It started, as many ideas do, over dinner.
The kind of dinner where your seatmate is a Saudi royal, the wine list runs longer than a novella, and someone casually mentions needing an Arabic-speaking female DJ. Tonight. For most people, that would be a full-blown logistical crisis. For the founders of Million Dollar Luxe, it’s just a Tuesday.
Photo Credit: Olya Helga
“We’re not a concierge service,” says Marina Drabkin. “We’re in the business of translating fantasy into form.”
Transforming a $40M villa into a 24/7 spa retreat? Check. Building a makeshift gallery for a client’s private art viewing in less than a day? Done.
Million Dollar Luxe was born from a simple observation: ultra-wealthy travellers were spending hundreds of thousands on their accommodations, only to arrive to the same bottle of Veuve in a stainless-steel ice bucket. “The homes were gorgeous, but the experiences were generic,” says Anatoli Kouzine. “People wanted more. They wanted their own version of luxury.” So, the team started designing that version.
Photo Credit: Million Dollar Luxe @milliondollarluxe
At any given time, they’re juggling a dozen high-touch itineraries, each tailored to the quirks and cravings of a private clientele. That might mean re-outfitting an entire estate in white roses where 2,000 stems were sourced within hours. Or securing $30,000 worth of candles to line a driveway with flickering light before a guest’s grand entrance. “We’re always on the edge of art and emergency,” says Drabkin.
Their client list includes Grammy winners, tech billionaires, and discreet moguls. The one thing they all share? An expectation that anything is possible. That includes a nocturnal artist who needed a 20,000-square-foot villa blacked out completely to accommodate his reverse schedule. Within hours, the team had it sealed in shadow.
At the core of the business is a deep knowledge of lifestyle codes. How to make a home feel like your home, even if it’s a new one each week. That means sourcing rare wines, curating niche playlists, programming wellness itineraries with elite practitioners, and even swapping mattresses to match preferred firmness. Every detail matters.
They’ve also built an unrivalled Rolodex of talent. Chefs, sommeliers, curators, Reiki masters, and micro-niche DJs, all on speed dial.
This is not the kind of business that sleeps. Phone calls come in from five time zones, and requests arrive by way of assistants, agents, and sometimes cryptic emojis. “We live in a group chat that never ends,” they say. But the rush is worth it. “When you see someone walk into a space that’s been designed just for them, the look on their face says it all.”
Photo Credit: Million Dollar Luxe @milliondollarlux
The duo has big plans for what’s next, including expanding their operations into new regions. Think: curated fashion weeks, culinary residencies, even immersive wellness sabbaticals, all in the comfort of a private estate.
