SPECIAL REPORT: LAND DEVELOPMENT
Crowne Plaza Changi. In addition to ballrooms and function rooms, the hotel has five
restaurants, several private dining rooms, wine and cigar bars. Langham Hotels International was also aiming high when its first
airport hotel, Langham Place Beijing Capital Airport, opened in August. Langham’s hip urban concept of DJs in the lobby, loft-style apartments featuring over-sized bathtubs and walk-in rain showers, and high-tech ‘gadgets galore’ was designed to revolutionise the way we see airport hotels, muses general manager Mark Francis. “We are not just creating a convenient stopover hotel but one of the most
fun places to be in the capital of the world’s largest nation. We aim to make staying at the airport in Beijing an exciting thing to do,” says Francis. IHG sees strong opportunity for its mid-scale Holiday Inn brand and
the limited service Holiday Inn Express brand as airport hotel developments, as well as the upscale Crowne Plaza brand if linked to airports in key cities or regional hubs. “The mid-scale and limited service brands work well as airport hotels
given their price points and ‘no-frills’ approach,” says Logan. “For IHG, we are looking at growing the Holiday Inn Express in city areas, close to major travel routes and at airports. As a hotel that offers both quality and value to our guests, backed by IHG’s reservation systems and loyalty programme (Priority Club Rewards), Holiday Inn Express is a compelling development option for airport hotels.” Even without the five-star spend, airport hotels need to be far more
sophisticated in their offerings, agrees Accor’s Hook. “Increasingly, our Novotel hotels are destinations in their own right. For instance, the Novotel at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has a choice of restaurants, retail, large swimming pool, gym, health spa and extensive conference facilities.
58 AIRPORT WORLD/FEBRUARY-MARCH 2011 “People use it quite often to break their journey between Australia and
Europe and will often spend a few nights because it really helps them adjust their body clock and prepare for either their onward journey or a return to work.” Accor offers a range of price points under the mid-range Novotel and
budget Ibis and Formule 1 brands, in properties across Australia, New Zealand (opening 2011), Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Taipei and India. Says Peter Hook: “Novotel is very suited to airport hotels because
while it is 4-star and offers mid-market rates, its suites and executive floors can cater for upscale guests. This is the rationale for Novotel being selected for the new hotel at Auckland Airport. Our 3-star Ibis and two-star Ibis hotels are more popular with regional travellers and people from suburban areas just wanting to ensure that they are close enough to the airport to catch early or late flights.” But what if you do just want to put your head down and crash
awhile? Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia met this need when it launched the first ‘limited service’ Tune Hotel in 2007, beside the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur. For a base rate of less than $40 per night, you get a comfy bed and shower – everything else, such as a towel, shampoo, television, hairdryer and air conditioning, is an optional add-on extra. Accor’s budget Formule 1 brand, also serving the cost conscious
with its strict, no-frills approach to hotels located near airports around the world, has gone a step further by introducing cocoon-style rooms for passengers who just want to crawl in and sleep. They’re not actually smaller, just cosier than the utilitarian model, evidence of how even the budget chains are moving upwards.
AW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80