Ilyan Vladimirov · Founder of BAGHI

A personal address · from the founder

"Hello.
Become part of it."

For many years I built things for clients, paid work, often exceptional, often famous, almost always carrying someone else's name. Now there is a project where I have placed all of that experience.

I have brought in the leaders of the market, architects, wellness practitioners, chefs, producers, to make something singular together. This is BAGHI.

Become part of it. Above all, this is an experience, and a fast, real reset.

Ilyan Vladimirov · Founder · BAGHI

15yrs

In Dubai hospitality

1,000+

Hospitality launches

$240K

Founder capital in BAGHI

3yrs

On the BAGHI slope

In short

Ilyan Vladimirov is the founder, principal designer and majority partner of BAGHI Wellness Resort, a six-lodge retreat in Erge village, Adjara, Georgia, opening in October 2027. He brings to the project a fifteen-year career in luxury hospitality in the United Arab Emirates, work that began in events production, expanded into venue operations, and culminated in his ownership of the Eleven Spa brand inside Marriott Al Jaddaf, Dubai.

BAGHI is the most personal of his projects, built slowly, with his own funds, on a single south-facing slope he found in the mountains of Adjara. He has been continuously on the land since 2023.

Career arc

From Dubai launches to a slope in Adjara.

Ilyan has lived in Dubai for fifteen years. As a producer he has led the launches of hundreds of commercial projects in the UAE: Dolce & Gabbana boutiques in The Dubai Mall, campaigns and events for Versace, Armani Group, Al Tayer Group and Ounass, beauty salons, Revive Seven, podcast and content studios, and many other businesses. Fifteen years of building world-class commercial projects for other brands gave him a colossal operating experience: how a product is designed, launched, staffed and kept alive.

In 2019 he founded Eleven Spa at Marriott Al Jaddaf, a wellness spa that became one of the most-talked-about treatment menus in Dubai's hotel sector. He sold the brand and the operating company in 2023, the same year he committed to BAGHI. BAGHI is the first personal project of this scale: not a venue produced for a client, but a wellness product designed from the first day around the guest and the problems the guest arrives with.

He is the principal of Spark Digital UAE, the production company that continues to produce hospitality openings and editorial work for global brands. Spark Digital UAE is the editorial home of the BAGHI brand.

Timeline

2010 to 2014

First years in Dubai

Founded SPARK, a creative production and event marketing agency. First major client: Armani Group. Built a production team and a vendor network that still operates today.

2014 to 2018

Launches at scale

Produced the launches of Dolce & Gabbana boutiques in The Dubai Mall, brand activations for Versace, Al Tayer Group and Ounass, beauty salons, Revive Seven and dozens of other businesses. Specialised in launch sequencing, brand voice and operational rhythm.

2018 to 2019

Move into wellness

From producing launches for others to building a wellness product of his own. First work on treatment menus, practitioner teams and nutrition protocols.

2019 to 2023

Eleven Spa · Marriott Al Jaddaf

Founded and owned Eleven Spa, a wellness spa inside Marriott Al Jaddaf, Dubai. The brand and operating company were sold in 2023.

2023 to now

BAGHI Wellness Resort

Found the BAGHI slope above Erge village in Adjara, Georgia. Began designing the project with the MESTO architectural bureau. Continuously on the land since then. The product came first: four programs built around the problems guests arrive with. Soft opening October 2027.

Philosophy

What he writes BAGHI around.

A short collection of operating principles that recur in his work, drawn from the Dubai years and adapted for the slope in Adjara.

"A great stay is not designed for an average guest. It's designed for one, and the one becomes everyone."

On operations

"The room is the rule. If a room is right, the menu writes itself."

On hospitality design

"Quietness is not a tone. It's an operational discipline."

On voice

"You can hear a place before you can see it. Build the sound first."

On BAGHI

Public work

Talks, interviews, editorial.

Selected speaking engagements and interviews. Some are public, some private, listed here for context, not for promotion.

Spark Digital UAE editorial, ongoing production and editorial work for hospitality brands across the Gulf.
Dubai hospitality podcast circuit, guest appearances on production, brand voice, and the wellness-spa operational model.
Industry talks on launching commercial projects and the rhythm of soft openings.
Editorial advisor to a small group of UAE-based wellness brands.

A current list is shared on request via the concierge.

Why BAGHI

The project he wanted to do quietly.

After fifteen years of producing openings and operations for other people's brands, Ilyan wanted to build one of his own, and to build it quietly, without the noise of a launch year. A single site, six lodges, twelve guests at a time, four programs shaped on arrival. The opposite of an opening.

Georgia was chosen for the air, the food, the safety, the short flight, and the long, slow rhythm of the Adjarian mountains. Erge was chosen for the slope itself, south-facing, forest on three sides, a bamboo grove behind, the Chorokhi river below, and the Black Sea visible at dusk. The waterfall at the top of the valley is part of the soundtrack. The mosque a short walk away gives the place its azan.

He has been on the land continuously since 2023, with his own capital, no bank debt, no outside investors yet. The resort opens in October 2027, and Pre-reservation lets first guests reserve their dates before the public calendar opens.

Discover BAGHI About the project Write to Ilyan

Ilyan Vladimirov.