What Happens When You Get A Bunch of Lodging Leaders In One Room Talking About Luxury?
They talk about being out-branded by a jeweler, knocking down walls for family travel, saturation, sustainability, and a “worst decision."
Argyle Executive Forum, which produces high-powered business conferences, recently staged a “Leadership In Hospitality & Leisure” session in New York. Following are highlights of what some of those lodging leaders had to say.
Simon Cooper, President & COO – Ritz-Carlton
On the outlook in a weak economy: “We are in a strong position. With
only Four Seasons having similar numbers, we are both much larger than
the next largest luxury brands.”
On Expansion: “The challenge will be in finding where the next great
markets will be. The goal is to be ahead in those markets just as we
were in Doha, Qatar a number of years ago.”
On Ritz-Carlton’s partnership with Bulgari to open hotels: “It’s bold
for a brand like Bulgari to risk its name on a hotel. There will be no
sign of the name Ritz-Carlton on these hotels; the Bulgari name will
stand on its own. We’ve learned that some brands are more powerful than
others.”
On family travel: “We are knocking down walls every day to create larger rooms and suites for multi-generational travel.”
On philosophy: “We are now in a state of ‘restless self-renewal’ because we have to keep changing.”
On His Worst Decision: “My worst decision was approving a lavish, but
traditional dining room in our new Dallas hotel. Then we hired a well
known chef named Dean Fearing; he totally changed it and it’s a big
hit.”
On spa: “Spa is one of the fastest moving products in terms of change.
Our Battery Park hotel is six years old and the spa could be three times
bigger.”
On the competition: “Four Seasons, Mandarin – Peninsula is terrific but
they only build one every three years. Shangri-la is a sleeper.”
For more, from Gerald Lawless, executive chairman, Jumeirah Group
(Dubai-based chain of luxury hotels); and Glenn Schaeffer, CEO,
Fontainebleau Resorts.
Gerald Lawless, executive chairman, Jumeirah Group (Dubai-based chain of luxury hotels)
On Equity: “We have invested in all our hotels but have now split our
company into real estate and management so we are asset-light. However,
we are both owned by Dubai Holdings, in effect, the government.”
On Sustainability: “Ultimately we would like to tell guests what their carbon footprint is during their stay.”
On Community Outreach: “If we open in a remote area we will go to the
nearby village two years in advance and work with people, help them to
become employees.”
On saturating the Dubai hotel market: “We will move to develop golf and
other reasons to encourage people to come. We will have Dubailand, a
massive theme park that is to be a green city.”
Glenn Schaeffer, CEO, Fontainebleau Resorts
On Las Vegas:
The Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be “the most expensive building in U.S. history.”
“If a development does not currently have steel in the air, it will not be built for the foreseeable future.”
The Las Vegas Fontainebleau is 2 ½ times more expensive per square foot than Mandalay Bay in 1999.
The Las Vegas hotel will be in the “culture business. It will be a
fusion of art, architecture, music, fashion, design and technology.”
We began our recent report on ‘Family Travel Rising’ with the following:
“All the evidence -- whether you are looking at the Amex-Harrison Group study we reviewed in our last issue, or the Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluence Report completed in September, -- shows Family First when it comes to disposable dollars.
We believe family focus is going to be front of mind for a long time to come, long after the punishing economic climate has subsided. Provider brands will be hard pressed to provide much more than kiddie or junior, or young adult activities. Smart travel agents will have to rise to higher levels of creativity and performance on the family front to sustain customer loyalty and earn the benefits of word of mouth in the neighborhood.”
And last week we caught our favorite global traveler-editor-writer-commentator during a quiet moment at home in England, the home of The Gostelow Report. She shared these thoughts:
• The hotel industry has been very slow to realize that this big expansion in family travel was going to happen. We’ve had “connecting rooms and you can put the kids next door”. They moved on to two swimming pools rather than one. One was kid friendly and one was not. But we really haven’t had anything more than that.
• We are seeing more and more bigger family groups. Operators are having a real challenge coping with such groups because it’s not a group per se, but they form their own groups. They want to be private. They want their own thing. .They tend to do their own excursions. They suddenly want a bus to take them all out. So it’s a real, real challenge. And so far the hotel industry has not realized this is happening. Now, it’s not only families. We’re also seeing more and more groups of friends traveling. And the hotel industry is not incentivizing enough – say a pair of DINKs come- Double-Income-No-Kids. There’s no incentive to them at the moment to bring along two other friends or even four other friends. And there’s big potential on the marketing side there.
Everybody knows her, but her bio is worth repeating.
Mary Gostelow, president of Gostelow Travel: Hottest Hospitality News Worldwide, is an inveterate traveler on the road more than 300 days a year. She owns and publishes the definitive Gostelow Reports, monthly market intelligence briefings to the top levels of the hospitality industry. She is the editor of KIWI's online Wow! Magazine, and also sends out a monthly update to top travel professionals worldwide.
At the same time, she is contributing editor to such publications as Elite Traveler, enRoute, Hotels and Le Magazine.
But Lux 360 Found a Brighter -and we think, Sensible Side-
From Harvey Chipkin’s report in the British online Hotel Report-a paid service from William Reed Business Media- http://www.wr-bi.co.uk/ - Reproduced here with publisher permission
At the first industry wide meeting following the fall financial meltdown and the recent presidential election, the consensus seemed to be that, yes, the industry faces a historically challenging situation that will last for awhile. But there was also a feeling that lodging is in a better position than other industries – and, happily, a few silver linings were perceived as well.
We’ve all heard the bad news over and over: global liquidity drought, drops in rate and occupancy, a dismal outlook for employment, and a possibly extended recession. But some leaders managed to find ways to take – if not a positive view -- at least a more nuanced one. Following are a few comments about why weeping and gnashing may not be the only appropriate attitudes.
Steve Joyce, who recently became CEO of Choice Hotels International, said he has been “the only optimistic person in the room at a number of events over the last few weeks.” I strongly believe,” said Joyce, “that there is a paralysis factor and that you can’t base projections on two weeks of hysteria.”
“Forecasts in this environment,” he continued, “are entertaining but not much use.”
Other ‘smart marketer’ insights from Joyce, Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research; Peter Yesawich, CEO of The Y Partnership; Michael Kaufman, Chairman of National Restaurant Association; Patrick Ford, CEO of Lodging Econometrics; and Roger Thomas, Steve Wynn’s design guru for many years.
Nat Ives, in Ad Age Online Sept 6, cites new data from Ipsos MMR which assures that well-off readers read print publications just as much now as they did 5 years ago.
Also, survey respondents making more than $100,000 annually said their average hours online had grown to 22.1 each week from 10.7, while the time they said they spent watching TV sunk to 18.6 hours from 23.7 in the 2003 survey. Read the full Ives story at http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=130685. Lux 360 attended the client briefing this week and will provide additional perspective in our Sept. 30 issue, interviewing Ipsos MMR President Bob Shullman.
Issues & Insights 
They talk about being out-branded by a jeweler, knocking down walls for family travel, saturation, sustainability, and a “worst decision."
