64 | IHIF INTERVIEW WORDS | Geoff Hadwick
THE LAST WORD
www.opp.org.uk | APRIL 2011
Choice selections
The International Hotel Investment Forum took place in Berlin last month and OPP went along to catch up with some of the hospitality industry’s leading players. What do they see as the key issues for overseas property agents and developers hoping to make money out the international hotel industry in the next few years?
representative profi le possible, the Choice Hotels International portfolio is the perfect choice. Listed on the New York stock exchange, Choice’s global family includes the Comfort, Quality and Clarion brands, stretching from the budget to the luxury end of things. The company is now one of the biggest lodging franchisors in the world and expanding fast. It opened nearly 40 new properties in Europe during 2010 alone. And although it opened new hotels in Germany, Norway, Italy and the Czech Republic last year, it grew fastest in France where 25 new properties opened.
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The group set up 16 Comfort and eight Quality Inns in France last year, as well as and one Clarion Hotel adding a staggering 8,200 new rooms to its portfolio. and more than a quarter
or anyone trying to pick an international hotel group with the widest and most
of these new properties were built in the South-West region including Lourdes and Perpignan. The company also opened the Quality Suites & Spa Arcachon in Bordeaux.
So – how can the overseas property sector get involved? Easy, says Choice, develop and operate the right facility in the right place … and we will give you a Choice group franchise. But where do they think is the right place for the next few years? Where should overseas property professionals be looking to take advantage of all that the hotel and hospitality sector can offer? “France, Germany and the UK –
defi nitely,” says Choice’s vice president for international development, Olivier Dupont. “These are countries where we are looking for developers and investors to come forward with ideas.” Speaking exclusively to OPP at the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin this week, Dupont said
“we are going to be very focused on growing our brands in Europe for the next few years.”
“The three main countries we have picked have got enormous potential. We are actively looking for key partners who are prepared to invest and help us grow the portfolio.”
And partnership is the name of the game. The Choice group is a franchised operation and international property developers and investors should think about making a move now, the company’s global senior vice president David Pepper told OPP. Why? Because, in developed economies like Germany, France and the UK, “the hotel development market is at an historic low point. The banks are still not lending for new build projects and
“Europe is where we are looking for developers and investors to come forward with ideas.”
we can see a real opportunity, as the economic situation improves, for more money to come in and fi ll the gap … especially private equity.” According to Dupont, “Choice is convinced that we can get much more leverage out of brand portfolio in Europe in the immediate future. We are going to raise the bar and add to our overall perceived value in the market. There is a lot of support from the Choice brand for anyone looking for a new hotel opportunity with us. We will invest in HR, food and beverage outlets, IT, staff training, online SEO and SEM marketing, branding, systems delivery, and so on, to help our franchisees be as successful as possible.”
The Choice team: | (left to right) Duncan Berry, David Pepper and Olivier Dupont Dupont can see a lot of potential for
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the group’s upmarket Clarion brand in Germany for instance, and for the mass- market Comfort brand in the UK. “The US hotel market has reached
saturation point, and it is hard to grow revenues and margins there right now. This is not the case in northern Europe.”
And, despite its preference for franchising, Choice’s Pepper says that the company is adamant that “we will not hesitate to stretch the balance sheet and invest ourselves if a project that has got the right location in a key city centre.”
And good ideas in other European countries are welcomed. In Italy for instance, the company has recently opened the Clarion Collection Arthotel & Park Lecce, Puglia … and it has also entered the Polish market with fi ve new properties, further demonstrating the commitment of Choice Hotels to grow its full portfolio throughout the European market. “The name of the game in the hotel
sector, as far as the readers of OPP are concerned,” says Dupont, “is to be a serious real estate investor who is happy to develop and manage their own hotel.” “Yes, we can help an operator fi nd and raise the fi nance,” says Choice’s British chief executive Duncan Berry, “but it really is important to make sure you have the right brand in place before you begin.” Research is absolutely essential says the company. Build the wrong sort of hotel in the wrong place; aimed at an
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