The industry veteran talks about why golf still matters, how the company saves money on Coca-Cola and why brands can sometimes work against luxury hotels.
Last month, we ran an interview with Lindsey Ueberroth, who heads up brand development for Preferred Hotel Group; and Sarah Clark, vice president-marketing. Just as a refresher, Preferred is a 700-hotel conglomerate of brands comprised of mostly independent properties - including Preferred, Preferred Boutique, Summit Hotels & Resorts, Sterling Hotels, and Historic Hotels of America (see www.preferredhotelgroup.com for descriptions of each brand). But the man who bought the company in 2005 and has grown it rapidly is CEO John Ueberroth and he had his own take on a few things. Here is what he told LT360 in a recent interview.
- "A lot of travelers like the differences you find in a non-chain hotel; sometimes being a chain at the high end will works against you. We will take a chain hotel but not usually. There are so many new chains coming along and they tend to be very similar."
- "We don't recommend overlapping membership in other hotel groups; we do have a few members in that category."
- Operating five brands makes selling to corporations easier because "for the most part they do not stay in five-star hotels; we have more ways we can help.
- Having five brands in a variety of price categories brings buying power; "we can buy a lot of Coca-Cola, which we use in all of our hotels."
- While some of the Preferred brands are not widely known, Ueberroth says, "We would like every consumer to know who we are; that's what makes a strong brand."
- "It's easier to make the travel agent community and other travel sellers aware of what you do; that's a more targeted audience. It's also very efficient to work with large corporate agencies like Carlson and American Express. Similarly, groups like Virtuoso and Signature makes it easier to deal with the top agencies."
- Preferred boasts a collection of "the best golf resorts in the world" in its Preferred Golf collection and will have 100 resorts within a year. Consumers can join a club for $295 and get benefits as far as complimentary rounds and more. While golf resorts have taken a hard hit because of the "AIG affect" Ueberroth thinks that will pass.
- Preferred has been adding salespeople "because it's more necessary than normal. We don't know where the end of this downturn is but we think we will be stronger after it's over." Ueberroth expects to maintain membership because, "Our contracts last three years or more and very few hotels leave of their own accord."