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hotel trends | report


going local


With demand for locally-minded hotels on the rise, brands are responding with their own ‘independent’ properties, reports Linda Humphrey


BRAND-NAME LUXURY HOTEL or independent local haunt? Whereas travelers were once likely to look to the former, a growing number are choosing one-of-a-kind hotels with a sense of place, where actual locals frequent the lobby bar or restaurant. Along with offering an inherently local atmosphere, these hotels are preferably stocked with local art, local food and locally crafted furniture. “No one wants to feel like they’re in Chicago


when they go to Istanbul,” says Jack Ezon, president of Ovation Vacations in New York City. “Beige-on-beige corporate-style hotels are a thing of the past.” Ezon, who serves on Virtuoso’s Hotels &


Resorts Committee, says his young-and-affluent clients often choose local over luxury. “Requests for local trattorias — and even great


street food — are starting to outpace requests for Michelin-star restaurants.” Phoebe Weinberg, president of Greatways


Travel in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, whose under-40 clients are on the lookout for ‘unique, experiential hotels,’ recently sent a Michigan couple in their early thirties to the 86-room Crosby Street Hotel in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Te hotel’s Crosby Bar &


Terrace grows its own produce — such as melons, blueberries, tomatoes and herbs — on a 12th- floor rooftop garden. Te ‘locavore’ (local food) scene, meanwhile,


is taking off at farm-to-table hideaways like Babylonstoren in Paarl, South Africa and Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. Beyond local food, more hotels are displaying


local art by inviting artists and craftspeople to take residence, turning their public spaces into evolving galleries. Some are even offering workshops with artists in pop-up studios. Furnishings handcrafted by the local


community fill the 15 villas at Azura Resort in Mozambique, where Weinberg — who also sits on Virtuoso’s Hotels & Resorts Committee — sent a thirty-something couple. “Tere’s no doubt that Mozambique has some


the best beaches of any island off the coast of Africa,” she adds. Virtuoso added North Island Seychelles —


where the thatched-roof villas are handcrafted by industrious locals and have hosted Prince William and Kate Middleton — to its Preferred Properties list. At Nihiwatu, a luxe surf camp on Indonesia’s remote Sumba Island, villas with sandy-floor


bathrooms were hand-built from local materials. It’s rustic-yet-posh surf camps like Nihiwatu which are seemingly in high demand with the Millennial surfer set. “We’re seeing more and more luxe travelers


wanting to surf,” Ezon says. Te under-35 crowd prefers an ‘unscripted’


experience and is less brand-loyal than older generations, according to MMGY Global’s 2015 Portrait of American Traveler (POAT) study. In fact, less than half of hotel-goers of any age belong to a hotel loyalty program, according to a 2015 Phocuswright study of leisure travelers. “Millennial clients might check into the Four


Seasons or the W in New York or Chicago, but they’ll trade tourist-filled luxury brands for unique, neighborhood hotels in places like Marrakech or Paris,” Ezon says. Travel is about the story for these clients, who post every authentic detail on social media.


Shifting brands Some vacationers, of course, are inclined to skip the hotel altogether, booking local homes on sites like Airbnb. Even so, Scott Berman, principal and US industry leader, hospitality & leisure at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that demand for US hotels and resorts is at an all-time high. “In a strong economy there will be more


options, but travelers should also expect to pay more — for every type of US hotel, from luxury to economy — in 2016.” u


fall 2015 | ASTAnetwork | 55


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