Hotel Analyst Orient- Express adds
associates Hotel group Orient-Express has launched a new associate business model, designed to increase the spread of hotels available to guests under its brand umbrella.
The company has signed its first associate, the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, France. Orient-Express will be seeking out other suitable associate hotels to add to its portfolio, looking for
high quality independents
that will plug gaps in its current “collection”. The move gives luxury European hotel managers another
alternative to signing
up with marketing groups such as Leading Hotels of the World. And it follows on from a similar move by Marriott with its growing Autograph collection,
which
draws together independents under an umbrella brand giving the properties access to the global giant’s distribution and marketing muscle.
Last autumn saw Marriott
sign hotels in Lisbon, Portugal, Rouen and Lille in France to the programme which now has close to 40 hotels globally. For an associate, there is the benefit of being tapped into the Orient-Express marketing infrastructure,
sales and PR support across 17 markets,
reservations system.
hotels appear within the company’s website,
directly
alongside the company’s own properties. The new partners can also join the company’s Bellini
and the global Associate
www.hotelanalyst.co.uk
Club preferred agent programme. “The
associate hotels
programme is an opportunity to enhance our portfolio of iconic travel experiences by partnering with independently owned and/ or managed luxury hotels,” said David Williams, chief marketing officer, Orient-Express. “In return for providing access to our highly valued international sales force and strategic marketing channels, this initiative enables us to curate new destinations for our guests to discover. Our boutique collection is uniquely positioned to
work with hoteliers who wish to
like-minded preserve
with marketing,
their established individual brand reputation, but who share the vision of the Orient-Express umbrella brand, offering an equal standard of authentic experience, revenue return and service as our owned properties.” Tapping into the Orient- Express marketing presence, not least on the internet, also provides substantial global exposure for associates. “Hôtel du Palais has been a landmark in Biarritz for 120 years, and we were looking for an opportunity to increase our distribution without sacrificing our iconic brand identity,” said Jean-Louis Leimbacher, general manager of Hôtel du Palais. “In Orient-Express we have found a partner with the mindset of an owner-operator that really understands how to preserve our individual personality and at the same time grow our revenue with intelligent marketing and distribution channels.” Orient-Express management is insisting that associates will be joining by invitation only. Each associate hotel will need to have a strongly established,
iconic
reputation, and be a market leader within their local market. They will be independently assessed
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for their high standards, and have to be a complementary fit to the existing Orient-Express portfolio of 45 hotels and experiences, across 22 countries.
HA Perspective: The brand
landscape for hotels is becoming ever more confused. Quite what an associate hotel is compared to a core brand hotel is a nuance that is often lost on experienced hotel professionals let alone members of the general public. For example, this correspondent remembers speaking to an adviser to a hotel owner seeking to take on the Waldorf-Astoria brand who had been given a long list of brand standards. This adviser fumed at the fact that several hotels in the same city had been given Waldorf Astoria Collection status
while
falling short of many of these brand standards. The significance of the word
been missed. What OEH is selling is this
same confusion. The promise to the hotel associates is that the public will believe that the hotel is indeed a proper Orient Express hotel. The risk, though, is that in the process OEH dilutes its brand by allowing others to operate hotels where it has no direct control and standards are not met. And like the adviser seeking a Waldorf-Astoria, there is a risk of people fuming at the discrepancy. At the top end of the luxury segment, which is where OEH likes to position itself, service is everything and this is the very thing that is hardest to police. For economy,
perhaps even
midmarket hotels, the physical product plays a much bigger role and leaves a little more room for a brand owner to be hands off. Through direct ownership,
OEH has a model where individual property profitability matters
“Collection” had
more
than
brand An increasingly
distribution. rare approach
in today’s asset light world. The new approach cuts right across its previous philosophy as OEH brings in more cash from its associate model by signing as many hotels as possible.
Whether the fees from signing- up associates is worth it to OEH remains to be seen. It will certainly make it harder for OEH to argue that its properties are somehow unique and different from all other luxury hotels. Perhaps Taj should apply to join.
Maybourne
refinanced December saw the completion of the refinancing of the Maybourne hotel group. After months of wrangling between the two main shareholders, a GBP150m rights issue was fully funded, and a GBP547m loan syndicated to provide fresh debt for the next five years.
The hotel company, which
manages luxury hotels Claridges, the Connaught and the Berkeley in central London, is now set fair under new ownership. However,
clouds on the
horizon include an outstanding threat from minority shareholder Paddy
McKillen to further
challenge recent share buying transactions. While a media focus on tax avoidance activities at the Ritz, owned by shareholders the Barclay brothers, could continue to cast an unwelcome gaze on the group’s finances.
The last round of legal challenges between the embattled co-owners was decided in September.
McKillen lost his
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