A Marriage of Convenience
Starwood's Venetian properties compromise with culture and competition to build weddings business.
By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 4/30/2000 11:00:00 PM
Honeymooners from across Europe and around the world travel to Venice to revel in the city’s romantic allure. Hotels whet travelers’ appetites with packages promising breakfast in bed, views of the city’s majestic palazzos and imposing cathedrals, and gondola rides through languid waterways. While thousands of couples travel to the fabled city for a few days of post-nuptial bliss, Venice hosts surprisingly few weddings. With a shrinking population of 70,000 (residents’ ages average about 60 years old) and less than 2,000 weddings per year, Venetian hotels must present unique and compelling offers to attract the limited weddings business the city has to offer.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has three luxury properties located along the Grand Canal within two miles of each other: The Europa & Regina, The Danieli, and the Gritti Palace. All strive to attract reliable, low-cost, high-return wedding business, which has become a high-emphasis area of F&B operations as hotels continue to realize the profitability of banquets. Starwood Chief Executive Juergen Bartels announced in January 1999 the company’s intention to increasingly reposition restaurant space as banquet space, which throughout the chain generates 36% to 54% profits versus the average 5% to 10% profits typically produced by restaurants. Although Venice is almost exclusively a leisure destination, Starwood’s Venetian properties also are striving to grow their banqueting operations, a significant portion of which comes from weddings.
While the outside observer might surmise that the three hotels are competing directly with each other for this scant business, Francesca Forni, marketing director for the properties, says the hotels are positioned distinctly enough that competition does not enter into the group’s lexicon. “The idea of a chain or group is a little bit different here,” Forni says. “Each hotel has a different history. The places themselves are on the same level but are very different.” Rather than treating their sister properties as fierce competitors, Forni says, the three Starwood hotels offer distinct experiences based on character, reputation and banquet space. And F&B managers work with guests to guarantee the customer works with the property most appropriate for the style of occasion the client desires, even if that means referring a client to a sister site.
Definitively Different
The bulk of Starwood’s Venetian weddings business goes to the 185-room Hotel Europa & Regina, which generates almost 70% of its F&B revenues from banquets, and about 50% of that from weddings. The hotel is formed by five conjoined palazzos, the lavish, centuries-old homes of Venice’s most illustrious families. The homes were converted into hotel space, albeit two separate properties, in the 1800s, to be united in the early 1900s. Luminaries such as the impressionist painter Claude Monet painted the hotel’s fine views of the city’s domed Cathedral Santa Maria della Salute across the mouth of the Grand Canal during an extended stay in 1908.
The banquet space possesses and capitalizes on these coveted Grand Canal views with a layout conducive to indoor-outdoor events. Adjacent rooms, the Grand Salon and the Salon Canaletto, form the 2700 sq. ft. (250 sq. m) of the Europa & Regina’s primary wedding space. The doors of the combined rooms swing open to the terrace, a flower-filled courtyard with steps leading to the Grand Canal.
The hotel’s banqueting programs and locally renowned ambiance attract local clientele who book about 60 weddings per year and find the Europa & Regina to be a familiar landmark, a place they consider truly Venetian. “This is their hotel,” Forni says. “Its position is more ‘in town,’” Forni notes, an odd distinction, since the hotel is within a few miles of the other Starwood properties. But the Europa & Regina is in the heart of Venice’s busiest shops and businesses, and it is served by several major bridges, water-bus stops and thoroughfares.
Like its sister property, the Hotel Danieli has served as a landmark guesthouse for centuries. While its long-standing history would seem to place it on a par with the Europa & Regina as a Venetian standby, the exceedingly ornate décor and extravagant air result in an over-the-top feeling, leading the typical Venetian to believe that only the most exclusive affairs take place at the Danieli. An ornately carved, three-story, golden-marble stairway draws eyes upward as guests enter the 235-room hotel. Murano glass, the local hand-blown specialty, adorns every surface, forming chandeliers dangling from the ceilings and filtering the light that streams through stained windows. Like the Europa & Regina, interconnected palazzos form the Hotel Danieli. The Danieli’s original proprietors, however, spawned four generations of ruling Venetians, and the hotel’s interior reflects its original owners’ wealth and power.
Unlike the Europa & Regina, the hotel’s banquet space lacks optimal positioning for romantic occasions. The Marco Polo rooms, seating up to 200 guests, shield customers from canal views. The Privé, the site preferred by matrimonial couples for Danieli receptions, is a rose-hued, rooftop room that offers sweeping views of the city and lagoon but seats a maximum of 90 guests. Still, the Danieli hosts about 40 weddings per year, producing smaller but extravagant affairs that contrast with the Europa & Regina’s more subdued flavor.
As fits a smaller hotel, Forni describes the Gritti Palace as “intimate.” Renovated and opened as the Hotel Gritti Palace in 1948, the 93-room property, once a palatial home to Venice’s noble Gritti family, was built in 1525. Its banquet space accommodates at most 80 people, and its atmospherically most wedding-friendly room, the Sala Specchi, seats 50. But this doesn’t exclude the Gritti Palace from participating in wedding promotions. With its storied history and reputation for attracting the rich and famous, the Gritti distinguishes itself from the larger Europa & Regina and Danieli hotels by specializing in hosting smaller affairs such, as pre-nuptial dinners and wedding receptions for out-of-town guests who’ve chosen to come to Venice to get married.
Bringing Home The Business
To a great extent, the cultural mores of a region determine the wedding business available to a hotel, and Venice is no exception. Even in locations resistant to holding wedding celebrations at hotels, hoteliers can develop programs, menus, services and packages that make the practice more appealing. In Venice, where locals rarely enter hotels (hotel restaurants estimate that no more than 10% of their business is generated locally), F&B directors must address this aversion to hotel-hosted events. And in fact, Starwood F&B directors assert that building wedding business is a way to bring more locals into the hotel. This builds a client base, albeit a small one, that patronizes the hotels during the slow winter season, bringing business when they crave it most. Because most weddings performed in Venice are Catholic, the ceremonies themselves tend to take place in the city’s ornate churches.
Afterwards, if the bridal party’s residence is big enough to accommodate all the guests, Venetians prefer to invite family and friends into their homes for the reception. The second location of choice is usually a respected local restaurant. But since Venetian families often feel compelled to display a degree of affluence at wedding receptions, the ornate lobbies and opulent banquet rooms of the city’s hotels make increasingly appealing venues for receptions. And as hotels begin to court the local population, the number of wedding receptions taking place in hotels is growing.
The Europa & Regina, determined to draw more local business into the hotel through weddings promotions, developed a package for prospective clients. The hotel offers a tasting dinner, a practice common in some regions but previously unheard of in Venice, giving the couple an opportunity to sample in advance possible menu items. Another offer typical to some regions but new to Venice is a free night’s stay on the couple’s first anniversary, an offer that 80% of the Europa & Regina’s wedding clients now enjoy.
The hotel also assists the couple by simplifying their planning process. The Europa & Regina offers a price per plate ranging from about US$35 to more than US$100 per plate that includes the meal, wine, flowers, cakes, gondola service from the church to the hotel, and a honeymoon suite the night of the reception. The hotels have established relationships with florists. Pastry chefs are established members of the kitchen staff and create superb wedding cakes. And each property has a stable of gondolas available to guests and can easily allocate the services to wedding customers.
Packaging weddings comes at little cost to the hotel, but has a great return. Packaging means fewer surprises and greater satisfaction for guests, notes Hermann Gatti, F&B manager, Hotel Danieli. Following the success of the Europa & Regina’s package, which boasted a 50% increase in wedding bookings since offering the packages, he plans to launch a similar program. In keeping with the hotel’s more lavish character, however, prices will seldom dip below US$100 per plate.
A Feast For All
Customs dictate not only the where of the wedding, but the how of it. At the traditional noon-time reception, a full-service meal of several courses is served. “In Asia, weddings are often done buffet-style,” says Giacomello Celestino, executive chef, Gritti Palace, a native Italian who has worked across Europe, Asia and North America. “Here that is not offered. People expect a different kind of service.” Celestino says the heightened service expectations actually make training staff simpler. Banqueting routines mimic regular meals. Dishes are plated and served just as they would be in the hotel’s restaurant, except orders have been taken in advance, and fewer employees—a ratio of about one server per 15 guests versus one server per 10 guests—are required to get the chef’s creations to the table.
The gustatory extravaganza that comprises a Venetian wedding reception includes a minimum of two appetizers, two pasta dishes, two entrees and cake. Meats rarely appear on the menu. Seafood and pasta form the bulk of the meal. Classics include risotto, scallops, shrimp, sea bass, sole, salmon, lobster, and vegetable- and cheese-stuffed ravioli. Fresh vegetables grace entrées, and sorbets cleanse the palate between courses.
The emphasis on seafood could raise food costs, as seasonal catches and prices vary. Products such as beef and lamb can be purchased in bulk quantities in advance and frozen with little loss of quality and seem a cost-effective alternative for banquet-style events. But Venetians do not tolerate meat-based nuptial meals, and so Starwood chefs have devised programs that appease their customers’ tastes while keeping costs low.
“We encourage them to follow the chef’s recommendations for the best possible experience,” says Laura Fanecco, assistant to the general manager, Gritti Palace, who meets with clients as they begin to make their arrangements. The chefs recommend seasonally based menus of locally produced items, guaranteeing availability and the best possible product. The cost to the hotel is reduced as the need for storage space and transportation fees, which can add up to 50% to the price of food in Venice, are kept to a minimum. Ultimately, a strict adherence to local, seasonal product keeps costs around 20% and helps generate 60% to 70% profits, says Giuseppe Cannito, F&B manager, Europa & Regina.
While they pay strict attention to the bottom line, the hotels’ F&B staff build business by cultivating a reputation for hosting top-notch events and meeting guests’ expectations. And because weddings are deeply personal, once-in-a-lifetime events for their clients, it is essential that staff treats them with a warmth and care that encourages them to return to the hotel for future special occasions. “We want them to feel at home here,” Fanecco says. “But we know this is not their home. So we treat them like a special member of our family, like we are the aunts making sure everything is perfect, and they are always welcome here.”
On the Side
Feeling Japanese The sushi at the San Francisco Marriott’s Kinoko restaurant ranks among the city’s finest. At Teppanyaki table-side grills, chefs dazzle guests with high-flying food and juggling tricks. But it is lead host Kokoso Tanaka’s expert shiatsu neck and shoulder massages that have guests really feeling Japanese.
Tanaka chooses about 12 guests at random per night to receive this special treat. As the customer nears the end of his or her meal, Tanaka approaches and asks permission to indulge the guest in a complimentary massage. Like the sushi chefs, Tanaka was trained in his particular art in Japan before coming to the United States. He has been providing massages to customers since 1989, when the Marriott opened.
Kosher Kitchens The non-gaming Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas added a kosher kitchen, hosting its first event on February 27 for 100 executives from the United Jewish Communities organization out of New Jersey.
In its first nine months, the one-year-old property hosted more than 20 events for the Jewish community. As of February 15, 2000, before the kosher kitchen was announced, the hotel had 14 kosher events scheduled.
“Our social business is not just from the local community,” says Dawn Woodhouse, director of catering and conference services. “A majority of our customers are from Southern California, and they love that they now have the option to do kosher events in a setting like the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.”
To reduces preparation time and costs associated with converting the main kitchen to kosher for events, the kosher kitchen was added as part of the banquet kitchen on the second floor of the hotel where the 26,000 sq. ft. (2300 sq. m) of meeting space is located. A rabbi will be on hand to supervise the preparation of food for all kosher events.
The Essence of Flavor The latest development from Westin Hotels & Resorts, White Plains, New York, cooking series is its “Essence of Flavor” program, developed by seven Westin chefs from across the United States in conjunction with Steve Peterson, Westin’s corporate executive chef, and guest celebrity chefs Joachim Splichal and Josiah Citrin.
The program focuses on three-component cooking and trains chefs to use temperature and cooking and seasoning techniques to harmonize each dish. By combining hot and cold elements, divergent textures (fried, breaded and crusted elements), and contrasting flavors formed by marinating, rubbing, curing and smoking, recipes use simple ingredients to create stellar flavors. Menu items include lobster gazpacho shooters, citrus-coated greens with Sonoma duckling and Moroccan-spiced lamb.
The recipes developed will debut at the James Beard House, New York City, on July 10 and will be featured for two months in approximately 65 Westin properties.
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