Fractional Ownership News

Boutique Hotel Summit attracts stellar cast of speakers

Europe's first b2b conference for the boutique and lifestyle hotel sectors was held this week, to wide industry acclaim.

Boutique Hotel Summit took place at London's newly refurbished St Ermin's Hotel on June 13 and 14, attracting more than 150 delegates from as far afield as Brazil, the US and Sweden. The evening of the 13th saw delegates taking a tour of St Ermin's and the nearby St James' Hotel and Club, before enjoying tequila cocktails on the St Ermin's balcony.

The next morning kicked off with welcome speeches from event organiser and Fractional Life founder Piers Brown and Frances Kiradjian of the Boutique and Lifestyle Lodging Association, before a keynote address from one of the UK's most experienced hoteliers, Peter Tyrie MBE (below). Peter started his life in hotels at the Savoy, where he “learned how to shake hands but not how to manage hotels” and progressed through a career which involved running Mandarin Oriental hotels and founding several successful ventures, including one of Europe's first boutique hotel groups, The Eton Collection.

The day's first panel session, moderated by Hotel Analyst editor Andrew Sangster, was about how the sector had arrived where it is today, and trying to define what a boutique hotel actually is. The panellists each produced a different definition, but some of the key words used included individuality, service, passion, experience and independence.

There were doubts as to whether the multinational hotel chains could successfully enter the boutique space, although they were making inroads into the lifestyle sector – generally defined as 100 to 200 rooms, compared with under 100 for a boutique hotel.

James Lohan, founder of Mr & Mrs Smith said: “It is very difficult for a chain to replicate what a passionate independent owner can do”, while Jason Pomeranc, co-founder of the US-based Thompson Hotels group said staying at a boutique hotel should be “a lifestyle experience rather than a brand experience”.

The next session focused on the performance of the UK and specifically the London hotel markets, and featured the first ever in-depth analysis benchmarking the capital's boutique segment against the sector in general. Presented by Sarah Duignan of STR Global, the numbers encouragingly revealed that REVPAR for April 2011 in London was its highest ever, with the boutique sector averaging around £180, just £20 down on the luxury sector's £200. Duignan also warned hoteliers not to raise rates for the 2012 Olympics to extortionate levels as happened for the royal wedding, when London's hotels only averaged 65 per cent occupancy.

Duignan was followed by Tim Smith of HVS London, who pointed out the steady growth and future opportunities in the London sector. “The hotel sector has polarised between those who like cookie cutter boxes and those who read Mr & Mrs Smith,” he said, adding: “The boutique sector is moving away from retail hotel operation to offering the kind of service that future generations expected.”

The conference then split into three concurrent sessions on branding, private clubs and mixed-use developments respectively. In the mixed-use session, Nick Turner of The Registry Collection said developers were seeing the attraction of selling fractional real estate to fund hotel and resort construction. Chris Boulton, CEO of yoo (left) agreed, but warned that “the quality of the real estate is paramount – it's not a way to sell inferior product”.

Moderator Philip Bacon, of HVS Madrid, said that a converted fractional ownership customer is the equivalent of “hotel nirvana” for operators. “A client who loves your property so much they want to buy some of it, and keep coming back – they are the best customers you'll ever have.”

More concurrent sessions followed the lunch break, this time on finance, PR & marketing; and restaurants and bars. The finance session revealed that funding is still hard to come by but lenders are very slowly loosening their purse strings and offering debt to clients they already have a strong relationship with.

Jon Cummins, the CEO of Amerimar – owner of the St Ermin's Hotel, then told delegates about his company's remarkable ongoing transformation of the property, to the sound of hammers and drills in the background. “That's the sound of my contractors getting back at me because I'm driving them so hard,” he joked. Cummins revealed that the company's decision to embrace the Grade II listed building's history had resulted in a good working relationship with English Heritage, a potential banana skin for many a developer.

The day finished with a panel session entitled “Where do we go from here?” and provoked almost as many diverse opinions as the first session of the day drew definitions of what a boutique hotel is.

Delegates, sponsors and speakers alike all agreed that the event had been a great success. Russell Kett, managing director of HVS London, said: “As a first time event, the Boutique Hotel Summit hit all the right notes in attracting an appreciably large number of delegates who were attracted by an impressive array of knowledgeable speakers and panellists, all experts in their own right and with lots of opinions to contribute on the boutique and lifestyle sector of the hotel industry. There were also innovative touches, such as tours around a couple of hotels, as well as lively interaction between the speakers and delegates throughout the day.”

Chris Boulton of yoo described it as “a very useful forum for all those involved in the boutique hotel sector with an excellent delegate list and well planned sessions. Our team learnt a lot and made some good new contacts."

www.boutiquehotelsummit.com

16/06/11

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