VOICE OF LUXURY
VOICE LUXURY Ů
Michelle Woodley president,
Preferred Hotels & Resorts
The independent hotel network has its sights set on portfolio expansion and strengthening relationships with the travel trade, reports Charlotte Brook
Q. How was 2024 in terms of revenue growth and portfolio expansion? Last year was our largest year of growth since 2019. We added 80 hotels to the portfolio, bringing our total to 600 hotels in 80 countries across all of our collections. Properties from hotel brands with a small portfolio represent about 40% [of our network], with the other 60% being independently owned and managed hotels. We had good revenue growth across the board mainly from occupancy last year, whereas the two prior years the main growth factor was [increased] average rate. In particular, we have a big focus on our Legend and LVX Collections, and in 2024 we achieved an 18.85% increase in reservations across both collections, compared with the previous year. We forged a new partnership with Virgin Limited Edition to bring all of the brand’s properties into the Legend Collection. We’ve also started with some great momentum coming into this year by adding four new properties in Europe: Armani Hotel Milano, Al Habtoor Palace Budapest, Das Edelweiss Salzburg Mountain Resort in Austria and Andronis Luxury Suites in Santorini, bringing the total number of Legend properties to 111.
Q. How do you bring in new hotels and which destinations
are you looking to grow in? For each collection, there is a slightly different criteria but we’re specific about the hotels that join our Legend Collection. A priority is service excellence, which we evaluate through inspection. We also hugely rely on our travel agent advisory group for an insider perspective, asking questions such as do they send clients there with confidence? Are issues resolved in a timely manner? We also look at cities where we have gaps. We have a lot of growth opportunities in Europe. In particular, the DACH region [Germany, Austria and Switzerland] is a focus for growing our Legend and LVX Collections.
+° 7hiVh ÌÀin`Ã `o ÞoÕ Ìhink Üill VonÌinÕi Ìo Li inyÕinÌi>l this year? Travel patterns are continuing to shift into the shoulder seasons due to heat and overcrowding during the summer months, which is great for independent hotels as they used to have a limited booking window, but are now opening for longer. The event effect was also a huge trend last year, with people travelling for big music or sporting dates such as Taylor Swift concerts, the Olympics or the Euros.
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ASPIRE MARCH 2025
aspiretravelclub.co.uk
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