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D E V E L O P M E N T<br />
Q U A R T E R L Y<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® Europe’s <strong>Development</strong>, <strong>Design</strong> & <strong>Openings</strong> <strong>magazine</strong><br />
ISSUE<br />
3<br />
The Boom of Branded Boutique:<br />
Opportunities in the industry’s<br />
fastest growing segment<br />
Travel:<br />
France, her appetite for luxury and<br />
the endless appeal of Bordeaux<br />
Enter the Dragon:<br />
China outbound tourism and the<br />
importance of being China Ready<br />
Advantage Pricing:<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® launches Lowest Price Promise<br />
with Holiday Inn Express ®
Next Generation public space at Holiday Inn Express ® London – Park Royal<br />
Your next growth opportunity<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® is one of the world's leading hotel companies. Our scale, experience and<br />
dedication to quality ensure that your next growth opportunity will be supported<br />
every step of the way: from signing, through the design phase, to opening and<br />
operating a successful hotel.<br />
Whether you choose to franchise with us, or opt for an <strong>IHG</strong> management agreement,<br />
the diversity of our brand portfolio allows <strong>IHG</strong> hotels to meet guest needs whatever<br />
the occasion – ultimately adding up to better returns on your investment.<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® hotels host over 168<br />
million guest nights per annum,<br />
724,018 rooms in over 4,900<br />
hotels in nearly 100 countries<br />
around the world*.<br />
To find out more about developing your hotel with <strong>IHG</strong>,<br />
visit www.ihg.com/development<br />
*Data correct as at 30 June 2015
ISSUE 3<br />
contents<br />
Welcome to issue three 3<br />
Travel: France and the luxury market 4<br />
Exploring the dominant position of <strong>IHG</strong> ® in the country’s luxury segment<br />
and revealing why Bordeaux should be your next city break<br />
Interview with… Apurva Pratap 10<br />
Vice President of Distribution & Commercial Marketing, Europe, <strong>IHG</strong><br />
The Boom of Branded Boutique 12<br />
Looking at the benefits of branding in the fastest growing hotel segment<br />
Chinese outbound tourism: 21<br />
The facts and figures<br />
Enter the Dragon 22<br />
Highlighting the importance of being China Ready<br />
Meet… Rajesh Rana 26<br />
Director, Andras House<br />
How low can you go? Lowest Price Promise 28<br />
Launching <strong>IHG</strong>’s long-awaited Advantage Pricing model<br />
with Holiday Inn Express ®<br />
<strong>Openings</strong> 2015 30<br />
Holiday Inn Express – the Next Generation 38<br />
Unveiling the public space at Holiday Inn Express ® London – Park Royal<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> on the Road 42<br />
Showcasing <strong>IHG</strong>’s presence at the industry’s hottest events<br />
Events 45<br />
Dates for your diary<br />
A Day in the Life of… Gilles Goasdoué 46<br />
New Hotel <strong>Openings</strong>, Europe, <strong>IHG</strong><br />
What is Responsible Business? 48<br />
Shining a spotlight on corporate responsibility initiatives,<br />
from <strong>IHG</strong> ® Shelter in a Storm to the <strong>IHG</strong> Green Engage ® system<br />
Credits: Editor-in-Chief: Catherine A. Ross | Picture Editor: Rachel Fermie | Contributors: Philippe Bijaoui | Abigail Goldsbrough | Sandra Plant |<br />
Photography: Alain-Caboche.com | AntonStark.co.uk | FabriceRambert.com | Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy | PlainviewMedia.com | Anders Portman |<br />
Martin Sommerschield | VisualEye.biz | <strong>IHG</strong> <strong>Design</strong>: Marc Pattison | Tracey Gibbins (H&O) Print: Tim Sherringham (InnerWorkings)<br />
Cover image: InterContinental ® Marseille - Hotel Dieu<br />
For advertising enquiries, please contact europedevelopment@ihg.com<br />
01
MORE HOME THAN HOTEL<br />
Staybridge Suites® is the innovative, all-suites, extended stay brand from <strong>IHG</strong>®, designed for<br />
upscale business and leisure travellers who want to enjoy the best of home and hotel.<br />
Guests enjoy the friendliness of Staybridge Suites combined with homely public areas,<br />
in-suite cooking facilities and the complimentary hot breakfast served every day.<br />
The brand is perfect for any location where there’s demand for extended stay accommodation.
ISSUE 3<br />
editor’s letter…<br />
welcome to issue three<br />
Here we are at the tail end of summer. I hope you all found time to take a vacation and enjoy a break<br />
from the day-to-day. Summer is one of my favourite times of the year. It is all about family and<br />
friends enjoying long sunny days and beautiful balmy evenings. Something a little less enjoyable in<br />
the summer is construction site visits. Sweltering places where you sluggishly drag yourself around<br />
trying to concentrate on anything but the heavy-duty jacket and fur-lined boots. It is hot work but<br />
I can’t complain about one sweaty hour on site when construction teams do this all day every day to<br />
build our fantastic hotels.<br />
Now as we enter the final months of 2015, we are all feeling fresh from holiday and energised by<br />
everything we have achieved at <strong>IHG</strong> ® since the last issue of DQ. We are well on our way to attaining<br />
the goals we set ourselves for the year. Last month we unveiled a new and exciting set of refreshed<br />
Build brand standards for InterContinental ® , Crowne Plaza ® and Holiday Inn ® . Later this year<br />
the updated Hotel Indigo ® Build and Operate brand standards will be launched and work on the<br />
Staybridge Suites ® standards will follow suit. Brand standards serve to strengthen our message and<br />
ensure that they remain your brands of choice. They offer great inspiration about what <strong>IHG</strong> brands<br />
mean and where they are heading in the future.<br />
Developing great brands and financially successful hotels can only be achieved when teams work<br />
together to achieve a common goal. I want to thank the hotel owners and their teams for their ongoing<br />
partnership with <strong>IHG</strong> and praise the <strong>Development</strong>, <strong>Design</strong> & <strong>Openings</strong> team who work tirelessly<br />
with the support of the Legal, Corporate Finance, Brand, Operations, Sales and Marketing teams<br />
to open the right hotels in the right places. So far this year we have opened some fantastic hotels,<br />
including two impressive Hotel Indigo hotels in York and Helsinki, a flagship Crowne Plaza in Berlin -<br />
Potsdamer Platz, Holiday Inn hotels with show-stopping Open Lobbies in Frankfurt and Watford, and<br />
Holiday Inn Express ® Grimsby, which is the first new-build to feature Generation Four rooms. We have<br />
signed some excellent hotels including our first property in Mongolia with Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar,<br />
a 322-room Holiday Inn in Moscow, six hotels in Germany and three new InterContinental hotels;<br />
Estoril, Lyon and Bordeaux. The latter two properties position <strong>IHG</strong> as the leader in France’s luxury<br />
segment, something we explore further in this issue of the <strong>magazine</strong>.<br />
Some other topics we cover include the importance of being China Ready and our newly launched<br />
Lowest Price Promise. These are two features that go to show at <strong>IHG</strong> we are continuously striving for<br />
improvement and working towards our goal to become number one.<br />
That just leaves me to say welcome to the third issue of DQ. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to<br />
seeing you at events all over our region in the coming months.<br />
Philippe Bijaoui<br />
Vice President <strong>Development</strong>, Europe<br />
03
TRAVEL<br />
France’s Love Affair<br />
with InterContinental ®<br />
Hotels & Resorts<br />
With landmark InterContinental ® hotels in Lyon and Bordeaux<br />
signed over the last few months, <strong>IHG</strong> ® has cemented its<br />
reputation as the dominating force in France’s luxury hotel<br />
segment. So what is driving this demand and how has the<br />
InterContinental brand capitalised on France’s unwavering<br />
love of luxe?<br />
04
TRAVEL<br />
InterContinental ® Carlton Cannes<br />
“<strong>IHG</strong> now has InterContinental hotels in every main city in<br />
France” beams Willemijn Geels, <strong>IHG</strong>’s Associate Vice President of<br />
<strong>Development</strong> for Northern and Eastern Europe. “This is something<br />
to be excited about.” And she’s right. Having a leading presence in<br />
the most visited country in the world certainly is exciting.<br />
France plays host to at least 79m foreign tourists every year*. They<br />
come from around the world: Francophile Chinese flock there in their<br />
droves aided by the Schengen Agreement; visitors from the Middle<br />
East go to escape their soaring summer temperatures; curious<br />
Europeans go to see what all the fuss is about. From the fashion<br />
houses to the vineyards, France is the number one destination for<br />
good reason and its reputation is one of romance and luxury.<br />
05
TRAVEL<br />
InterContinental ® Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel<br />
InterContinental ® Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel
TRAVEL<br />
InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu<br />
Willemijn elaborates, “France remains a very attractive country for<br />
tourists and the luxury segment is doing well. People associate<br />
France with luxury goods, fashion, fine wines and so on. In a<br />
sense they carry that on to their hotel stay too, so their luxury<br />
experience doesn’t end in the shops, it continues to their choice<br />
of accommodation. The iconic InterContinental brand in France<br />
is associated with luxury and level of service and as we grow we<br />
continue to strengthen that reputation.”<br />
It is that reputation that secured two of this year’s landmark signings<br />
for the brand. Signed in June, InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu is a<br />
thrilling addition to <strong>IHG</strong>’s portfolio in Europe. Due to open in Autumn<br />
2018, it will operate under a management agreement with Crédit<br />
Agricole Assurances and will be developed by Eiffage. Part of a multipurpose<br />
development at the epicentre of a district undergoing total<br />
renovation, the project has been years in the making. <strong>IHG</strong>’s Director<br />
of <strong>Development</strong> France and North Africa, Brice Marguet explains,<br />
“It all started with a business lunch with the Lord Mayor at the MIPIM<br />
conference in Cannes. He invited ten hotel representatives to discuss<br />
the upcoming RFP to select a developer and a brand to operate the<br />
future Hotel Dieu. I attended it and promoted InterContinental as the<br />
right brand for the area. We had meetings, we had presentations,<br />
we focused on the InterContinental brand’s impressive estate in the<br />
country and after some time that’s how we got it.”<br />
“Signing InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu<br />
and InterContinental ® Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel<br />
absolutely positions <strong>IHG</strong> ® as the leader<br />
in the luxury sector in France.”<br />
“Willemijn Geels, Associate Vice President <strong>Development</strong>,<br />
Northern and Eastern Europe, <strong>IHG</strong><br />
“<br />
That impressive estate is what helped the brand win in Bordeaux too.<br />
Due to open by the end of the year, the glorious InterContinental ®<br />
Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel will operate under a management<br />
agreement with Financière Immobilière Bordelaise. Dating back<br />
to 1776, the 130-room icon occupies a prime location on Place de<br />
la Comédie in the city that’s just been awarded Top Destination by<br />
European Best Destinations 2015. As the second project to get the<br />
thumbs up within a month, it has been a summer to celebrate at <strong>IHG</strong>.<br />
“Signing InterContinental Lyon - Hotel Dieu and InterContinental<br />
Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel absolutely positions <strong>IHG</strong> as the leader in<br />
the luxury sector in France” Willemijn continues. “The fact we have<br />
very well-known historical properties in Paris, Cannes and Marseille<br />
spread the word for the InterContinental brand. They definitely helped<br />
us secure the latest properties.”<br />
France’s love affair with luxury tourism has gone from strength to<br />
strength. The long-anticipated affluent Chinese guest has started<br />
arriving and initiatives like the successful ‘Do you speak touriste?’<br />
campaign by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry have<br />
gone a long way to enhance France’s position as a tourist-friendly<br />
must-visit destination. With hospitality competition fiercer than<br />
ever, <strong>IHG</strong> can be particularly proud of the InterContinental estate<br />
across a country that can claim the third largest income in the world<br />
from tourism*.<br />
* Luxury Society, February 2014<br />
07
TRAVEL<br />
InterContinental ® Marseille - Hotel Dieu<br />
The InterContinental ® Estate in France<br />
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has won the World’s Leading Hotel Brand at the World Travel Awards for six years running.<br />
Here is how the brand’s estate in France pans out...<br />
InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu<br />
Signed: June 2015<br />
Due to open: 2018<br />
Rooms & suites: 143<br />
Located on the bank of the river Rhône, this hotel is being converted<br />
from Lyon’s former Hotel Dieu, one of the oldest hospitals in France.<br />
It forms part of a listed group of buildings that dates back to the 17th<br />
Century, close to Place Bellecour in the very heart of the city.<br />
InterContinental ® Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel<br />
Signed: July 2015<br />
Due to open: Q4 2015<br />
Rooms & suites: 130<br />
Dating back to 1776, this hotel is based on Place de la Comédie in<br />
the centre of Bordeaux, a city that was recently voted European Best<br />
Destination, 2015. F&B will be overseen by the Gordon Ramsay Group<br />
and will include the fine dining restaurant Le Pressoir D’Argent.<br />
InterContinental ® Marseille - Hotel Dieu<br />
Opened: May 2013<br />
Rooms & suites: 216<br />
Overlooking the Vieux Port, adjacent to the oldest district in Marseille<br />
known as the Panier, this historic hotel is housed in a listed historical<br />
monument dating back to the 18th century. With a spectacular terrace,<br />
it also boasts the first ever Spa by Clarins in Marseille.<br />
InterContinental ® Paris - Avenue Marceau<br />
Opened: September 2008<br />
Rooms & suites: 57<br />
Ideally located a short walk from the Champs Elysées and overlooking<br />
the Eiffel Tower, this boutique-style hotel is home to exclusive<br />
Le M64 Restaurant. Once the private mansion of Lord de Breteuil,<br />
this beautifully renovated property is at the very heart of Paris.<br />
InterContinental ® Carlton Cannes<br />
Opened: September 1991<br />
Rooms & suites: 382<br />
This hotel’s Belle Epoque façade overlooks the stunning Bay of<br />
Cannes. Situated on the Boulevard de La Croisette, famous for the<br />
Cannes Film Festival and designer shopping, it has its own exclusive<br />
beach restaurant and pier.<br />
InterContinental ® Paris - Le Grand<br />
Opened: 1976<br />
Rooms & suites: 540<br />
Located in the 9th arrondissement, close to the Louvre Museum,<br />
shopping and theatre, this luxury Paris hotel is truly an icon. In 2014<br />
the hotel’s famous ballroom the Salon Opera and Salon Berlioz<br />
underwent a €6million restoration over a five-month period.<br />
08
TRAVEL<br />
Why Bordeaux?<br />
Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, Bordeaux<br />
earned the enviable title of 2015’s Top Destination by European<br />
Best Destinations earlier this year. It’s not hard to see why. A recent<br />
regeneration project has revived the city’s elegant dignity and<br />
injected new life into areas previously untouched. Chartrons is a<br />
case in point. Once an area of abandoned warehouses, gentrification<br />
has transformed it into the city’s trendiest neighbourhood, with<br />
contemporary design shops, clothing boutiques and delightful<br />
eateries. And food and wine are what makes this city tick. You can<br />
eat and drink yourself silly in a host of restaurants, from multiple<br />
Michelin-starred offerings to the diverse food stalls at Marché des<br />
Capucins. Bordeaux’s wine production remains world dominating,<br />
and no trip to the region is complete without a vineyard tour or two.<br />
The sweeping Garonne river, with its quaint riverbank homes and<br />
the beautiful Pont de Pierre, provides countless photo opportunities.<br />
So too does the Triangle-d’Or, which combines 18th-century charm<br />
with modern bustle. The Musée d’Aquitaine is a testament to the<br />
city’s illustrious heritage and no visit to Bordeaux is complete<br />
without taking in the unbeatable views from the Cathédrale<br />
Saint-André’s bell tower.<br />
Bordeaux unites classical and neo-classical architecture with urban<br />
development and attracts tourists and businesses from around the<br />
world. It presents a unique investment opportunity and <strong>IHG</strong> is very<br />
proud to be opening the InterContinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel<br />
later this year.<br />
09
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW<br />
Interview with…<br />
Apurva Pratap<br />
Apurva Pratap is Vice President of Distribution & Commercial Marketing, Europe and has been heavily involved in creating<br />
the <strong>IHG</strong> ® Lowest Price Promise. Before joining <strong>IHG</strong> in 2009 Apurva held Director positions in global marketing and strategy<br />
at Starbucks Coffee Co. after crafting a successful career in the finance sector while establishing his family’s upscale resort<br />
hotel in India. We caught up with him to talk about his work-life balance, his passion for Shakespeare and childhood plans<br />
for time travel.<br />
What is your typical day like?<br />
I get up between 6:30-7:00am and my wife and I get my daughter<br />
ready for nursery. She is my first child and is two-and-a-half now,<br />
so it is precious time for us. I get into the office about 9:00am,<br />
but I’m only there about half of the time, the rest is spent travelling.<br />
A big part of my job is talking to our owner community. I go to sales<br />
and marketing subcommittee meetings, IT meetings, country owner<br />
meetings, owner board meetings. It is critical to get owner input,<br />
buy-in and endorsement because that’s what makes or breaks<br />
anything we do!<br />
You must be very proud of what <strong>IHG</strong> has achieved with Lowest<br />
Price Promise.<br />
I am very proud. It is a project that has required many teams. It’s<br />
our sales team ensuring our distribution channels are working, our<br />
brand team creating the messaging, our marketing team making<br />
sure the right message is conveyed to the right people in the right<br />
place, it’s revenue management ensuring price integrity, it’s the<br />
hotel, it’s operations; everybody had their role to play. Something<br />
that really engages the whole company is great because the whole<br />
is greater than the sum of its parts.<br />
Tell us about your most recent project, the Lowest Price Promise.<br />
It was born out of finding a way to address our guests’ key needs.<br />
They were telling us they wanted the best prices using a simple<br />
channel so over time and a lot of work, we devised our Lowest Price<br />
Promise. It’s important to emphasise that this is a promise that has<br />
real substance. It delivers the best results every time and never<br />
breaks that promise. We have rolled it out with Holiday Inn Express ®<br />
first and only when we are absolutely confident that we can achieve<br />
that across the other brands, we will roll it out to them.<br />
You are a numbers and a people man. Have you developed that<br />
balance over time?<br />
I have been fortunate to work in some fantastic organisations. When<br />
I was a consultant in McKinsey & Co. I spent a lot of time with six<br />
to eight other organisations and in general you find the thing you<br />
are most proud of is the degree to which you’ve made an impact<br />
on individuals. Yes, I take satisfaction from making an impact on a<br />
company, but it’s the impact on people that is really gratifying.<br />
Have you always had leadership in mind?<br />
I love to work in teams but I like to see myself making an impact. In<br />
school I led the debate team, the dramatics team and inter-school<br />
and collegiate competitions. Leading has always given me a great<br />
sense of pride. I think a team can achieve more than a single person<br />
and in a leadership role you get the benefit of that broader impact.<br />
So do you think you’re competitive?<br />
Absolutely! Our team won a lot of those debates in school! I always<br />
carefully choose what I take on, but when I take something on I have to<br />
do the best job possible.<br />
“<br />
I take satisfaction from making an impact<br />
on a company, but it’s the impact on people<br />
that is really gratifying.<br />
“<br />
Lowest Price Promise has been a huge project, how do you maintain<br />
a healthy work-life balance?<br />
It is naturally balanced because I love what I do. If you really love<br />
your work you don’t get home too tired to enjoy being with your<br />
family. One thing I do, which might be good or bad practice, is go<br />
through emails when everyone is asleep. It is my one little piece of<br />
time for quiet reflection and the rest of my time is spent with people.<br />
Tell us about your love of theatre.<br />
I was very fortunate in my school to get involved in theatre at a<br />
very young age. I love the fact that you immerse yourself into<br />
someone else’s life and learn about them. Learning is something<br />
that motivates me in everything I do. I especially love Shakespeare<br />
because it is so evergreen. It was written so long ago but still so<br />
much of it is true today.<br />
What did you want to be when you were a child?<br />
I always loved to travel so I wanted to be a pilot. When I was six we<br />
went to America and the 20 hours from India felt like days. I knew<br />
that the world turned in 24 hours, so I always imagined that if we<br />
flew straight up into the atmosphere and then came straight down<br />
we could get there in 12 hours just by the earth’s turning, and then<br />
if we went against the turn we could cut that in half again. It seems<br />
I was devising time travel from an early age!<br />
What are you working on at the moment?<br />
I am working on something called Loyalty 2.0 which is about building<br />
relationships with all our <strong>IHG</strong> ® Rewards Club members at different<br />
levels of loyalty. It aims to move beyond purely transactional rewards,<br />
like free nights, to build relationships that make sure we understand<br />
what matters to every customer and consistently deliver on that.<br />
Everything starts with the customer and if you get that right you can<br />
achieve anything.<br />
11
BRANDS
BRANDS<br />
The Boom of<br />
Branded Boutique<br />
The boutique segment is the fastest growing in the industry<br />
and <strong>IHG</strong> ® is the global leader in the field. But why exactly is<br />
boutique seeing such a surge in popularity and what can<br />
branding bring to the traditionally independent market?<br />
For the last four years the boutique segment has outperformed the<br />
overall industry in demand, supply and growth. So when earlier this year,<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> announced the acquisition of Kimpton ® Hotels & Restaurants it was<br />
a significant move which, alongside Hotel Indigo ® , gives <strong>IHG</strong> the largest<br />
footprint in the global boutique hotel space. No mean feat considering the<br />
competition in a segment that’s enjoying so much success.<br />
Combined, <strong>IHG</strong>’s Hotel Indigo and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants brands<br />
boast a total of over 200 open and pipeline hotels across 22 countries.<br />
The pace of growth of Hotel Indigo alone is far outstripping the competition<br />
and with Kimpton on board, <strong>IHG</strong> has taken another leap ahead of the<br />
game. Richard Solomons, Chief Executive Officer of <strong>IHG</strong> elaborates,<br />
“The distinctive and innovative Kimpton brand will fit perfectly into the <strong>IHG</strong><br />
brand family. The acquisition is another step in <strong>IHG</strong>’s well-established<br />
asset-light strategy of investing in high-quality growth, building on a<br />
strong track record of developing iconic global brands. We will use our<br />
scale, network of owner relationships, and powerful digital platforms to<br />
accelerate Kimpton’s growth both within the US and internationally.“<br />
Hotel Indigo ® Helsinki - Boulevard<br />
13
BRANDS<br />
Why Generation Y is key<br />
Over the last decade, hotels as an investment vehicle have grown in<br />
importance. As these last few years in particular have shown, boutique and<br />
lifestyle present a highly compelling investment case. Since the inception<br />
of ‘boutique’ in the early 80s, the concept has always been considered<br />
something of a niche market, a trendy flash-in-the-pan with no legs to<br />
stand the test of time. Thirty years on and several economic busts later,<br />
boutique is booming.<br />
The often misunderstood sector has crafted an identity, courted a new<br />
breed of guest and reaped the rewards. A core development in the sector’s<br />
success has been truly understanding the boutique patron. With every year<br />
that passes, more Generation Ys and Millennials make up hotel guests.<br />
This generational shift and evolving guest habits have contributed to the<br />
growth of the industry.<br />
Those in their 20s-50s, the techies-meet-creatives are now looking for<br />
more than traditional comfort and convenience for their business and<br />
leisure travel. They want authentic local adventure without the exhaustion<br />
of a backpack. Theirs is an Instagrammable stay; something sexy and<br />
stylish to brag about online. A Facebook check-in here and a #foodporn<br />
tweet there. Boutique is beautiful, and beautiful and social media go hand<br />
in hand. Dina Soliman, Director of Brand Management, Hotel Indigo in<br />
Europe lends her opinion, “Generation Ys and Millennials are certainly<br />
more open, less risk averse and keener to get out and explore and there are<br />
boutique brands that are geared to that. However, in my view the growth<br />
behind the boutique segment is wider than the Millennial generation pull.<br />
The growth and demand for this segment is across generations and in fact<br />
goes beyond our industry. The dominance of chains seen in our high streets<br />
means that every city in Europe starts to seem the same and people are<br />
looking to move away from that – hence the demand in boutique, one-off<br />
shops and unusual items.”<br />
Lorien Hotel & Spa, a Kimpton ® Hotel<br />
14
BRANDS
BRANDS<br />
Hotel Indigo ® York
BRANDS<br />
Hotel Indigo ® York, designed by matthews mee<br />
Size? It’s what you do with it that counts<br />
The concept of branded boutique might seem like an oxymoron.<br />
There is a romanticism in the independent and the unique and an<br />
understandable fear of a cloned and uniform experience should<br />
a boutique become a chain. From a developer’s point of view,<br />
there is a perceived risk of restrictive brand standards throttling<br />
any creativity from their hotel. And so with boutique hotels come<br />
more flexible design and tailored concepts. Personalised guest<br />
experience is far more important to the segment than negotiating<br />
a few square millimetres. This variety all adds to the uniqueness<br />
of the hotel. It all works to maintain the authenticity of the genre.<br />
Boutique hotels pride themselves on being not merely a hotel<br />
product. They look to add value to not only the building but the<br />
neighbourhood it sits in. Hotel Indigo has built this element into<br />
the core of its brand. Dina Soliman elaborates, “Just as no two<br />
neighbourhoods are alike, no two Hotel Indigo properties are alike.<br />
Each hotel’s neighbourhood story is woven throughout the guest<br />
experience, from the local cuisine, to the art, photography and<br />
architecture incorporated into the hotel’s design. The boutique space<br />
is about creating distinctive experiences and lasting memories and<br />
it’s important that isn’t lost by going with branded boutique.”<br />
Branded boutique is an evolving market that offers a compelling<br />
investment proposition. At the heart of the segment is the idea<br />
that with the backing of a global hotel company like <strong>IHG</strong>, a hotel<br />
combines the design cache of boutique with the operational<br />
credibility of a large hotel chain. Nobody wants to sacrifice the<br />
unique appeal of the sector and by understanding and catering for<br />
a new breed of guest and identifying the make-up of the segment,<br />
branded boutique ensures that nothing is lost and, as the figures<br />
show, everything is gained.<br />
17
Hotel Indigo ® Helsinki – Boulevard<br />
BRANDS
BRANDS<br />
Number crunch:<br />
– Hotel Indigo ® : 62 hotels with 64 in the pipeline<br />
– Kimpton ® Hotels & Restaurants: 66 hotels with 15 in the pipeline<br />
– Demand growth for boutique hotels is almost double that of the total industry<br />
– Growth in room count is almost 4x the industry average<br />
– <strong>IHG</strong> has tripled the presence of Hotel Indigo outside of the US in just over three years<br />
– Hotel Indigo hotels get an average rating of 4.5 in Europe on TripAdvisor<br />
All data as at 30 June 2015<br />
19
20
INFOGRAPHIC<br />
$35,000<br />
per annum<br />
The threshold of household<br />
income in China that<br />
makes international<br />
travel affordable<br />
70%<br />
of outbound travel from China<br />
is to major cities<br />
62%<br />
of total<br />
outbound<br />
travel<br />
will be<br />
leisure<br />
tourism*<br />
97m ARRIVALS<br />
Annual arrivals from China<br />
to global destinations*<br />
61%<br />
The expected<br />
per-night increase<br />
in money spent<br />
by Chinese tourists*<br />
53%<br />
of disposable income<br />
currently spent on travel<br />
150<br />
CITIES<br />
Chinese cities<br />
with a population<br />
of over 1 million<br />
Additional volume of Chinese visitors arriving by 2023<br />
MILAN +108%<br />
LUCERNE +86%<br />
WARSAW +123%<br />
FLORENCE +120%<br />
ROME +181%<br />
FRANKFURT +100% VENICE +127%<br />
PARIS +93% LONDON +174%<br />
MUNICH +105%<br />
China is now recognised as the largest travelling nation and contributor to hotel revenue growth<br />
in the world. The Chinese outbound market preference is evolving towards long-haul, leisure-driven<br />
travel, primarily to cities. Urbanisation drives GDP growth and household income levels. <strong>IHG</strong> ® China<br />
Ready accreditation enables hotels to deliver a great experience for Chinese guests.<br />
*by 2023<br />
21
TRENDS
TRENDS<br />
Enter the Dragon…<br />
The importance of being China Ready<br />
In 2014 the Chinese became the largest nation of outbound travellers globally, overtaking the U.S. and Germany.<br />
Between now and 2020, the number of Chinese travellers is expected to grow to over 150 million*. We look at how<br />
Europe is preparing for this influx of new guests and what <strong>IHG</strong> ® is doing to welcome this most lucrative of markets.<br />
Between 2000-2010, the Chinese economy tripled in size. It is now<br />
the world’s second largest economy, with only the U.S. standing<br />
in its way of the top spot. More people in its total population of<br />
1.3 billion are enjoying financial security than ever before. And<br />
it’s not just those in the major cities who are influencing this<br />
boom. Tier two and three cities are also driving growth and the<br />
middle classes have expanded massively. The number of Chinese<br />
households earning above $35,000 per annum – identified as<br />
the income level at which international travel becomes more<br />
affordable – rose by 21 million from 2003 to 2013. An additional<br />
61 million households will pass this threshold by 2023.**<br />
With this rise in salary, the average family has disposable income<br />
that was unthinkable only a decade ago. This, coupled with more<br />
relaxed travel restrictions and simplified visa processes, it’s no<br />
wonder the Chinese are flocking to Europe in their millions.<br />
The UK, France and Germany look to benefit the most. According<br />
to ‘The Future of Chinese Travel’, a joint Oxford Economics and <strong>IHG</strong><br />
study, London looks set to double the number of Chinese visitors<br />
it receives between 2013 and 2023. That equates to over 60% of all<br />
Chinese arrivals to the UK. France is ranked at number two for top<br />
long-haul arrivals and German cities Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin<br />
feature among the top city nights in Europe with absolute growth of<br />
200,000, 199,000 and 169,000 nights respectively.<br />
The traditional image of the Chinese tourist is one of touring en<br />
masse to the most crowded tourist hotspots. But today, that trend<br />
is changing. Drew Davy, Programme Director of <strong>IHG</strong>’s China<br />
Outbound project throws some light on why, “It’s not that those<br />
huge bus tours are stopping. They still have a place for first-time<br />
travellers on multi-country tours. But what we’re seeing now is<br />
once they have made that step, their confidence is boosted and<br />
many more people are travelling solo or in smaller groups of<br />
friends and family.”<br />
In fact 71% of Chinese travellers are now choosing independent<br />
travel over the 29% opting for group tours.* In addition to leisure<br />
tourism, the growth of business travel also accounts for an increase<br />
in the number of Chinese travelling solo. This adds to the number<br />
of rooms Chinese guests are booking for individuals, as opposed to<br />
family, friends and partners sharing a room. As a major business<br />
hub, London is estimated to be the largest European market for<br />
Chinese room nights.<br />
This evolution in Chinese traveller comes with its own demands.<br />
Where once it was just the hotels on the tour trails that were versed<br />
in hosting Chinese guests, now more hotels need to be ready to<br />
cater for the growth of this new type of traveller. The industry as a<br />
whole has had to react and earlier this year <strong>IHG</strong> launched its own<br />
response with the China Ready programme.<br />
Offered across two tiers, China Ready is a self-accreditation<br />
programme that acts as a guarantee to Chinese guests that their<br />
stay will be everything they want it to be. “Being China Ready is<br />
a mark of distinction” Drew points out. “Hotels merited with the<br />
China Ready stamp are so much more likely to attract the Chinese<br />
market and word of mouth is everything. We are also affiliated with<br />
a Chinese government agency called the China Tourism Academy<br />
(CTA), which adds a huge amount of credibility.”<br />
Presented in an Essential and Premium tier, the programme was<br />
devised after extensive research into what Chinese tourists want<br />
from their stay. From the food & beverage (F&B) offering to the<br />
TV channel choices to accepted payment methods. But just as<br />
important as the services is the personal etiquette, something that<br />
both tiers of the programme cover.<br />
23
TRENDS<br />
“Understanding the culture is absolutely critical to delivering a<br />
good experience for a Chinese guest” Drew says. “You could easily<br />
be in a situation where you sit a Chinese guest at table number<br />
four, which is decorated with chrysanthemums and when they go to<br />
pay, you take the credit card from them with one hand. In just those<br />
three instances you could damage the Chinese experience because<br />
number four is unlucky, cut flowers aren’t good and presenting<br />
and receiving items with one hand is disrespectful. You might think<br />
you’ve done a great job, but you’ve undermined several aspects of<br />
their culture, so it’s deeply important to understand those nuances.”<br />
While all this might sound obvious, the number of hotels getting<br />
it wrong remains high. Although the Chinese arrivals have been<br />
on the cards for a while, the hotel industry has been slow to<br />
respond, but <strong>IHG</strong> is in a powerful position to offer a solution.<br />
As <strong>IHG</strong>’s Kenneth Macpherson, Chief Executive Officer of Greater<br />
China told us, “As the first international hotel company to enter the<br />
market in mainland China, we have an unparallelled 30 years of<br />
in-depth knowledge and experience with the Chinese consumer.<br />
This puts us in a unique position to create a China Ready programme<br />
that enables our hotels around the world to deliver a great guest<br />
experience to our Chinese guests.”<br />
Drew continues, “We’ve got the Welcome Chinese website which<br />
has an affiliation with the CTA – nobody else has got that. We’ve got<br />
cultural training – nobody else has got that. We’ve just got better<br />
all-round execution and overall a better offer on the table.”<br />
24
TRENDS<br />
The two tiers on offer both present a healthy return on investment to<br />
owners*. The Essential tier ensures hotels have the key infrastructure<br />
to support the guest experience. This includes Chinese TV channels,<br />
China Union payment methods, Chinese-speaking staff at the front<br />
desk (or via 24/7 phone support) and condensed cross-cultural<br />
training. The Premium tier offers that much more, with all restaurant<br />
and in-room menus translated into Chinese, a full Chinese F&B<br />
offering and extensive cultural training, something Drew feels is<br />
key for both tiers, “We felt it was an important element to offer the<br />
cultural training in both tiers as opposed to just one. It isn’t just,<br />
‘Here’s the teas, here’s the food’. Understanding relationships,<br />
respect and all the other cultural elements is make or break for a<br />
good guest experience.”<br />
Being China Ready is imperative, and <strong>IHG</strong>’s programme is putting<br />
hotels well on the way to reaching this lucrative market. Drew sums<br />
it up, “One fifth of the population of the world is Chinese and it’s<br />
growing. The choice is to become China Ready and draw in that<br />
market right now, or wait for them to come and then play catch up.”<br />
Number crunch:<br />
The ten most important things to Chinese guests*<br />
1. Free WiFi<br />
2. China UnionPay / Alipay accepted<br />
3. In-house Mandarin speaking staff available 24/7 or phone<br />
support 24/7<br />
4. Translated travel / tourism guides<br />
5. Hotel website in Mandarin<br />
6. In-room food service options<br />
7. Chinese TV programmes<br />
8. Chinese breakfast<br />
9. Translated welcome material<br />
10. Chinese newspapers / <strong>magazine</strong>s<br />
Well, when you put it like that...<br />
* ‘Is Your Hotel China Ready?’, <strong>IHG</strong>, 2015<br />
** ‘The Future of Chinese Travel’, Oxford Economics report for <strong>IHG</strong>, 2015<br />
25
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Holiday Inn ® is the class leader in its sector so<br />
coupled with the <strong>IHG</strong> ® mechanisms, we decided<br />
it was the brand to go for.<br />
Meet…<br />
Rajesh Rana<br />
Rajesh Rana is Director at Andras House, leading hotel developer and operator in Northern Ireland. Founded by his<br />
father, Lord Diljit Rana, in 1981 the company specialised in office and restaurant development before opening their first<br />
hotel in 1987 with the Holiday Inn ® brand. Based in Belfast, they have a total of six hotels in their portfolio. Their latest<br />
project is a Days Hotel conversion to Holiday Inn ® Belfast City Centre. We caught up with him at the Owner’s Association<br />
forum at the <strong>IHG</strong> ® headquarters in Denham, UK.<br />
When did you first work with <strong>IHG</strong>?<br />
After our very first Holiday Inn, we did a Holiday Inn Express ® in<br />
1996, which I believe was one of the first franchise Holiday Inn<br />
Express hotels in the UK. We refurbished that in 2010 and it’s doing<br />
very well. At the moment we’re repurposing the Days Hotel to be a<br />
Holiday Inn, which we’re very excited about. We’re spending £2.5m<br />
really upgrading it. It’s like a new hotel.<br />
Why did you decide to go with Holiday Inn for that location?<br />
Holiday Inn is the class leader in its sector so coupled with the <strong>IHG</strong><br />
mechanisms, we decided it was the brand to go for. We are used to<br />
working with Holidex and the people are easy to work with. We’ve<br />
worked with <strong>IHG</strong> for years and contribution is a key thing. We’re<br />
already talking to the global sales team about key contracts that we<br />
could bring to Holiday Inn Belfast City Centre and they’re keen to get<br />
on top of it.<br />
What does <strong>IHG</strong> bring to the table?<br />
I think <strong>IHG</strong> probably has the balance right in terms of flexibility.<br />
Some hotel companies are too flexible and they have some poorly<br />
performing assets that they need to get rid of but don’t do anything<br />
about. Some are very prescriptive but I would probably say <strong>IHG</strong> gets<br />
the balance right. The Owners Association forum is a great platform<br />
that other brands don’t really have and now they’ve got the Key<br />
Performance Indicators, it’s easier to pinpoint elements that you<br />
need to focus on.<br />
What do you think are upcoming trends in the industry?<br />
Offering guests the best price through the Advantage Pricing model<br />
is such a no brainer. It seems obvious that this has to happen and<br />
technology is driving it in that direction, but nothing has been done<br />
about it until now. I think it is genuinely pioneering because it wasn’t<br />
something the owners were pushing for but when you realise that<br />
your own hotel is being undersold by someone else, it makes you<br />
sit up in shock. We’re very pleased about it.<br />
What is the market like in Belfast at the moment?<br />
The market in Belfast has grown quite a lot. Back office, IT and oil<br />
rigs are helping to build the economy, but there’s also tourism and<br />
business travel. Waterfront Hall is a great big concert hall which they’re<br />
now extending to what will be a world-leading conference centre.<br />
The Holiday Inn Belfast City Centre fits right into that market because<br />
delegates like to stay in branded hotels. And they don’t get much more<br />
recognisable than Holiday Inn.<br />
How did you get to where you are today?<br />
I have a degree in Physics, a degree in Architecture which takes about<br />
six years and now I make hotels! I suppose I’m quite a methodical<br />
person, so I like to know where I want to get to, what are the steps<br />
I have to do to get there. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert. I’m learning<br />
and that’s the key! If you’re not learning, you’re not doing it right.<br />
What is the Andras House development strategy?<br />
Because all of our hotels are in Belfast, our strategy is to capture all<br />
of the main brands in one area. Some company portfolios are made<br />
up entirely of Holiday Inn Express but they’re all across Europe.<br />
Because we’re not geographically dispersed we feel that we have to<br />
be brand dispersed instead. So we have <strong>IHG</strong>, Accor and Wyndham<br />
brands and that suits us very well. It’s a defensive strategy – if we<br />
didn’t do it, someone else would.<br />
And where do you see Andras House going in the future?<br />
I think as a company we have really invested in a lot of the<br />
products. The Holiday Inn Belfast City Centre is fully refurbished,<br />
the Holiday Inn Express ® Belfast City – Queen’s Quarter is fully<br />
refurbished, our other assets are either new or fully refurbished.<br />
I see us starting to focus more on the operational side of things.<br />
Obviously we are an operating company, but now that we have got<br />
the assets where we want them, we need to work on the human<br />
assets and the skillset. That’s probably the next challenge.<br />
27
TRENDS<br />
Lower<br />
than a<br />
sausage<br />
dog having<br />
a lie down.<br />
28
TRENDS<br />
“<br />
“<br />
The initiative is important and the aim is clear: Lowest Price<br />
Promise guarantees that loyalty club members will get a lower<br />
price than anywhere else when booking directly with <strong>IHG</strong> ® .<br />
Launching the Lowest Price Promise – a pledge to guests<br />
Earlier this year <strong>IHG</strong> ® launched Advantage Pricing, a discounted rate offered to <strong>IHG</strong> ® Rewards Club members if they<br />
book direct. Sounds simple enough, but this Lowest Price Promise is a result of substantial research into online<br />
travel agencies, loyalty clubs and most of all improving the guest experience.<br />
It’s been almost 20 years since Microsoft launched online travel<br />
agency Expedia. After a slow start, what followed was an explosion<br />
in online travel agencies (OTAs) which has been nothing short of<br />
an industry revolution. As access to the internet grew, so too did<br />
people’s confidence in internet security, leading to more online<br />
bookings. But the business model really expanded when hospitality<br />
called for a much needed boost in the wake of 9/11. Coupled with<br />
increasingly cost conscious customers following 2008’s economic<br />
crisis OTAs have, in a relatively short period of time, grown beyond<br />
all predictions. Last year alone, they took a combined total of<br />
$278 billion in bookings*.<br />
Now <strong>IHG</strong> has launched its very own way to connect with today’s new<br />
breed of savvy guest. Advantage Pricing piloted in May with Holiday<br />
Inn Express ® in the UK & Ireland. Currently direct channels have<br />
price parity with OTAs, but by offering rooms through the closed<br />
user group of <strong>IHG</strong> Rewards Club, <strong>IHG</strong> is able to offer the best value.<br />
The initiative is important and the aim is clear: Lowest Price Promise<br />
guarantees that loyalty club members will get a lower price than<br />
anywhere else when booking directly with <strong>IHG</strong>. Vice President of<br />
Distribution & Commercial Marketing in Europe, Apurva Pratap<br />
elaborates, “Lowest Price Promise was born out of finding a way to<br />
make things simple for our guests and addressing their key needs.<br />
Everything starts with the customer and customers have been<br />
telling us they find it increasingly difficult to determine where to<br />
get the best price for our hotels. The distribution landscape has got<br />
much more complicated.”<br />
Research commissioned by Holiday Inn Express backs this up.<br />
The average British person spends approximately eight days a year<br />
searching for the best deals. Out of the 2,000 people surveyed,<br />
75% were ‘frustrated’ when searching for the lowest price for<br />
holidays, hotels, mobile phones and bills. A massive 69% felt there<br />
were too many price comparison sites, which left them feeling<br />
muddled and unsure whether they had got the best deal or not. It’s<br />
clear that trust is a major issue between the customer and booking<br />
channel. Apurva continues, “What we want to make sure of is when<br />
we offer Lowest Price Promise it is a promise with real substance<br />
which is true every single time, so there can never be an occasion<br />
where that promise is broken.”<br />
Direct booking channels include the <strong>IHG</strong> website, the Central<br />
Reservations Office and the mobile application which is a route to<br />
purchase that is only going to increase. Last year, market research<br />
company Euromonitor estimated that by 2017 over 30% of online<br />
travel bookings will be made on mobile devices. If this trend<br />
continues, <strong>IHG</strong> can be confident that its app will deliver as it was<br />
recently voted as the best iOS app in the world by Apptentive.<br />
As <strong>IHG</strong>’s largest estate, the Holiday Inn Express brand was an<br />
obvious choice for piloting the scheme. It is also the brand that<br />
customers most associate with simplicity, so aligning the booking<br />
process with that ‘Simple. Smart. Spot On.’ messaging became the<br />
priority. But what of the plans to roll it out across <strong>IHG</strong>’s brand family?<br />
“We are working through how we can create that same simplicity<br />
and are able to ensure that without question, there will never be<br />
an instance where you can find a lower price through some other<br />
means” confirms Apurva. “When we are confident that we are able<br />
to achieve that across all the brands, we will do so.”<br />
It is a clever solution that has been a long time coming. Through<br />
direct channels cost-of-sale is reduced, brand reputation and<br />
guest experience are more closely managed and guests benefit<br />
from loyalty club features as well as the lowest prices. But how<br />
will OTAs respond to this initiative? With deep pockets, they are<br />
well resourced to respond. “Certainly they are attempting to<br />
respond with loyalty programmes” Apurva comments, “but one of<br />
the things that the hotel companies have over OTAs is they actually<br />
manage the hotel experience. You might spend seven minutes and<br />
40 seconds on a booking website but you spend 48 hours at the<br />
hotel, so what’s actually delivered by the hotel stay is a huge part<br />
of the overall experience. We value OTAs. They have a role to play<br />
and we would like to keep supporting that, but at the same time we<br />
want to make sure that as the brand owner, we ensure guests have<br />
the best possible experience in terms of price and stay.”<br />
Advantage Pricing is a game changer. It answers the customer call<br />
for clarity and value while increasing loyalty members, preserving<br />
brand integrity and ultimately improving the owner proposition.<br />
And in the end, everybody wins.<br />
* Euromonitor, January 2014<br />
29
OPENINGS 2015<br />
2015<br />
OPENINGS<br />
We create Great Hotels Guests Love<br />
The <strong>IHG</strong> ® ambition to be #1 for owners, guests and colleagues is, in its<br />
simplest form, about winning. So far in 2015*, the European <strong>Development</strong>,<br />
<strong>Design</strong> & <strong>Openings</strong> team has opened 13 great hotels and signed many<br />
exciting new deals. From the first meeting to discuss a new project the<br />
team works to enable your vision – advising on brand selection, design<br />
and build, staffing and technology and supporting the team right up to the<br />
successful opening of the hotel. This helps ensure that you are connected<br />
to the value that <strong>IHG</strong> brings from the very beginning.<br />
10<br />
02<br />
12<br />
13<br />
11<br />
09<br />
08<br />
04<br />
05<br />
06<br />
03<br />
30
OPENINGS 2015<br />
07<br />
01<br />
2015 <strong>Openings</strong><br />
1. Holiday Inn ® Baku, Azerbaijan<br />
Opened 19 March<br />
223 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
2. Hotel Indigo ® Helsinki - Boulevard, Finland<br />
Opened 4 March<br />
120 rooms<br />
Conversion<br />
3. Holiday Inn Express ® Toulon - Sainte-Musse, France<br />
Opened 9 January<br />
81 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
4. Crowne Plaza ® Berlin - Potsdamer Platz, Germany<br />
Opened 28 April<br />
256 rooms<br />
Rebrand<br />
5. Holiday Inn ® Frankfurt - Alte Oper, Germany<br />
Opened 1 March<br />
249 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
6. Holiday Inn ® Dresden - City South, Germany<br />
Opened 20 May<br />
91 rooms<br />
Rebrand<br />
7. Holiday Inn Express ® Istanbul Airport, Turkey<br />
Opened 24 March<br />
110 rooms<br />
Conversion<br />
8. Crowne Plaza ® London - Battersea, UK<br />
Opened 12 January<br />
78 rooms<br />
Rebrand<br />
9. Holiday Inn ® London - Watford Junction, UK<br />
Opened 20 February<br />
93 rooms<br />
Conversion<br />
10. Holiday Inn Express ® Aberdeen Airport, UK<br />
Opened 7 May<br />
193 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
11. Holiday Inn Express ® London - ExCel, UK<br />
Opened 16 June<br />
204 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
12. Holiday Inn Express ® Grimsby, UK<br />
Opened 30 June<br />
80 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
13. Staybridge Suites ® London - Vauxhall, UK<br />
Opened 23 January<br />
93 rooms<br />
New construction<br />
*Data as at 30 June 2015<br />
31
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇHoliday Inn Express ® Aberdeen Airport, UK<br />
ˇHoliday Inn ® London - Watford Junction, UK
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇHoliday Inn Express ® Toulon - Sainte-Musse, France<br />
ˇHoliday Inn ® Dresden - City South, Germany
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇCrowne Plaza ® Berlin - Potsdamer Platz, Germany<br />
ˇHoliday Inn ® Baku, Azerbaijan
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇHoliday Inn Express ® Istanbul Airport, Turkey<br />
ˇStaybridge Suites ® London - Vauxhall, UK
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇHoliday Inn Express ® Grimsby, UK<br />
ˇCrowne Plaza ® London - Battersea, UK
OPENINGS 2015<br />
ˇHoliday Inn ® Frankfurt - Alte Oper, Germany<br />
ˇHotel Indigo ® Helsinki - Boulevard, Finland
BRANDS<br />
Holiday Inn Express ® London - Park Royal
BRANDS<br />
Introducing the Next Generation of<br />
public space at Holiday Inn Express ®<br />
London - Park Royal<br />
In the previous issue of DQ <strong>magazine</strong>, we looked at the<br />
Next Generation of Holiday Inn Express ® , what it means<br />
for the brand, the owners and the guests. Since then<br />
the very first new-look public space has been unveiled<br />
at Holiday Inn Express London - Park Royal. We went<br />
along to check out the new features.<br />
Holiday Inn Express forms part of the largest hotel brand family in<br />
the world and launching the Next Generation of the brand is a huge<br />
step for <strong>IHG</strong> ® . When prototypes were revealed at the International<br />
Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin earlier this year, they were<br />
extremely well received. Now guests can finally experience the real<br />
thing at the Holiday Inn Express London - Park Royal, which was<br />
unveiled in July.<br />
The five-storey building is well located to pilot the new-look public<br />
space. It has speedy links to central London, Wembley Conference<br />
Centre for major exhibitions, Wembley Stadium and Arena for<br />
sporting events and concerts, and it’s minutes away from Westfield<br />
London, one of Europe’s biggest shopping centres. As a modern build<br />
with 108 bedrooms and three purpose built meeting rooms, Holiday<br />
Inn Express London - Park Royal is in many ways a prototypical<br />
example of the Holiday Inn Express brand. Karan Khanna, Vice<br />
President, Head of <strong>Design</strong> & Engineering in Europe agrees, “It’s<br />
not the biggest or the smallest Holiday Inn Express and it has<br />
minimal food and beverage (F&B) as per the previous standard. It<br />
is well located for the target guest and its close proximity to <strong>IHG</strong>’s<br />
headquarters in Denham made the project easier to manage. Also,<br />
the fact that it’s close to Holiday Inn ® London - West, which has a<br />
great Open Lobby, is a benefit. It gives people a strong example of<br />
how the two brands are different and yet carry a similar philosophy.”<br />
That philosophy has been informed by considerable consumer<br />
insight, taking into account the evolving consumer behaviour;<br />
from the rise of the laptop-and-latte guest to the remote-working<br />
business traveller. Karan elaborates, “Guests were telling us they<br />
were looking for an F&B that suited their needs and schedule,<br />
especially in the UK. When you add that to owner insight about<br />
efficient use of public space, we felt that a holistic review of the<br />
Next Generation was required. So it’s not just a new room design<br />
or public space design, it touches every single thing from layout<br />
and furniture to service, technology, merchandising and so on.”<br />
39
BRANDS<br />
Leaning towards a more aspirational guest with design-conscious<br />
furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E), Holiday Inn Express Next<br />
Generation is a project that has been painstakingly value and time<br />
engineered. Karan confirms, “Once the funding and consultants<br />
are on board it is around a 4-6 week build. Through the value<br />
engineering that we’ve done, the rooms cost pretty much the same<br />
as generation three rooms. We’ve made smart choices about where<br />
we’ve spent the money, the FF&E and so on. Certain things are<br />
more expensive than before, but we’ve taken money out of other<br />
parts of the room to compensate. On top of that, there should be<br />
greater revenue generated from the public areas. Hopefully the<br />
new design provides a greater opportunity to charge a premium<br />
rate, which should mean that this is a higher return on investment<br />
product than the previous generation”.<br />
40
BRANDS<br />
And if research conducted at two properties is anything to go by, it’s<br />
worth it. Quantitative research collated feedback from more than 30<br />
guests at Holiday Inn Express ® London – Greenwich and a comparable<br />
generation three hotel, Holiday Inn Express ® Harlow. The insight was<br />
clear: guests love it. Five out of ten guests gave the generation three<br />
model 5/5 and the other five guests gave it 4/5. Already impressive<br />
results, but generation four topped that with almost eight out of<br />
ten guests giving it 5/5 and the rest rating it 4/5. “It’s safe to say we<br />
are pleased with the results” admits Karan. “By piloting the public<br />
space at Holiday Inn Express London - Park Royal, which was already<br />
a successful hotel, we were able to check the full enhanced scope<br />
versus what the base model should be like. It is a great product that’s<br />
been the result of a lot of hard work.”<br />
Holiday Inn Express London - Park Royal is a fantastic example of<br />
where the brand is heading. Reception desks have been replaced by<br />
space-saving pods, improved working areas and free WiFi encourages<br />
people into revenue-generating space and more flexible F&B reflects<br />
guest needs. To launch in such a key London location is a massive<br />
coup for the brand and an exciting addition to <strong>IHG</strong>’s estate.<br />
41
EVENTS<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® on the Road<br />
Since the last issue, members of the <strong>Development</strong>, <strong>Design</strong> & <strong>Openings</strong> team have played host to and participated in some<br />
significant industry conferences across the patch. From the <strong>IHG</strong> Germany Investor Day hosted in the new Holiday Inn ®<br />
Frankfurt - Alte Oper to the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin where we unveiled the Next Generation of<br />
Holiday Inn Express ® . These events provide an important platform to showcase the services that <strong>IHG</strong> offers owners and<br />
operators in addition to thanking them for their ongoing support. It also aligns our thinking and strengthens our journey<br />
together to achieve Great Hotels Guests Love.<br />
International Hotel Investment Forum 2015<br />
2-4 March, InterContinental ® Berlin<br />
42
EVENTS<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® Germany Investor Day<br />
7 May, Holiday Inn ® Frankfurt - Alte Oper<br />
43
To register for the UK’s leading<br />
hotel conference, please visit<br />
www.theahc.co.uk<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® are proud<br />
sponsors of the Annual<br />
Hotel Conference 2015<br />
We look forward to welcoming<br />
you at our stand<br />
The Annual Hotel<br />
Conference 2015<br />
14th & 15th October 2015, Hilton Manchester Deansgate<br />
Connect & Communicate<br />
Running for the 12th year and attracting 800<br />
delegates, The AHC is the leading event for<br />
the UK hotel industry.<br />
Join independent hoteliers, owners, operators and managers as well<br />
as investors, developers, designers, architects, consultants, tourism<br />
leaders and regional tourist board representatives for a day and a half<br />
of unrivalled practical knowledge designed to add real value to your<br />
business operations.<br />
See Apurva Pratap,<br />
<strong>IHG</strong>’s Vice President of<br />
Distribution & Commercial<br />
Marketing for Europe<br />
at the opening plenary<br />
session, 3:15pm on<br />
14th October<br />
• The Programme – themes including Branding, Disrupters, OTAs,<br />
Technology and Finance to name only a few.<br />
• AHC Social – an ambient zone with food and drinks served all day.<br />
• AHC Innovate – a zone that brings technology and integrated guest<br />
services together.<br />
• AHC Connect – a zone that ties in with the new dedicated social<br />
media platform of AHC Connect. Delegates and sponsors can take a<br />
break, grab a bite to eat, meet up with peers and catch up with emails<br />
throughout the 2 days.
EVENTS<br />
Events… Dates for your diary<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® will be hosting a series of roadshows and briefings across the region over the next few months, presenting<br />
owners and operators with key messages and the strategy for growth going forward. <strong>IHG</strong> will also have a presence<br />
at major conferences in the calendar during this busy season. We look forward to seeing you soon.<br />
Upcoming Events<br />
London, 7-8 July 30 September 5-7 October<br />
✓<br />
Conference:<br />
Serviced<br />
Apartment<br />
Summit, London<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> Poland<br />
Investor<br />
Lunch,<br />
Warsaw<br />
Conference:<br />
Expo Real,<br />
Munich<br />
8 October 14-15 October 26-28 October<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> France<br />
Investor Lunch,<br />
Paris<br />
Conference:<br />
Annual Hotel<br />
Conference,<br />
Manchester<br />
Conference:<br />
RHIC,<br />
Moscow<br />
3-4 November 23 November 24-25 November<br />
Conference:<br />
Deloitte 27th<br />
European Hotel<br />
Investment<br />
Conference,<br />
London<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> UK&I<br />
Breakfast<br />
Briefing,<br />
London<br />
Conference:<br />
Hotel & Tourism<br />
Trends Poland &<br />
Central Europe,<br />
Warsaw<br />
45
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW<br />
“<br />
“<br />
When I go on site I am the <strong>IHG</strong> ® ambassador<br />
which is all about creating a buzz.<br />
A Day in the Life of…<br />
Gilles Goasdoué<br />
Gilles Goasdoué is the Director of Hotel <strong>Openings</strong> Performance & Support, Europe. Born in Digne les Bains, France, he moved<br />
to the UK 28 years ago and worked briefly as a waiter before moving into an auditing role at InterContinental ® London Park Lane.<br />
Gilles’ contribution to <strong>IHG</strong> ® has been exceptional. Before joining the <strong>Development</strong>, <strong>Design</strong> & <strong>Openings</strong> (DD&O) department he<br />
led the UK&I franchising team, establishing a highly valued and recognised team of professionals and many of the foundations<br />
of what became Hotel Performance Support (HPS). Since joining DD&O in 2009 Gilles has developed the New Hotel <strong>Openings</strong><br />
(NHOP) team to become a group of highly talented individuals with a passion for delivering Great Hotels Guests Love.<br />
Gilles will shortly hand the leadership baton over to a new Head of Hotel <strong>Openings</strong> while he continues to support the NHOP<br />
field team, acting as a rapid response team member to support hotels during peak periods. As part of his day job, Gilles has<br />
travelled to nearly 50 countries around the world. Here he tells us a little more about his day-to-day life and career with <strong>IHG</strong>.<br />
I normally get up extremely early in the morning and arrive in the<br />
office about 7:00am. I like to make the most of the day. After I’ve<br />
caught up on the night’s emails, the questions start flooding in from<br />
either the Hotel <strong>Openings</strong> team in the field or new hotels that we are<br />
looking after.<br />
My days in the office are quite rare at the moment because we are<br />
opening so many projects in Europe. I have been travelling for the<br />
last 15-20 years, so you get used to it. I might be in the head office in<br />
Denham for one or two weeks and then back on the road for another<br />
eight weeks. One of my roles at <strong>IHG</strong> was installing Holidex all around<br />
the world, from Sydney to Chicago to Thailand, which was fantastic.<br />
I don’t have the restrictions of a family, so am pretty mobile. Although<br />
it can be difficult to maintain a social life. I can’t just join a club and<br />
play badminton every Tuesday night because I won’t be there half<br />
the time. It is challenging, but it is a way of life. I wouldn’t change it.<br />
I love my job. I have what I call the hospitality virus. When you work in<br />
hospitality, you catch it and then you have it forever!<br />
I have never really wanted to be anything else. As a child I used to<br />
spend a lot of time in the kitchen with my mother who was a talented<br />
cook. I was always fascinated by hospitality. Whenever I went out to<br />
eat with my family, I was always interested in the waiting staff and<br />
service behind the experience. I suppose the people element of the<br />
job has always interested me.<br />
Pretty much my entire working life has been with <strong>IHG</strong>, from working as<br />
a young boy at the InterContinental London Park Lane as an accountant<br />
to being General Manager at a Holiday Inn Express ® near Northampton<br />
aged 25, to Global Technology in the corporate office to my role now in<br />
Hotel <strong>Openings</strong>. My job is very varied, which keeps it fresh. I always say<br />
it’s a bit like being a General Practitioner. We do a bit of everything and<br />
we get the specialists in when we need them.<br />
My job sector is very much a people business. We deal with varied<br />
personalities which makes the job very interesting. We deal with a<br />
lot of people here at a corporate level and then with the people at<br />
the hotels from the GM to frontline staff. I love this part of the job<br />
because it is interesting to hear their different perspectives. When<br />
I go on site I am the <strong>IHG</strong> ambassador which is all about creating a<br />
buzz and ensuring everyone understands the benefits of joining <strong>IHG</strong>,<br />
from our system size to our brands to the amount of business they<br />
will drive.<br />
I tend to go to bed around 10:30pm since I get up so early but I don’t<br />
really have a routine because I don’t know where I’ll be. Luckily I can<br />
function on very few hours of sleep and mostly catch up on sleep on<br />
planes. Tips for sleeping on planes? It sounds boring, but change<br />
your watch to your destination time, don’t eat anything and drink a lot<br />
of water. At home I switch off my mind by baking and messing around<br />
in the kitchen, which I suppose is where my interest in hospitality<br />
really stemmed from as a child all those years ago.<br />
47
INFOGRAPHIC<br />
$10m<br />
Contribution<br />
to communities<br />
through monetary<br />
donations and in-kind<br />
support, including<br />
through <strong>IHG</strong> ® Shelter<br />
in a Storm*<br />
20,000<br />
The<br />
number<br />
of local people<br />
we'll provide skills<br />
and jobs for via<br />
the <strong>IHG</strong> ® Academy*<br />
796<br />
12%<br />
Reduction in water*<br />
per occupied room<br />
in water-stressed areas<br />
18<br />
The number of<br />
natural disasters<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® Shelter<br />
in a Storm<br />
responded<br />
to in 2014<br />
100%<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> ® Academy<br />
programmes in<br />
more than 60<br />
countries as of<br />
May 2015<br />
The percentage our<br />
hotels enrolled in the<br />
<strong>IHG</strong> Green Engage ®<br />
online sustainability<br />
system<br />
12%<br />
Reduction in carbon<br />
footprint* per<br />
available room<br />
$92m<br />
The costs that <strong>IHG</strong> managed hotels<br />
avoided by participating in the <strong>IHG</strong><br />
Green Engage ® system in 2014<br />
Being a responsible business is part of <strong>IHG</strong>’s DNA and is at the heart of everything we do – it is<br />
part of our culture and underpins our entire strategy. It means making a positive impact on the<br />
world around us, while also building our business and provides us with the opportunity to protect<br />
the environment, create job opportunities, and improve community resilience. As a result our<br />
brand reputation gets a boost, our people are empowered and we operate more efficiently,<br />
thereby creating value for all our shareholders and stakeholders in the long term. In 2013 <strong>IHG</strong><br />
set targets to measure our impact on the environment and community and we’re well on the<br />
way to achieving these targets.<br />
*Target by 2017 from 2012 baseline<br />
48
WHO WE ARE<br />
Hogarth & Ogilvy manages multi-language design and production services across print, digital and broadcast.<br />
We are a team of production-oriented designers, producers and project managers who concentrate on<br />
fast-turn, high-volume and tactical creative assignments.<br />
DIGITAL<br />
PRINT<br />
&<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
TRANSCREATION<br />
&<br />
CONCEPTS<br />
MOVING IMAGE<br />
&<br />
PRESENTATIONS<br />
INFOGRAPHICS<br />
&<br />
Bringing ideas to life<br />
hogarth-ogilvy.com<br />
CONTACTS – Project Director jackie.winter@hogarth-ogilvy.com | Project Manager tracey.gibbins@hogarth-ogilvy.com
CONTACTS<br />
Robert Shepherd<br />
Chief <strong>Development</strong> Officer, Europe<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512 173<br />
robert.shepherd@ihg.com<br />
Philippe Bijaoui<br />
Vice President <strong>Development</strong>, Europe<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512 976<br />
philippe.bijaoui@ihg.com<br />
Karan Khanna<br />
Vice President, Head of <strong>Design</strong> & Engineering, Europe<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512 791<br />
karan.khanna@ihg.com<br />
Paul Phillips<br />
Vice President Financial Planning & Investment Analysis, Europe<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512679<br />
paul.phillips@ihg.com<br />
Gilles Goasdoué<br />
Director of Hotel <strong>Openings</strong> Performance & Support, Europe<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512 058<br />
gilles.goasdoue@ihg.com<br />
InterContinental Hotels Group plc<br />
Broadwater Park, Denham, Buckinghamshire, UB9 5HR, United Kingdom<br />
Tel: +44 1895 512 000<br />
We would love to hear from you!<br />
Please direct any thoughts, suggestions or advertising enquiries to europedevelopment@ihg.com