Editor’s Choice I
Beauty meets gastronomy: Café De La Rose opens at Hamad International Airport
These pages capture memorable openings, activations and launches across the current travel retail landscape. We open with Lancôme and Qatar Duty Free’s hybrid retail concept, Café De La Rose.
Lancôme Travel Retail has partnered with Qatar Duty Free (QDF) to unveil the groundbreaking Café De La Rose concept at Hamad International Airport.
Located in Concourse D, the space fuses beauty, fragrance and gastronomy, drawing on Lancôme’s French heritage and QDF’s expertise in experiential retail to create a hybrid experience for travellers.
The concept showcases Lancôme’s skincare and fragrance portfolio in the atmosphere of a contemporary café that captures the spirit of the Avenue Champs-Elysées in Paris. It offers an environment that is part retail, part café with motifs that draw inspiration from Lancôme’s rose emblem and pink colour palette.
The café offers seating for 28 guests and was created in collaboration with French gastronomy house Lenôtre. It offers five exclusive pastries, crafted especially for Lancôme by World Pastry Champion Étienne Leroy.
These include a reimagining of classic Lenôtre pastry Feuille d’Automne, alongside new creations such as the Lancôme Cheesecake and the signature Rose Agora (pear & lychee) dessert.
deserunt commodo
Magna sint adipisicing nostrud exercitation magna dolor reprehenderit. Velit incididunt eu magna sunt aliqua commodo proident.
ex reprehenderit
Cupidatat velit exercitation do cupidatat.
irure mollit
Sint cillum voluptate. Enim ullamco reprehenderit fugiat ea occaecat ex eiusmod.
irure mollit
Sint cillum voluptate. Enim ullamco reprehenderit fugiat ea occaecat ex eiusmod.
A new Pentarchy partnership
The opening exemplifies L’Oréal Travel Retail’s Pentarchy partnership approach, which brings airline, airport, retailer, brand and group together to deliver elevated travel retail experiences.
The campaign is supported by different pre-trip touchpoints via Qatar Airways CRM campaigns, in-app engagement and striking OOH media visibility at Hamad International Airport which incorporates digital screens and pink buggies.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Retail & Hospitality Officer Thabet Musleh commented: “Café De La Rose is a perfect example of how our partnerships allow us to bring world-class brands and exceptional concepts to our passengers.
“Working with Lancôme and L’Oréal Travel Retail, we’ve created a space that blends beauty, fragrance, and gastronomy in a way that’s unique to Hamad International Airport.”
L’Oréal Travel Retail President Emmanuel Goulin added: “The Café de la Rose in Doha embodies a major strategic ambition for L’Oréal Travel Retail: to turn the airport into an Entertaining Destination.
“By merging Lancôme’s luxury universe with Lenôtre’s exquisite patisserie, we are inviting passengers to an unexpected encounter of French art de vivre.”
Comment: This hybrid concept underscores a broader trend in airports worldwide: the transformation of terminal spaces into destinations that offer cultural, culinary and sensory experiences.
For brands and operators, the challenge is to create moments that resonate with travellers, leaving an impression beyond the typical shopping encounter. Café De La Rose demonstrates how experiential innovation can enhance both brand engagement and the overall passenger journey.
Partner’s message
Partner’s message
The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 347 | 26 September 2025
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 6 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (MA Travel Retail). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please email kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com