Northstar

The Indispensable Travel Industry Read Feature Highlight Asia is ripe for attractions and theme parks Vol. 3 | 02 November 2010 | www.travelweeklyweb.com | Worldhotels competes with upscale hotels Published by Travel & Meetings Group, Ten Alps Communications Asia Pte Ltd Hotel New Grand Millennium Al Wahda opens News Page 6 Buyers at WorldHotel's booth at ITB Asia 2010. Pretty soon you will be seeing hotel s with the Wor ldhotels signage on them. This is to enhance the branding of its upscale hotels as they pitch themselves against other hospitality giants. Said Robert Hornman, managing director of Worldhotels, "We are launching a new business model, as our hotels are competing with the big brands they want more than just an affi liation. So we have launched the full license model and the hotel will have the WorldHotel's name on the roof. It will be a branded version of Worldhotels that will enable them to compete better in their competitive set for example against a Hi lton or InterContinental. They might want a stronger brand and we are of fering a branded solution without the cookie cutter approach." This is seen as the perfect alternative to standard franchise and management contracts. For a competitive all-inclusive annual fee, independent four and fi ve-star hotels competing against global chains can now brand themselves as a Worldhotel and benefi t from the impact, support and strong return on investment of a global brand while still maintaining their unique identity. The Worldhotels brand will be prominently featured as part of the hotel name, signage and at various customer contact points of the premises. At the same time, the group will emphasise the uniqueness of each property. Branded hotels will, for example, receive their own complete hotel website rather than just a section within a corporate webs i te and are not obl iged to standardise their hardware. However, eligible hotels have to meet Worldhotels' comprehensive set of quality criteria which are reviewed twice a year in anonymous tests. Robert Hornman, managing director, Worldhotels. "Ou r f o c u s i s o n g u e s t experience and quality, not on standardising hardware", says Hornman. "Therefore, to become a branded Worldhotel, a hotel has to offer premium facilities for discerning business and leisure t r ave ller s including modern guestrooms with a comfortable work space and high-speed internet connect ivi ty, room ser vice, a Orient-Express offers luxury travel to South America's most legendary destinations Page 6 restaurant, a gym and at tentive, personalised service" The first branded Worldhotel will be launched in November 2010 in Almaty/Kazakhstan, followed by hotels in Frankfurt and Vienna, in December 2010, and Munich and Hamburg in January 2011. "Our target is to have 50 branded hotels by 2013," adds Hornman. "We are aiming at new hotels as well as member hotels interested in adapting their affiliation. Whether our existing hotels choose to change their affi liation status or not, they will benefit significantly from the launch of our branded hotels as it will also multiply brand exposure and customer awareness. Asia has always been one of our fastest growing areas in the world so we've been doing well with signing up some good hotels here, we have quite good growth in India, China and Japan. Our strategy for the next two years is to improve business for the existing hotels."

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