WORLDHOTELS is a global brand that brings together some of the world’s most unique independent hotels. With a portfolio of 500 hotels in 250 destinations and 65 countries worldwide and a tagline ‘Where Discovery Starts,’ the brand targets savvy business and leisure travellers that seek an authentic and local experience when choosing a hotel.
Speaking to Shalu Chandran, Paulo Salvador, global vice president marketing and sales and executive vice president Europe, Middle East and Africa, “We consider ourselves a chain of independent hotels. In the hotel industry market, you have two extremes – the niche hotel brand with set standards and values and the other extreme is the very independent, very unique properties where each room is different and each night a different experience.
“At Worldhotels we cater to guests who look for hotels that provide for this independent, unique experience. We provide the brand, the marketing services and the commercial and sales platform to these stand-alone hotels. What makes us different is that we not only provide the brand but the full service. So everything that a hotel wants from a chain without being part of a chain, we provide,” he added.
Through a comprehensive range of services that includes global marketing, sales, training, e-commerce and state-of-the-art distribution and technology, Worldhotels backs independent hotels with the power of a global brand while allowing them to retain their individual character and identity. In addition to its classic “affiliation model”, the group offers independent hotels a “full licence” branding solution which is the perfect alternative to standard franchise contracts.
Membership works on an affiliation fee and a transaction fee for every service that is delivered to the hotel. However, each hotel in the Worldhotels portfolio is carefully selected to ensure it meets the group’s strict quality standards which include location, social media interaction, security, and comfort of facilities etc.
Each hotel is measured against over 1,000 quality criteria every year.
Today the Worldhotels portfolio boasts of 500 hotels worldwide. In the Middle East, the brand operates 10 hotels – two hotels in Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, three in Kuwait and one in Jordan.
“We foresee a huge increase in hotel development opportunities for Worldhotels in the region in the year ahead. We have about 10 other hotels in the pipeline for the Middle East and believe we can take that to 40 hotels in another two years.
“This is largely because the individual hotels cannot compete in this aggressive tourism market alone,” he added.
“Managing our own properties however is not on the agenda as we believe that the expertise that we can provide is our platform and we allow for hotels to remain independent. This is the main asset that we provide to our customers.”
“We are also seeing more and more clients looking for hotel options and doing their booking by themselves, online. This allows them to book directly through our website. Recently we unveiled a range of new enhancements designed to maximise business for our affiliate hotels,” he added.
These developments include the makeover of worldhotels.com, with extended functionalities for consumers, travel agents and corporate clients, and new facilities for the increasing number of guests who plan their travel on the go with the mobile optimisation of the website and a new mobile app for iPhone and Android.
The new website also offers a much more user-friendly experience and is designed to convert ‘lookers’ to ‘bookers’ with an optimised layout, navigation and a range of design features, content and interactive functionality.
The new site also features an optimised, easier-to-use travel agent portal through which agents can access special rates, dedicated offers and bespoke content. A Business Traveller Portal allows corporate travellers of small and medium enterprises to book a dedicated Travel Select rate and negotiated rates, while an enhanced search tool for Mice planners enables direct RFP functionality and the option to contact Worldhotels staff via e-mail or by telephone.
Salvador also added, “2013, we believe will be a strong year. We believe business will be further grow in the emerging markets like Middle East, Turkey, Russia, brazil, China and India.
“North America too has shown promising results in 2012 and we hope to see this further grow in 2013. We currently have 65 hotels in North America and they have seen a 17 per cent growth in room nights in 2012 against the same period in 2011. Despite the crisis, the economy is still travelling and doing business.
“In Europe, the UK performed well because of the Olympic Games. Markets like Germany and Switzerland continued to perform too. Overall it’s been good but not as strong as the other regions,” he added.
“Monitoring our hotel performance is part of our business. When we talk about providing sales and marketing expertise, we have a group of experts who sit with the team and help the hotel manage their distribution for each market and each channel they operate,” concluded Salvador.