Lavish accommodations set the scene of many of this year’s best TV series, from “Succession” to “The White Lotus”
9 min
British royalty, billionaire media moguls and wealthy vacationers filled the screens of this year’s Emmy-nominated TV shows.
We may not covet the characters’ tangled, twisted relationships in “Succession,” which swept the nominations, or the backstabbing (and actual stabbing) in “Only Murders in the Building,” up for best comedy. But their lavish penthouses, castles and beach resorts could certainly stoke some house envy.
Here, Mansion Global highlights some of the real-life lavish homes that set the backdrop to some of this year’s fictional favourites.
“Succession” — 27 Nominations, Including Outstanding Drama Series
If “Succession,” the HBO series that’s high on drama and high-net-worth characters, exudes anything, it’s luxury—and that goes for its filming locations as much as anything else.
Take this uber-contemporary waterfront home in the Hamptons, the exclusive pocket of New York’s Long Island favoured by wealthy New Yorkers, which is on the market for $55 million. The angular and glass-covered house was featured in Season 3 of the award-winning series, starring as the beachfront mansion owned by billionaire investor Josh Aaronson, played by Adrien Brody, and visited by Kendall and Logan Roy.
Built in 2018 in the hamlet of Wainscott, the property has a giant open-plan living, dining and kitchen space, where the home’s jaunty inverted roofline translates inside to an upside-down teak pyramid in the centre of room.
The custom kitchen occupies one end of the space with a statement marble backsplash—which made an appearance in the show. At the other end is a towering stone fireplace—you’ll spot that during the episode, too.
In fact, there were a number of real-life trophy homes the TV series used as sets. They include multiple units at the Upper East Side new development 180 East 88th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The show even took over the building’s crown jewel—a triplex penthouse with a dramatic covered terrace—to film as Kendall Roy’s New York home.
The airy, contemporary apartment was designed around soaring ceiling heights, floor-to-ceiling views and an imposing, sculptural spiral staircase. The five-bedroom condo has its own private elevator connecting the three levels, which culminate in an outdoor roof landing soaring nearly 470 feet over Manhattan. The developer of the building sold the penthouse in June for $24.7 million, according to property records. Meanwhile, another, smaller penthouse in the building that was also featured in “Succession” is still on the market for $14.85 million.
“Wednesday” — Two Nominations, Including Outstanding Comedy Series
“Wednesday,” Netflix’s supernatural comedy centred around Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) of “The Addams Family” fame, is nominated for best comedy, and Ortega is nominated for best actress in a comedy.
In the show’s inaugural season, Addams is expelled after dumping live piranhas into the school’s pool to exact revenge on the water polo team, and is sent to Nevermore Academy, a private school for supernatural outcasts, including witches, werewolves and vampires.
The show headed to Romania for much of filming, with the suitably gothic and foreboding Cantacuzino Castle, in the small mountain town of Bușteni, serving as the exterior setting for Nevermore. The former royal summer residence was built in 1911 at the request of the late Romanian Prince Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, and today is open to the public.
“Shrinking” — Two Nominations, Including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Apple TV+’s “Shrinking,” follows therapist Jimmy (played by Jason Segel) as he deals with the grief of his wife’s death. His next-door neighbour Liz (Christa Miller) is a close friend, becoming somewhat of a surrogate mother to Jimmy’s teenage daughter, Alice (Lukita Maxwell). The proximity of their Southern California homes make for blurry boundaries, especially as Jimmy struggles as a newly single parent.
The show—nominated for two Emmys, including a best actor in a comedy for Segel—actually filmed parts at two neighbouring homes in Pasadena, California. The real-life home used as Jimmy’s was built in 1913 and is designated as a Historic Highlands Craftsman home. The Arts and Crafts-style house spans just under 3,500 square feet with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a pool, according to its most recent listing. It last sold in 2016 for $1.6 million. The neighbouring home, used for Liz and her husband, Derek, is a bit smaller, at about 1,600 square feet. Built in 1922, it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
“The Crown” — Six Nominations, Including Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Several U.K. estates were featured in “The Crown,” a Netflix original that garnered six Emmy nominations this year, including nods for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of Princess Diana. Burghley House—a 16th-century manse in Lincolnshire, England, about 130 miles north of London—is one of the largest surviving houses of the era, as well as an example of the great Elizabethan “prodigy” houses, built to honor Queen Elizabeth I. Indeed, it was her Lord High Treasurer, William Cecil, who helmed the project, built between 1555 and 1587.
The estate was featured in the most recent season of the show, but it’s no stranger to the screen, having also been seen in films like “Pride & Prejudice” (2005) and “The Flash” (2023), and even had a turn on “Antiques Roadshow.” The Cecil family put the home in a trust some years ago, and the property is now open to the public, who can tour its extensive gardens and art collection, and is still the site of the Burghley Horse Trials, set to begin this year on Aug. 31. “The Crown” has received 69 Emmy nominations since its first season in 2016, winning 21 times.
“House of the Dragon” — Eight Nominations, Including Outstanding Drama Series
In “House of the Dragon,” HBO’s blockbuster prequel series to “Game of Thrones,” Driftmark is an island in Blackwater Bay and the ancestral seat of House Velaryon who rule from the castle High Tide.
Away from Westeros, the rugged and rocky outcropping, and the historic castle that stands on top of it, is St. Michael’s Mount, found in the sea off the coast of Marazion in Cornwall, in South West England.
The awe-inspiring spot is currently home to the St. Aubyn family, who have a 999-year lease to live in the castle and run the visitor business. And unsurprisingly, given its grandeur, the mount has been used as a filming location for the 1979 film “Dracula,” the 1983 James Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” the 2003 film “Johnny English,” and in the 2012 adventure movie “Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box.”
“The White Lotus” — 23 Nominations, Including Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
Season 2 of HBO’s “The White Lotus” took both its cast and viewers to the scenic Sicilian town of Taormina. While the White Lotus—where the show’s affluent, eccentric guests are seen dining, lounging and creating chaos—is a fictional resort, the season was filmed at the real San Domenico Palace, which is a Four Seasons hotel.
Formerly a 14th-century convent, the historic building has been reimagined into a five-star resort offering a cliff top infinity pool, Italian gardens and Michelin-starred dining. Though, much of the monastery’s structure has been preserved, including the original frescoes. With views of the Ionian Sea, Mount Etna and the ancient Greek theatre Teatro Antico di Taormina, the hotel provides for an idyllic Italian getaway, with hopefully less theft and death than that of “The White Lotus.”
“Beef” — 13 Nominations, Including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
An extravagant mansion that happens to be one of Los Angeles’s most popular shooting locations made a cameo in the fifth episode of “Beef,” when main characters Amy (played by Ali Wong) and her husband, George (Joseph Lee), book a luxury rental.
In their everyday life, the main characters of this revenge-filled black comedy from Netflix live in a suitably dark house filled with concrete and dim lighting—a stark contrast to the sun-drenched vacation home lined in window walls overlooking the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains. In real life, the mansion is located in the San Fernando Valley and once belonged to Frank Sinatra. The characters and their daughter, June, lounge in the pool, with the airy, white Mid-Century Modern home in the backdrop.
Besides “Beef,” Miley Cyrus made the striking home and cinematic views the backdrop of her latest album “Endless Summer Vacation,” which dropped earlier this year. The six-bedroom mansion was also featured in “Mad Men” and “Dreamgirls” (2006).
“Only Murders in the Building” — 11 Nominations, Including Outstanding Comedy Series
The Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short comic murder mystery “Only Murders in the Building” takes place almost entirely within the fictional Arconia and the surrounding Upper West Side neighborhood. In reality, filming took place at the Belnord. Completed in 1908, the luxury residence occupies a full block at Broadway and West 86th Street.
The building has a starring role, showcasing apartments within its 213 units, as well as its famous inner courtyard (one of the largest in the city) and its facade. Originally designed by Hiss and Weekes in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, it was reimagined in 2018 by Robert A.M. Stern, who updated and opened up the apartments while preserving the public spaces. There are currently 13 active listings at the Belnord, listed by Douglas Elliman Development Marketing and priced up to $13.85 million for a four-bedroom on the 11th floor of the 13-storey building.
—V.L. Hendrickson, Liz Lucking, Casey Farmer and Beckie Strum contributed reporting
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
BNW Developments has established a Sydney presence, joining Arada and Sobha Realty among the growing number of UAE developers pursuing Australian buyers and development opportunities.
The Australian leather house has opened an immersive four-day pop-up in Manhattan, unveiling its Bloom Collection and redefining what a product launch can look like.
AI-powered travel agents are challenging online booking platforms, but Airbnb’s exclusive listings and direct customer relationships could give it an edge. Its next challenge: turning repeat guests into loyal customers through stronger rewards and innovation.
3 min
AI agents like Muse can already find you the cheapest hotel room in Paris. But they can’t locate a cheaper version of that Catskills cabin you’ve been eyeing, because it might only be available on Airbnb ABNB -1.43%decrease.
Investors should pay attention to that distinction. When Meta Platforms META 3.38%increase launched its Muse agent last month, travel stocks including Booking Holdings BKNG -1.19%decrease, Expedia and Airbnb all fell sharply.
Airbnb, though, has a real chance to emerge as a winner from the upheaval. The catch: Its stock already reflects above-industry growth. To justify its valuation, Airbnb will need to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.
Online travel companies make much of their money by simplifying search and collecting fees on bookings. AI agents threaten that model.
But not all travel marketplaces are equally exposed. Booking and Expedia largely sell hotel rooms that travelers can also book directly or through competing sites. If an agent can find the same room elsewhere, it has little reason to favor either Booking or Expedia.
Booking and Expedia also sell sponsored listings that steer travelers toward particular properties. Wells Fargo estimates those will account for about 8% of Expedia’s revenue and a much higher percentage of profit next year.
Airbnb has more ways to adapt. More than half its listings are available only on its platform, and more than 90% of its traffic comes directly to its app or website.
The customer relationship doesn’t end after booking, either. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke notes that 90% of Airbnb guests go on to message their hosts about arrival times, keys or local taxes, giving Airbnb a connection to both sides of the transaction.
How the companies have responded to the possible agentic future is telling.
Expedia quickly signed on as a Muse partner. Airbnb hasn’t, and Chief Executive Brian Chesky says AI chatbots have so far been a boon, sending customers to Airbnb’s website.
Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips. He argued that browsing dozens of homes isn’t something a text-based chatbot is well suited for.
Still, the AI jitters arrived just as Airbnb was persuading investors it deserved its pricey multiple. For years after its 2020 initial public offering, the stock—which trades around 25 to 30 times forward earnings—went nowhere. Investors saw a mature operator trading at a growth premium.
This year, Airbnb growth seems to be accelerating. The stock jumped in August after the company raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance with its second-quarter results. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski credits a run of product improvements under a revamped leadership team.
Among the changes: letting guests reserve now and pay later, adding hotels, and a redesigned home page and app. Investors were also betting on what comes next, including thousands more hotels, car rentals and, eventually, advertising.
The irony is that some of those growth drivers push Airbnb closer to the kind of business Booking and Expedia run—the kind of business AI agents could threaten. Even if AI agents capture a large share of travel planning and booking, Airbnb would capture the demand. But it and others would slowly lose control over how customers find and choose properties.
That would undermine the advertising opportunity investors are counting on. The bigger point for Airbnb and other marketplaces is that losing control of customer acquisition could mean surrendering some of their pricing power and margins.
To bulletproof itself, Airbnb might look to another e-commerce giant that has so far kept AI agents at arm’s length: Amazon.
Like Amazon, Airbnb has a loyal customer base and hard-to-match supply. But it has nothing like Prime membership to make customers think twice before taking their business elsewhere.
That is where loyalty comes in. Business travelers stick with Hilton or Marriott because enough nights earn them perks. Leisure travelers rarely accumulate stays with one chain. Airbnb has millions of listings and plenty of repeat customers, but no broad rewards program. It has begun experimenting with credits on hotel stays, but it should make loyalty a priority, not just a promotion.
Airbnb also plans to launch its own AI agent next year. But travelers using an agent might still want it to search Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking and hotel websites alike, rather than limit itself to one company’s inventory.
Eventually, Airbnb might have to strike deals with agent makers, using its unique homes as leverage to negotiate favorable terms, says Gawrelski. Such deals, along with rewards for loyal guests, could over the long term eat into the company’s roughly 13% take rate, he adds. But if they bring in enough additional bookings, the trade-off could be worthwhile.
History offers a reason not to panic. The shift from desktop to mobile unsettled investors in Alphabet and Amazon, but both emerged as major beneficiaries. Companies with valuable assets can come out of a platform shift stronger, if they adapt quickly enough.
Airbnb has homes the bots can’t easily replace. Now it needs to give guests a reason to insist on booking them there.
