GLH, the London-based hotel group and subsidiary of Singapore-listed GuocoLeisure Group, on Tuesday announced the launch of Every Hotels, a limited-feature, 4-star concept targeting business professionals and “savvy city explorers.”
GLH will own and operate the first four hotels announced in London with some 500 rooms and going forward will seek management deals. A spokesperson said the idea is to be flexible with contracts so small equity stakes might be an option.
The first hotel, Every Piccadilly, will open in November, and will be followed by Hyde Park, Leicester Square and Bloomsbury in London. The four hotels will re-open following refurbishment with the ambition to add up to 50 further hotels globally by the end of the decade.
The philosophy around the Every hotel brand is centered around research that shows 4-star hotels outside gateway cities can have meeting and event space running as low as 30% occupancy, when room occupancy is running more than double that. In response, Every focuses on a 4-star bedroom product aimed at maximizing the yield to owners of new-build hotels and properties ripe for conversion.
The concept is driven by what GLH calls better investment and overhead efficiencies (low investment cost and high yield); an efficient and technology-enabled experience delivered through its value center management model; its guest-centric approach to management; and data-driven decision making.
GLH’s value center management model puts business-minded, profit accountable, GM teams into every hotel accountable for delivering superior guest experience; hotel demand; and asset value.
“The 4-star full-feature hotel product is a dinosaur for many cities around the world,” said Mike DeNoma, chief executive of GLH. “We estimate half of all 4-star hotels outside gateway cities have too many restaurants and barely used meeting facilities. The 4-star sector continues to bury its long neck in the sand, in the face of changing customer needs.”