Small Luxury Hotels records robust growth in membership as revenues rise
The definition of luxury is contrast, according to Paul Kerr, CEO of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH).
“It’s no longer about the trappings, the five-star luxury comes as standard now, it’s about the experiences you can offer besides,” he says.
And SLH members know how to deliver.
Treetops Lodge & Wilderness Experience in Rotorua, New Zealand, offers a truly indigenous gourmet food experience gathering organic herbs and wild vegetables, hosted by an expert in indigenous foods and integrating this with the lodge’s Maori chef who will prepare dinner with the harvest.
Other recent suggestions were sword fighting at the Hotel Telegraaf in Tallinn, Estonia, supervised by the property’s own arms lord, and (seasonal) truffle hunting with a licensed hunter and specially-trained dogs at the Park Hotel Ai Cappuccini in Umbria, Italy.
Kerr says: “You have to be able to offer a differential, a contrast, such as spending a couple of nights under canvas in the bush and then going back to one of our hotels.”
SLH, which recently moved its head-office to central London, is a collection of more than 500 independent luxury hotels in 70-plus countries ranging from cutting-edge design hotels to 17th-century mansions and from city-centre sanctuaries to private islands and historic country houses.
The organisation has seen robust growth in 2010 with the addition of 47 new properties since January, including some in exciting growth markets such as India, China and Japan.
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Walk on the wild side: the Treetops Lodge at dawn |
Indicators of strong growth include an increase in reservations of 16 per cent year-to-date in comparison to this time last year and an increase in revenue of 12 per cent since January 2010.
‘’Increasing the geographical spread of the SLH brand is central to our development strategy and the fact that we now have a strong presence in emerging markets such as China and Japan, among many other countries, enables us to meet the needs of our loyal and well-travelled clientele,’’ says Kerr.
To complement this development in the Asia-Pacific region, the group’s social media and marketing strategy is also making its presence known in emerging markets with a Japanese Twitter page launched recently and three Chinese social networks due to come online. Additionally, 25 per cent of SLH Facebook followers are from India.
The brand has witnessed its strongest growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) this quarter. Of the 47 hotels that have joined SLH in 2010, almost 60 per cent were in the EMEA region. Significant growth has taken place in Germany with the addition of three hotels and exciting new additions in Nice, Istanbul and Barcelona.
The brand’s presence in Latin America continues to grow with the addition of the Hacienda de San Antonio in the foothills of the Fuego volcano in the Colima Highlands in Mexico. The property, set against the backdrop of the volcano, represents the perfect place to get away from it all with the suites reflecting Mexico’s arts and crafts traditions and each featuring a working fireplace.
And SLH has added two more hotels to its collection in Japan – the Noborioji Hotel in Nara and the Hotel Il Palazzo in Fukoaka, with Kerr describing the Asia-Pacific region as the place to be for the future.
“The growing sector is Asia,” he says. “We are told that the number of millionaires in China alone will almost double over the next few years, this shows that this is a region in which people can afford luxury. There is certainly the luxury offering available here but this is also a growing source market for the rest of the world.”