A Marriage of Convenience

Starwood's Venetian properties compromise with culture and competition to build weddings business.

By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 5/1/2000

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.

F&B People

• Mövenpick’s global premium

  foods business is to be regrouped, with the activities

  of the Asian, European, Canadian and American units,

  all now falling under the direct management of Group

  CEO Bruno Schöpfer...

• George

  Vizer has been named vice president

  F&B at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, overseeing

  all F&B operations for Hyatt’s hotels and

  resorts in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean...

• Angela

  Afflack, senior director of beverage marketing and

  development for Carlson Restaurants

  Worldwide Inc. joined the Mellennium

  Advisory Board...

• The Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort & Emerald

  Casino appointed David Joseph Thomas executive chef...

• Hawaiian

  Hotels & Resorts promoted John Lopianetzky

  to regional director of F&B...

• Fleuri Restaurant

  at The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia,

  announced the promotion of Andrew Carlile to executive

  chef, Kim Thai to executive Sous Chef and Michael

  Deutsch to restaurant chef...

• Nicholas Male has joined the

  Novotel Melbourne on Collins

  as executive chef...

• The Ritz-Carlton

  Phoenix welcomed John Speers, director of F&B,

  and John Johnstone, executive chef...

• The Westin Grand, Washington,

  D.C., appointed Justin Nielsen executive chef...

• Chef

  Alain Dumas joined the Miami Omni Colonnade Hotel...

  Orient-Express Hotels’ Keswick Hall at Monticello,

  Keswick, Virginia, welcomed F&B Director Keith

  Van Yahres.