Hotel Business
THE NEWSPAPER FOR LODGING DECISION MAKERS®
®
ICD Publications
VOL. 19 NO. 10 ju ne 7-20, 2010
BRIEFS
Carlson takes majority
stake in Rezidor
Conversions let Wyndham’s growth go full-bore
Carlson Hotels Worldwide has
acquired additional shares of the
publicly traded Rezidor Hotel
Group to give it a majority stake in
the Brussels, Belgium-based company. Carlson began acquiring a
stake in Rezidor in 2005. Carlson
now owns 50.1% of the company,
which has the right to operate
Carlson’s hotel brands in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa. By Christopher Ostrowski
PARSIPPANY, NJ—Nearly five years ago via acquisition,
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts was suddenly thrust into the
high-profile and high-pressure role of a multi-brand company flagship—a fact made all the more obvious by the
renaming of the parent company from Cendant Corp.
to Wyndham Worldwide. The arduous rebuilding of the
Wyndham brand subsequently ensued, new standards,
prototype, properties, sub-brands, leadership and all.
Here in 2010, judging by the suddenly rapid influx
of properties now arriving in the Wyndham portfolio
and project pipeline, that half-decade’s worth of Wyndham repositioning evidently is bearing fruit in a sort of
“all-systems-are-go” manner. Put into sheer numbers,
during the past 10 months the overall brand has added
or signed on 27 properties accounting for more than
Four Seasons to expand
portfolio in China
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
plans to add 11 hotels to its China
portfolio by 2014. Two of the 11
new properties—in Hangzhou
and Guangzhou—are scheduled
to open this year.
The Reunion Resort and Club Wyndham
Grand Resort in Orlando was the product of a conversion.
Stop the presses
Kimpton’s Ink48 adds to NYC presence
By Stefani C. O’Connor
NEW YORK—Take a defunct printing plant located within a largely industrial
tract on this city’s West Side, throw in the creativity of designer David Rockwell and architect Carlos Zapata, add the financial backing of Prudential and
decide this is a great combination to launch another hotel in The Big Apple.
It doesn’t get any more Kimpton than this.
The result of the above mixture has yielded Ink48, Kimpton Hotels and
Restaurants’ fourth New York hotel, which had its official opening just ahead
of the Memorial Day weekend last month. It joins the
Muse New York, 70 Park
HB
ON THE
Avenue Hotel and Eventi
SCENE
in the city.
Like its management
company that pioneered
the boutique segment almost three decades ago,
the 222-room Kimpton
property is being positioned as the avant-garde
of full-service lodging in
this section of Manhattan,
which is historically know
as Hell’s Kitchen.
“We have a history of
pioneering transitional
locations,” said Kimpton
COO Niki Leondakis.
“Bill Kimpton in the early
days was forward looking
at what locations would,
Guestrooms at Ink48 offer huge windows that look out
over Manhattan’s West Side or to the Hudson River.
in the future, be great
continued on page 36
Renaissance striving to be more than ‘untold story’
By Bruce Serlen
that country. Meanwhile, the Renaissance
BETHESDA, MD—Enjoying a surge in Doha City Center Hotel, opening late this
international development—with new proj- year, will be part of a mixed-use developects announced last month alone in China, ment that occupies a prominent downtown
Algeria, and Qatar—Relocation in Doha, the capinaissance Hotels & Resorts
tal of Qatar.
has become, in the words of
Yet Renaissance’s recent
Marriott International Sesuccess internationally is
nior VP Tina Edmundson,
built on the reputation and
“one of Marriott’s untold
positioning first created for
the brand in North America
success stories.”
with hotels like The BlackIn China, the Renaissance
stone, a Renaissance Hotel,
Shanghai Putuo Hotel,
in Chicago; the Eden Roc,
which opened last month,
a Renaissance Beach Rewill be followed next year
sort & Spa, in Miami Beach,
by the Renaissance Sanya
Tina Edmundson
FL; and La Concha RenaisResort & Spa in Sanya, MarMarriott International
sance Resort in San Juan,
riott’s third property in that
Puerto Rico.
growing leisure destination.
“At 140-plus hotels, we’re not huge. We’d
The Renaissance Tlemcen, Algeria, which
will open early next year, will be the first like to grow the brand to about 300 hotels.
continued on page 48
Marriott International-flagged hotel in
U.S. Hotel Industry At A Glance
the stat corner
5.7%
5.7%
2.7%
2.7%
3.0%
3.0%
April 2010
(Year To Date)
Sponsored by
-0.6%
-0.6%
Powered by
-3.4%
-3.4%
Supply
Supply
Demand
Demand Occupancy
Occupancy
ADR
ADR
RevPAR
RevPAR
continued on page 50
03_36_48_HB060710.indd 3
5/28/10 2:23:53 PM
36 HB • June 7-20, 2010
HOTEL BUSINESS® News
Wyndham brand sees accelerated growth with help from conversions
continued from page 3
8,100 rooms, with a large percentage
the result of conversions. The Wyndham Hotels & Resorts brand alone has
also grown from 87 open properties at
the close of 2009’s third quarter to 94
open as of the end of the 2010’s first
quarter (the latest figures available).
Coincidental or not, much of the sudden growth has occurred under the
fairly recent watch of the president of
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Jeff Wagoner, who joined the brand in February
of 2009. Of course, being humble in nature, Wagoner said the growth results
Wyndham is now displaying are the
product of an overall strategy that was
set in motion before he arrived.
“Last year at our conference the message was all about brand clarity and how
we would operate as a company and
what type of hotels we would have, including Wyndham Grands and Resorts
and Wyndham Gardens,” Wagoner explained. “So first we wanted
to make sure the consumer
knows what a Wyndham is,
and so we really started our
growth strategy with that.
It’s not about: ‘let’s just bring
in new hotels.’ It’s all about:
‘let’s have a brand that people understand.’ We want to
stand for something.”
Newly constructed prototype properties—with their
obvious adherence to uniformity and clarity—are naturally the best mechanism for any
hotel brand in proving to consumers what the flag indeed
stands for. But such projects
are rarely options for all hotel
brands amid a current market downturn well known for
its complete lack of available financing.
Instead, conversion projects have become
the growth mechanism for many chains
and Wagoner noted that Wyndham has
been no different in strategically relying
upon the conversion path in lieu of the
lack of ground-up possibilities.
For example, in 2010 alone, joining
the Wyndham portfolio via the conversion route have been Miami’s 133-room
Wyndham Garden Hotel Miami South
Beach (a former historic hotel); Tampa,
FL’s 272-room Wyndham Tampa Westshore (the former Quorum Hotel-Tampa); Orlando’s 400-key Reunion Resort
and Club Wyndham Grand Resort (the
former Reunion Resort and Club); San
Francisco’s 1,011-unit Parc 55 Wyndham San Francisco-Union Square (the
former Parc 55 Hotel San Francisco);
Atlanta’s 231-key Wyndham Garden Atlanta Airport South (a former Clarion);
Minneapolis’ 255-room Graves 601 Ho-
03_36_48_HB060710.indd 36
tel, Wyndham Grand (the former Graves
601 Hotel); and four of Palace Resorts’
properties in Mexico, which are all now
operated as Wyndham Grand Resorts.
A hotel near Philadelphia International
Airport is also slated to become a Wyndham Garden shortly.
When asked to what does Wyndham
cause of Wyndham’s flexibility in terms
of allowing portfolio additions to retain
much of their identities and what’s made
them uniquely successful, Wyndham
does inevitably toe the line between
brand clarity and brand ambiguity. It’s
a fact that Wagoner knows very well. But
he asserted Wyndham walks this line
The newly constructed Fashion 26-A
Wyndham Hotel (above) recently debuted
in New York. Construction is progressing on
the Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach Wyndham
Grand Resort (below) on the Hawaiian island
of Kauai. A conversion project recently yielded
a new Wyndham Garden (left) along South
Beach in Miami.
owe this sudden portfolio migration, Wagoner noted that in the
case of the many independent
properties, Wyndham’s brand
flexibility in terms of exact standards and willingness to keep a
property’s original identity intact are alluring. “That flexibility has made us successful,” he said. “We’re definitely seeing
more inquiries from independents than
in the past and they want to understand
what a brand means as well as the fees
and revenue opportunities. I think they
find us attractive because we won’t ‘deidentify’ your current hotel environment;
we’ll try to marry it into our brand.”
Wagoner added that in terms of the
branded hotels that are switching to
Wyndham, many have seen their previous chain affiliations expire and some
were a part of smaller brands and wanted
to join the larger Wyndham system.
In either case of conversion sources, be-
quite adeptly. “It is confusing; you want
the glue of the brand to present itself
where the consumer can walk in and
get that they’re in a Wyndham through
such aspects as Wyndham Rewards and
By Request and “Count On Me” service
culture, among others. We weave those
in,” he said. “What we won’t do is nitpick
with something like carpet. If it’s in great
shape but not our standard, we’ll allow it
until the next scheduled renovation. So
we’re flexible with existing hotels from a
specification standpoint, but not from a
condition standpoint. They must be the
right condition for our customers.”
Wagoner added that Wyndham’s conversion flexibility specifically translates
over into the required property improvement plans, of which Wagoner personally
reviews every single one. “You definitely
want a PIP; you need to know what you’re
dealing with,” he said. “But you don’t
necessarily want to overreach. So if something can wait in terms of renovation
we’ll look into it. But PIPs are important
in order to keep the essence of the brand
correct and the brand family image. I
wouldn’t say we’ve turned a lot of properties away, but we are still selective. We do
want to maintain the quality of the brand
and we want the customers to get what
they expect. Today, we aren’t turning any
more or less away than in the past.”
This flood of conversions into the
Wyndham portfolio doesn’t mean there
hasn’t been any hope in terms of groundup projects. Rather, Wyndham recently
opened the newly constructed 280-room
Fashion 26-A Wyndham Hotel in New
York and announced work is under way
on the 322-room Koloa Landing at Poipu
Beach Wyndham Grand Resort on the
Hawaiian island of Kauai. Phase one of
that project is expected to be complete
during the third quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, new construction Wyndham projects are also emerging all over
China, where four Wyndham are already open and four ground-up properties are now on their way. Furthermore,
an agreement was recently reached between Wyndham and CHI Hotels & Resorts, which will operate the future 200room Wyndham Cardiff
hotel in Cardiff, United
Kingdom. The project is
scheduled to open in the
spring of 2013.
Several other overseas
markets have already
added Wyndhams or will
be doing so moving forward, and international
expansion is indeed part
of the growth strategy.
Back here in the U.S.,
though, the brand is extremely intent on achieving a significant presence in such major
markets as Washington, Los Angeles,
San Diego, Seattle and Boston. But
Wagoner asserted it won’t force such expansion via conversions or otherwise.
“Numbers wise, our philosophy is let’s
grow, but it must be smart and the right
way and the right thing for our owners,”
Wagoner said. “It will then all fall into
place. So I wouldn’t say I have a target
number in terms of properties. We feel
real good about where we’re going. I
spend equal time on growth as well as
how we continue to drive customers to
our hotels. That’s important for owners.
It’s not just about growth. It’s about creatHB
ing a great hotel company.”
5/27/10 4:41:40 PM