simplon Orient Express - the original Orient Express brand name remains owned by the French national rail operator SNCF - running restored carriages from the original service between London and Venice in 1982.

Other acquisitions followed along the way including 21, the luxury New York club and restaurant, before Mr Sherwood decided to float off Orient Express Hotels as a separate company on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2000.

Sea Containers retained control of the business for a while but, after its profits collapsed following the terror attacks of September 2001, it reduced its holding in Orient Express Hotels to below 50% in late 2002.

It sold the last of its shares in 2005 - months before Mr Sherwood resigned from all his positions with Sea Containers which, in late 2006, collapsed after its GNER rail franchise became the first of several operators to come a cropper running the East Coast main line.

Rumours of possible takeover bids for Orient Express Hotels came and went over the years and, in 2012, Mr Sherwood resurfaced to support a bid by Ratan Tata, the Indian billionaire whose company owns Jaguar Land Rover.

That attempt was seen off and, in 2014, the company renamed itself Belmond after SNCF announced plans to launch a number of products, including luxury luggage, under the Orient Express brand.

That renaming, with hindsight, was a hint that the company saw its future under another owner as it was an acknowledgement that some owners might be reluctant to buy into a business whose main brand and very name was actually owned by a third party.

Fans of the company's hotels, resorts and services will doubtless be relieved that Belmond has fallen into the hands of an owner unlikely to break it up, as a private equity buyer would have, or compromise on its standards as some rival hotel operators might have been tempted.

LVMH's ownership is likely to represent continuity.