Earlier this week boutique hotel owners, managers, operators and invited guests converged on The Hempel for the second of a series of panel discussions
Hosted by Boutique Hotel News the educational networking events have been devised to promote best practice and new business within the boutique and lifestyle hotel sector and to support the forthcoming Boutique Hotel Summit. The panel session discussion took the form of a ‘post-Olympic debrief and what’s the outlook for the sector over the next 12 months’.
Panelists were: Gareth Banner, general manager, The Hempel; Marie Baxter, general manager, Town Hall Hotel; Chris Foy, head of 2012 games unit, Visit Britain; Ruth Mortimer, editor, Marketing Week with moderation provided by Jonathan Langston, Managing Director, TRI Hospitality Consulting. Watch video highlights of the discussion.
Olympic Debrief:
The general consensus was that the Olympics have so far been a success for London’s hospitality industry and Britain generally. “Millions saw London at its very best and the foundations for a lasting legacy are firmly in place. We’re entering unchartered water on the back of a successful games” said Chris, and the whole panel agreed a truer gauge of Olympics success will be how the hotel industry fares during the 2014 – 2018 period.
Both Gareth and Marie were pleased with their respective heightened occupancy levels during the Olympic period. The Hempel having secured a corporate Client block booking paying an advance premium for exclusive use of the hotel and events space way back in 2009. However, Marie stated The Town Hall Hotel achieved “disappointing revenues” for conference and event space during the period despite being located close to the Olympic Park.
What’s Next?:
Gareth had real concerns about how the projected 10% of additional London hotel room supply will affect occupancy and REVPAR as the euphoria dies down and we move into 2013. He continued that he expects a drop in figures, and was prepared to budget for a decline particularly as there’s no major events scheduled in the UK until the Rugby World Cup in 2015. Ruth added there’s the Empty13 website and even a #empty13 twitter hashtag to engage in general conversation on the subject.
Chris reassured everybody that VisitBritain was “back in the market” with a series of high-profile marketing initiatives commencing September 10th 2012. His objectives are to increase UK visitor numbers by 4.5 million into 2014 using a £2 billion marketing spend and raise the UK’s competitive position in the Chinese tourist market from 120,000 to over 500,000 visitors annually by 2014 / 2015. A member of the audience made comparisons to how Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics had been the catalyst for increased airlift of long-haul travellers to the City post event and suggested this as a sector for Britain to capitalize on.
Jonathan Langston probed the panel more on how boutique hoteliers can maximize the sales opportunity over the next few years and what’s currently holding the industry back, and there were no surprises when the hoteliers agreed they were focusing on having a greater understanding of their customers and London’s character and history.
Europe’s highest VAT level (20%) and how this needs to be quoted, GBP v Euro currency fluctuations and the slowness of VISA entry processing were all mentioned as having a negative effect on tourism. Chris countered that “due to the Olympic success, tourism had never been so high on the Government’s agenda” and there still needs to be work done to lobby for changes here.
Approaching the topic from a macro-level, Ruth Mortimer felt ‘electronic personalisation’ within marketing communications will grow immensely over the next few years, “offering boutique hoteliers the opportunity to deliver truly amazing experiences”. She warned however that the banking crisis had weakened ‘destination or brand Britain’s’ allure to the foreign traveller and called for the introduction of a clearer hotel rating system.
In closing, the boutique hoteliers discussed the pricing strategies they use on OTA’s websites, and the need to differentiate the ‘uniqueness’ of their offering with less emphasis on price. Ruth concurred and said the boutique hotel market needs to be very guarded against a price comparison approach. She cited the insurance sector as an example of a market that’s suffered due to its commoditization by the large online price comparison companies.
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