Raising the game
“You can raise your rates to a different level because then you’re part of a collection of world-class hotels competing with the likes of the luxury Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok and The Dorchester in London for example. You are really at the high end of your brand.”
The same is true of the Sofitel branded properties, forgetting Cairo where occupancies were as low as 8% during the worst of the unrest, he adds. “We were typically able to double our RevPar in performance. We’ve driven performance so strong in these markets with the repositioning.
It’s a good story to tell as we go around the world pitching hotels to potential investors.
| Advertisement |
“I just met with our owners Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) in Dubai and they were thrilled with the results of our hotels,” he says, citing the UAE as an important market for Sofitel. The five-star, 282-room Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche, part of the Capital Plaza building on the emirate’s Corniche Road, opened on March 18 as the chain’s first hotel in the capital. Sofitel The Palm Dubai is scheduled to launch next year — with a “Polynesian feel” to it and 15 to 16 food and beverage outlets.
Over the next five years, Gaymer-Jones is hoping to grow Sofitel’s portfolio by around 30 hotels, to 150 in total. Most of these will be Sofitels — around 20, with another four Legends and five to six Sos. He says: “So is going to explode once people see and feel what we’ve done in Bangkok”.
Not put off by launching two new sister brands, Gaymer-Jones says a third could be on the cards: “We are open to that; we’re looking at potentially another brand,” he reveals.
But for now the Sofitel brand positioning is complete and Gaymer-Jones’ efforts were awarded with a promotion to CEO last year. It’s his strategy of quality over quantity that he believes will secure Sofitel’s place as an international hotel operator.
“I don’t want Sofitel to be the largest hotel company in the world; I just want it to be a successful, luxury hotel company focused on our DNA of design, gastronomy and culture.
“I want to create a club where people want to be part of Sofitel,” Gaymer-Jones concludes.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
