A Visual Feast For The Senses
By Karyn Strauss, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 10/1/2005
- A Visual Feast For The Senses
- World Watch
- Alden Aims For Personal Service With Style
- 5 Minutes With: Werner Gessner, GM, Sonesta Beach Resort & Casino Sharm El Sheikh
- Hotel Companies Focus On Opportunities Through Diversity Initiatives
- IH/M&RS To Expand Hospitality & Culinary Resources, Programs
- Hilton Rolls Out New Retail Program
- Gostelow Report
- Hoteliers
A Visual Feast For The Senses
MADRID High drama meets high style at the new, 5-star Hotel Puerta América in Madrid. This celebration of avant-garde interior design and architecture was commissioned by Silken Hotels, Barcelona, to become the company’s flagship property. The E75 million collaboration brought together 19 top
architects and designers from across the globe to create a one-of-a-kind hotel where no two interior spaces are alike. Each of the hotel’s 12 floors and public spaces were designed by a different
architect or designer, treating guests to a wide range of
aesthetic environments and, at times, the designers’ wild imaginations.
The uniqueness of the hotel is immediately
recognized by the building’s exterior. The façade (as well as twelfth floor and penthouse) is the brainchild of French designer Jean Nouvel. With the theme “creating links between freedom and pleasure,” Nouvel wanted to blend architecture and art for the façade; the result is a rainbow of colors with the poem “Freedom” by Éluard written in various languages across the building’s exterior. Freedom is indeed the theme for the entire project, where each designer shares his or her vision of what cutting-edge design means today.
“It is absolutely surprising. I’ve been working in hotels all my life, and you come to think that there is only one way to do things, and now you discover there’s a whole other way to reach the same [design] goals,” says General Manager Joan Valls.
Garnering worldwide
media attention, Valls says the hotel already is booking reservations from all corners of the globe. With this word-of-mouth advertising, Internet bookings are the fastest growing channel. The hotel also is seeing early interest from the meetings and incentives market—Valls says in the first two months of operation, meeting rooms and F&B sales are the strongest, much to do with the fact that the hotel has been able to attract locals. While occupancies for the first two months—July and August— was in the 30% range, as Madrid is a predominantly business-travel market, the fall season looks strong. Valls anticipates seeing 60% to 70% occupancy in September and October. “People are coming because they are curious,” he says, “but it is too early to know how they will respond to the [unusual] design.” Below are some of the highlights. Stay tuned.
Creating a welcoming space that provokes “good vibrations” was the design goal of Javier Mariscal and Fernando Salas, the team behind the avant-garde eleventh floor. Here, the designers play with the use of graphic design and contrasting colors, shapes and patterns to create a one-of-a-kind experience. The bathroom and bedroom meld into one space with the white Corian work surface doubling as a sink in the bathroom and a placeholder for the bar in the bedroom. Large-scale, colorful flower prints dominate the bedroom as do the “Coconut” armchairs by George Nelson, the Swiss table by È, the AJ lamp by Arne Jacobsen and the Stone carpet by Diego Fortunato for Nani Marquina.
For the eighth floor elevator lobby, designer Katherine Findlay explains that the project gave her opportunity “to design a space of pure comfort.” She and her team attempted to re-create a space for meditation and dreaming “where you feel as if you are floating on the clouds,” she says. The result is this elevator lobby, which clearly illustrates the designer’s goal of a cloud-like atmosphere. In addition to the bulbous, white leather couches, the lobby features an interactive lighting installation (including fiber-optic panels) that reacts as guests enter the corridor. On the ceiling, stretched canvas curves outward to intensify the illusion of floating in air.
While over-the-top design dominates much of Hotel Puerta América, the second floor, designed by Norman Foster, evokes a serene ambience away from the
hustle-and-bustle of big city life. The designer’s friend, Basque Sculptor Chillida was his inspiration for the space, which features minimalist design and a palette of calming earth tones. Rooms are described as “flexible and sensual inner sanctuaries” where the division between bed and bath is barely noticeable. The highlight of the room is the wall-to-wall large slab of backlit white onyx, which encompasses the sink in the bathroom and the desk in the bedroom. The oversized shower separates the
bathroom from the entranceway.
Designing a space around round shapes was the goal for the seventh floor by Designer Ron Arad. In the bedrooms, a curved, continuous wall—white in some rooms, red in others—acts as the central divider between the entry, the bedroom and the bathroom. The round, Capellini bed is the centerpiece of the room. As a high-tech highlight, a television screen unfolds from the ceiling while the headboard contains the sound system. Of the project, Arad said: “The idea is not just to design a room, but to find a different way of organizing space.”
World
Watch
NORTH AMERICA
Cendant To
Buy Wyndham
NEW YORK Cendant Corp. recently announced plans to purchase the Wyndham hotel brand and franchise system from The Blackstone Group for US$100 million in cash. “We have long sought to add an upscale hospitality brand to our portfolio, and our patience has been rewarded,” says Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and CEO of Cendant’s Travel Content Division. Steven A. Rudnitsky, Cendant Hotel Group chairman and CEO, says the company plans to grow the Wyndham brand both domestically and internationally.
Cendant will acquire franchise agreements for 82 hotels and management contracts for 29 hotels, as well as worldwide rights to the Wyndham brand for timeshare development and sales. “We intend to build upon Wyndham’s existing franchising and property management capabilities,” Holmes says. “We also expect to pursue cross-selling opportunities and to explore property development, branding and marketing synergies with our vacation ownership and other travel businesses.”
The acquisition will take Cendant from pure franchisor to franchisor and management company. “We will create distinct Wyndham management and brand organizations reporting directly to me,” Rudnitsky says. “These groups will ensure that Wyndham hotels receive maximum benefit from Cendant Hotel Group’s comprehensive distribution platform and information technology capabilities.”
Novare Group Launches Condo-Hotel Brand
ATLANTA Atlanta-based Novare Group, developer of high-rise condominiums throughout the southeastern United States, is launching a new condominium/hotel brand called TWELVE Hotels and Residences. Each property will consist of an all-suites boutique hotel and moderately priced luxury condominiums.
Condos will be targeted toward young professionals and will offer access to hotel amenities from roomservice to housekeeping and concierge to valet.
The first property is a 26-story high-rise located in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood. It will contain 380 condos and 101 hotel rooms, along with a 5,000-sq. ft. (465-sq. m) restaurant/bar and 8,000 sq. ft. (743 sq. m) of event space.
The development also will include 10,000 sq. ft. (929 sq. m) of retail space. Current plans call for the hotel component to open in February of next year. A second TWELVE project is in the planning stages for downtown Atlanta.
Leading the management team for the new brand will be Jim Veil, a former senior executive with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. “Hotel rooms at TWELVE will be no different than the condominium residences above, averaging 750 sq. ft. (70 sq. m) with a full kitchen and featuring technology services not available in the average home,” Veil says.
An interactive Web site, www.twelvehotels.com, will be live this quarter and will provide up-to-date information on the first property’s opening. l
EUROPE
Accor CEO Ousted
PARIS Accor CEO Jean-Marc Espalioux will not have his contract renewed upon its expiration on January 15, 2006, the French hotel company announced recently, after months of press reports to the same effect. Unhappiness over the relative underperformance of Accor’s stock is rumored to be the reason for Espalioux’s ouster.
Some say the move was organized by former Accor founders Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson, in conjunction with Colony Capital LLC, a U.S. real estate firm that this year made an E1 billion investment in Accor and took two seats on the Supervisory Board. Colony Capital is said to promise investors a 20% return on their capital.
In a statement, Accor said the board felt a replacement process should be organized “with a view to overseeing the group’s new phase of development.” Analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients that such a step may signal the coming sale of some of Accor’s holdings, which could include U.S. budget chains Red Roof Inns and Motel 6 or the company’s services division, which sells vouchers for employee lunches and medical check-ups.
Espalioux is participating in the search for his replacement, which already is under way. The front-runner is widely believed to be Henri Giscard d’Estaing, the chief executive of Club Méditerranée, in which Accor owns a 29% stake.
CORRECTION In the July 2005 issue of HOTELS, Albeck & Zehden Hotels, Berlin, was accidentally omitted from this year’s ranking of the top 325 largest hotel companies. Albeck & Zehden’s figures for the year ended December 31, 2004, of 20 hotels and 3,695 hotel rooms, would have ranked the company at approximately 224th in this year’s GIANTS. HOTELS apologizes for this database error.
Alden Aims For Personal Service With Style
HOUSTON Make no mistake—the president of the new Alden Hotels brand may have worked alongside Ian Schrager for 16 years, but his concept is not about eye-catching design. It is about comfort and service. “I think you can provide a
substantive experience with design that is beautiful,” says Tim Miller, Schrager’s former senior vice president of brand management. “The two can have an apex.” Miller debuts this philosophy in Houston, where the 97-room Alden Houston offers a staff-to-guestroom ratio of nearly 1.5 to 1, along with a clean, contemporary, luxurious design. Miller is quick to note that the property is not a boutique hotel. “We’re small, with fantastic design, but I don’t think our property is about the design and I think there is a
fundamental difference,” he says. “We designed the brand to revolve around service first and foremost.” Miller says Alden fits best in the luxury category, and sees his competitors as Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, along with properties like Rosewood’s Mansion on Turtle Creek. “Our ideal guest is someone who has a thirst for great service... executed in
an environment of style with a keen design aesthetic,” Miller says.
Alden’s first property was formerly the Sam Houston Hotel, which underwent a US$18 million renovation before the owners brought in Miller to create a collection based on what they had begun. Thus Alden Hotels was born. “The most compelling reason for the name ‘Alden’ is its meaning,” Miller says. In early English, Alden means “old friend.” “Choosing a hotel is about making a choice whereby you feel truly welcomed and in your element,” Miller says. “Nothing makes you feel better than like being with an old friend. That is the mission statement—treat guests like old friends.”
With Alden, Miller aims to provide an “easy living” environment—making it easy for the guest to check-in, get online or get around (Alden Houston offers free wireless high-speed Internet access throughout the hotel and a free town car service throughout downtown Houston). He notes the importance of getting back to basics—making a hotel experience that he says has become convoluted simple and seamless for the guest. “It’s about being comfortable, [and] not letting design get in the way of being able to execute business, find a light switch or find an outlet,” Miller says. “There are a lot of bells and whistles in the industry right now—waterfalls in the lobby, light shows at night—that’s not what we’re about. We’re about something far more intimate and customized.”
This intimacy and customization is achievable because of the size of Alden Houston, the staff-to-guestroom ratio, the emphasis on service and the quality of the people, Miller says. Miller personally interviewed hundreds of candidates and hired about 140 based on whom he found to be the right fit for the property. “I was looking for warmth,” he says. “I was looking for sincerity—interesting people who were interested in others. As we have selected and trained our staff, the word ‘delight’ keeps coming up. Our mission is to delight—satisfying is not in our vocabulary. Every single person who works with us has been given the authority to delight, and that makes a big difference.”
For now, Miller’s goal is to fill Alden Houston on a nightly basis with both business and leisure travelers, as well as to drive rate, which starts at US$300. At this point, marketing is targeted to people who have used the hotel as well as key corporate and group accounts, Miller says. The hotel is doing some print campaigns and a lot of Internet marketing, he says, but is focusing mostly on direct selling. “We feel as though the direct sales initiative is what [speaks to] the personalized experience of our property—and it takes people to talk about that process,” Miller says.
Although Alden is currently looking at expanding into other cities, “we’re not looking to grow so rapidly that we take our eye off the ball,” Miller notes. “That’s where some other companies get lost—the ambition to get big sometimes overrides the ambition to get it right.” Miller says another two or three hotels within the next five years is likely, naming potential cities including Atlanta; Vancouver; Austin, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee. “We would like to go into markets where there is a need for something new and exciting,” he says. Regarding hotel size, “I would hate to be much bigger [than 100 rooms],” Miller says. “Being that size, we’re different than most 5-star luxury hotels that are chain-affiliated. We would like to be a smaller, more intimate offering.”
Backed by a private investment group in New York, Alden will look at both new-builds and acquisitions/conversions in order to grow. Properties will feature common elements such as 400-thread count Egyptian cotton linens and bath amenities from Aveda, Miller says, but design will vary and each hotel will have its own identity. In terms of food and beverage, Alden Houston’s 17 has been a hit so far, and “we plan on having a signature destination restaurant in all our hotels,” Miller adds.
5 Minutes With: Werner Gessner, GM,
Sonesta Beach Resort & Casino Sharm El Sheikh
The Sonesta Beach Resort & Casino Sharm El Sheikh sits about five blocks from where one of the bombs went off during the terror attack on the resort area in late July. “Immediately, we went from an overbooking situation down to about 50%,” says General Manager Werner Gessner. Since then, however, business has come back to the property, with occupancy around 85% for late August. “I guess we’re doing something right,” says Gessner, who has spent more than 25 years in the industry, working everywhere from Beverly Hills to Berlin. In his free time, Gessner travels and is writing his biography.
 Employees of the Sonesta Beach Resort & Casino, Sharm El Sheikh, take part in an anti-terror walk to condemn the bombing of the resort area in late July. |
HOTELS: Besides the occupancy drop, what was your
situation immediately following the attack on Sharm El Sheikh? How was your staff feeling?
Gessner: Our hotel was not affected—there was no damage, no casualties—we were very lucky. The first day after, we had a party for the guests in-house—we added more service to make sure that no matter what, we provide service, we give [guests] attention, we want [them] to come back.
The second day after the bomb my biggest worries were staff worries. When I sat with them they asked, ‘What will happen to us? Are we fired?’ I told them to put it out of their minds—nobody will be fired. I wanted to make sure they were free of worries of any kind, to make sure they gave the service to the client.
HOTELS: What will help you bring back and build up your
business? Are you targeting any specific guests? Have you added any extra security measures?
Gessner: We have a very good reputation in the market. We are well known here—you have all the big chains here, but
we were here first. We have very good people, and we have repeat customers coming. The support we received and the outburst of e-mails we received [after the bombing] was
overwhelming—people wishing us the best and coming back and doing their best to support us.
For now, we are targeting the Eastern European market, as [this is] the Eastern European season. We have stepped up security for the hotel itself, including all areas from the back of the house to make sure it would safeguard everybody.
HOTELS: Do you see Sharm El Sheikh as a
target for future terror attacks? How can the industry deal with this ongoing threat?
Gessner: I don’t think so—terrorism is a worldwide trend. You never know what will happen... We don’t know what will happen tomorrow—look at London. Nothing is safe these days, but we hope for the best that nothing will happen to us again.
The industry itself... you just have to be careful. You can’t be careful enough. Be vigilant and be more alert.
HOTELS: What are your biggest worries,
as well as your goals, heading into the future?
Gessner: Rebuilding our business. This is the biggest challenge—from the very first day [after the bombing] to rebuild for the future again. We have about 200 hotels in the region—everybody has to look after his own business. Giving the service is the most important thing.
Beyond that, to promote the region as a safe destination. Peace is what we want. We will continue with our team and members of staff to promote that [message] to all our guests of the world at large. We hope peace will prevail.
HOTELS: What is your long-term outlook for business?
Gessner: We are very positive. I will not put any other thoughts in [the staff’s] mind. We are on a high spirit. I [recently] talked to our office and made the projections for the remainder of the year. Considering all circumstances, it looks very good. We will not achieve the budget of 2004, but we will have very little trouble in the future.
HOTELS: What are your own plans for the future?
Gessner: I’ve lived all over the world—Asia and the U.S.—I lived in Paris, I lived in New York, Bali and Argentina. I’ve been here already five years... and I don’t intend to move. People ask me, ‘When are you leaving?’ I say, ‘I’m not leaving.’ We are protesting against terrorism—it would be the wrong message for me to leave. I encourage my team members to think in the same way. I like my job; I love my work. I don’t see it as a job. The most important thing is that you are happy with what you are, what you are doing and happy inside.
Hotel Companies Focus On Opportunities Through Diversity Initiatives
UNITED STATES Move over amenities war—you’ve been replaced by the minorities war.
With a barrage of announcements about
diversity ownership incentives from various hotel companies, 2005 has been all about color. Major players from Marriott International and Choice Hotels International to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide all have ramped up their efforts to work with prospective minority* owners and franchisees. Why? “It’s the right thing to do, and it makes good business sense to do it,” says Marriott’s Norm Jenkins, senior vice president, North American lodging development, who leads the company’s minority ownership efforts.
The second half of Jenkins’ answer is the important part. Supporting diversity within business and making a conscious effort to offer opportunities to minorities has been the right thing to do for many years. But now that the industry is prospering again, doing so makes good business sense, as it opens the door to a new group of investors and franchisees, resulting in more deals getting done. “There are certain deals in certain markets that we wouldn’t know about or that wouldn’t come about if we weren’t widening the net,” Jenkins says.
“Some companies are doing their best [with incentive programs] to ensure that they can recruit African American owners,” notes Andy Ingraham, president, National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD). “But at the end of the day, all of this culminates in more revenues for hotel companies—these aren’t giveaways.”
Ingraham says these programs really should be looked at not as diversity initiatives, but business initiatives. “They’re trying to tap an untapped market [of owners and franchisees]—what we call in the business mining for black gold.” Ingraham sees the programs as a good thing for both sides, however, as long as they have substance and flexibility, and the companies are “committed to changing the landscape.”
In that regard, much progress has been made in the past five years. If you go back to 1999, there were no branded hotels owned by African Americans in the United States, with the exception of a Days Inn in Memphis, Tennessee, according to Ingraham. Now, there are between 50 and 100 African American-owned hotels here. Looking ahead, NABHOOD is aiming for 500 new African American-owned hotels in the top 25 U.S. markets by 2010. Is such a dramatic change possible? It seems likely when considering initiatives like Marriott’s pledge to double the number of minority-owned properties in five years. The company’s efforts already have resulted in the addition of five minority-owned hotels since May. And at NABHOOD’s recent International Multicultural Tourism/Hotel Ownership Summit & Trade Show in Miami, that organization initiated eight deals totaling close to US$100 million with African-American ownership.
The biggest obstacle to such growth is simply awareness of the option of hotel ownership in minority communities, Ingraham says. Both Ingraham and Marriott’s Jenkins cite the importance of educational seminars to getting the word out. In addition to NABHOOD’s annual summit, the organization does 25 day-and-a-half workshops across the country sponsored by various hotel brands to educate African Americans about opportunities in the industry. Marriott, meanwhile, brings prospective minority owners to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., to educate them about the business through Marriott Lodging University, a two-day summit involving owners talking about how deals are valued, how to get a hotel financed and built, and their approaches to management and operations. The company has done about eight of these this year, Jenkins says.
As the word gets out and more minorities take advantage of these programs and begin to develop and own branded hotels, most of the properties will be limited-service ventures valued at about US$5 million, Ingraham notes. The next step, he says, is to establish more significant partnerships and joint ventures to get these people involved in larger, more expensive projects, including city center and convention center full-service hotels.
2005 Timeline
- January Marriott International rolls out expanded goals for its diversity outreach, including pledging to double the number of minority-owned hotels and franchises within five years.
- July Choice Hotels International launches African American and Hispanic ownership alliances to recruit minority franchisees and provide networking opportunities for them. The company also launches a wide-ranging Sleep Inn incentive program, offering up to US$155,000 in value to qualified minority entrepreneurs.
- August Starwood Hotels & Resorts announces its Minority Hotel Developer & Owner Program, which gives qualified minority developers access to specialized support services, from assistance with site qualification to an assigned Starwood development consultant for each project.
IH/M&RS To Expand Hospitality & Culinary Resources, Programs
NEW YORK Already poised to be a highlight at this year’s Hospitality Leadership Forum, a daylong conference for top management preceding the 90th annual International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (IH/M&RS), is Hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life inspiration for the film Hotel Rwanda, who will deliver the forum’s keynote address. Rusesabagina will share his experience working as assistant manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and his heroic role in sheltering more than 1,200 people at the hotel. This inspirational address will cap an impressive lineup of hospitality industry experts who will assess the current business climate and provide industry forecasts.
The following day marks the beginning of this year’s IH/M&RS, held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, November 13-15; the show is expected to draw some 35,000 lodging and culinary professionals from around the world. Conference highlights will include an industry summit, industry outlook general session as well as numerous breakout educational sessions addressing such topics as government advocacy, leadership skills, sales and marketing, security, lodging food and beverage and technology.
This year, the IH/M&RS will significantly expand its culinary and hospitality resources through co-locations with two established trade events—EX·TRACTSTM: Essentials for Spa, Home & Travel and KosherfestTM. While each show will maintain its own identity, organizers will work together to offer reciprocal access and cross-market promotions. EX·TRACTS will display personal care and spa-related products from more than 175 exhibitors, while Kosherfest will highlight an assortment of kosher foods and beverages from more than 350 exhibitors from around the world. All three shows will be at the Javits Center.
A new Restaurant Futurists program this year will introduce live cooking demonstrations, headlined by renowned Chef Charlie Trotter. Titled “New Directions—The Hot Buttons: Flavor Directions, Research and Development, Sustainability, Technology and Education,” the program will feature nine presentations and educational sessions throughout the course of the show. For the first time, the conference will certify participants with American Culinary Federation continuing education hours.
Also of note this year are the Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design, co-sponsored by HOTELS and Interior Design magazines. The awards ceremony on Monday morning will recognize 23 competition finalists representing 15 design firms as well as and the “Designer of the Year”—Starwood Design Group. These finalists were selected from more than 170 entries. In addition to the Designer of the Year award, winners will be named in eight categories: spa, restaurants—casual dining, guestroom, lounge/bar, lobby/reception, restaurants—fine dining, suite and best hotel design. Judges included industry professionals from a variety of backgrounds; and finalists were selected based on design creativity, aesthetic value and commercial viability.
The 90th annual IH/M&RS is sponsored by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Hotel Association of New York City and the New York State Hospitality & Tourism Association. Attendee information and registration is available online at www.ihmrs.com or by calling George Little Management’s customer service department at 1.914.421.3206.
Hilton Rolls Out
New Retail Program
|
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA The Hilton to Home program, which kicked off in August, lets guests purchase in-room furnishings and amenities ranging from the Suite Dreams mattress and box spring and the Hilton Family clock radio to Crabtree & Evelyn La Source bath products.
“Our guests enjoy pampering themselves with superior amenities during their stay, and they often inquire about how they can purchase their favorite in-room items,” says Jeffrey Diskin, senior vice president, brand management and marketing, Hilton Hotels Corp. “Now [they can] indulge in our guestroom experience in the comfort of their own homes.”
Prices range from US$12 for hand therapy up to US$1,450 for the mattress and box spring. Merchandise is provided through an agreement with Hotels at Home and can be ordered via a toll-free number (in the United States) or the Hilton to Home Web site, www.hilton-hotelsathome.com. More products will be available this winter, according to the Web site.
Gostelow
Report
Inkaterra, based in Lima, is a nonprofit association dedicated to research specific to, and for the benefit of, indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon rain forest and the Andes Ranges. Inkaterra is headed by movie producer and conservationist Jose Koechlin von Stein and his wife, designer Denise Guislain. There are already two Inkaterra owned and managed lodges, the 83-room Pueblo Hotel at the base of Machu Picchu mountain, below the Inca ruins, and, deep in the rain forest, the 33-room Puerto Maldonado Reserva Amazonica. Now, with an increasing number of upper-level visitors from the United States coming to Peru, it is time to expand, Koechlin says. Peru is said to have 84 of the world’s most celebrated heritage sites, and he plans a series of lifestyle lodges close to these places.
The Pestana Group, Madeira, Portugal, is investing o45 million in the 218-room Pestana London at Chelsea Bridge, west of the English capital (it will be convenient for Chelsea Football Club). Pestana makes its overseas investments via its subsidiary Hóteis do Atlántico SA. It has considerable equity in projects in Argentina, Brazil and the Cape Verde Islands, in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa. Pestana also has 37.6% of Portugal’s long-established Pousadas network of palaces and historic lodging retreats around the country. Since taking management of 40 of these properties in September 2003, the Grupo Pestana Pousadas division, led by Lars Bo Hansen, has increased profits by 83%. Hansen is planning overseas expansion, working on projects with historic Portuguese links in Africa, Asia and Brazil.
Pestana Chairman Dionisio Pestana says he has modeled his increasingly diversified business on the Southern Sun group in South Africa. He now says he can make hotels and vacation ownership work together. Working with his board director Peter Booth, Pestana has built up a vacation ownership complement of 18,000 rooms, and each year about 1,500 new owners join up (nearly 80% of these come via existing owners, their friends and traditional hotel customers). Its points-based vacation club, managed by RCI Europe, already allows access to 75 properties.
On Spain’s Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based Marc Lannoy, regional general manager for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, says although he has several openings coming up he still wants something on Lanzarote. Timing for expansion is good as the Spanish government is looking for incoming activity from low-cost airlines and such hitherto undiscovered inbound business as the Russian market.
Global Hyatt’s signature hotel in Italy is the Park Hyatt Milan. GM Claudio Ceccherelli says he is always on the lookout for historic properties in other major cities in Italy that can be converted to Park Hyatts. At the top of his list is Rome, closely followed by Venice. In any instance, he needs a central location and potential for a minimum of 100 bedrooms and suites that have at least 440 sq. ft. (41 sq. m) each.
All lodging in the Gulf has one thing, at least, in common with Las Vegas—in-house shopping is very important. Dubai's Madinat Jumeirah trio of resorts even has its own gigantic indoor soukh with more than 80 different stores. Now one of the shopping tycoons of the area, 37-year-old Sheikh Majed al-Sabah, nephew of the Emir of Kuwait, is planning a reverse strategy. His 100,000-sq. ft. (9,300-sq. m) Villa Moda in Kuwait (architect Pierfrancesco Craver, interiors by Eoldridge Smerin) is so hot that it has spawned duplicates throughout the region. He is now rumored to be planning a 40-room, sports-themed boutique hotel in partnership with the Puma sports group.
Mary Gostelow,
Contributing Editor
Send your news via e-mail to: mary.gostelow@wowtraveler.net
- InterContinental Hotels Group, London, promotes Jenifer Zeigler to the position of senior vice president, global brand management for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts...
- Choice Hotels International appoints David Bayes managing director, Australasia...
- RockResorts, Denver, Colorado, names William Hall vice president of operations...
Jim Alderman is appointed senior vice president, acquisitions and development for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, San Francisco... - Robert Foster is named president, Noble House Hotels & Resorts, Seattle...
- AMResorts appoints Emilio Huhn regional director of operations, Dominican Republic...
- Carlton Hotel, New York, names Edmund Sulzman general manager (GM)...
- Boykin Management Co. appoints Robert Magrath GM, Best Western Ft. Myers Island Gateway Hotel, Florida...
- Peter Thompson becomes GM, Four Points by Sheraton Darling Harbour, Sydney...
- Douglas Wood is GM, Holiday Inn Ventura Beach Resort, California...
- Roger Ploum has been promoted to GM, Westin Grand Bohemian, Orlando...
- Piero Bellizzi is named resort manager, InterContinental Resort Bali...
- Derek Flint becomes hotel manager, Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.
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