Renderings of the Paramount Hotel Dubai (top left and bottom) and of the Paramount Resort Boao in China (top right and far right), the first two properties to be signed by Paramount Hotels and Resorts.
To be tasked with creating hotels inspired by the silver screen is no doubt a dream job — Van Vliet’s enthusiasm to partake in our photoshoot is testament to this — but coming from the safety of the Accor and Swiss-Belhotel stables, I am intrigued as to how one adapts to such a challenge.
“It is a big transition but I think it also depends on your background and what you have done in previous years. During my time with Accor in Asia and in Pacific Australia I was part of the team that actually spearheaded the development of the company in those two regions, going from zero to a large organisation with many hotels.
Therefore it is like starting up a standalone company. So I think that experience brought me a lot and helped me a lot. Also when I was SVP Sofitel I was part of the team that studied and executed the repositioning of that brand. So that was an amazing experience and that is what I can use today in starting Paramount Hotels and Resorts,” asserts Van Vliet.
| Advertisement |
He’s also gained insight from Accor’s successes and challenges, holding dear the lessons learned from the “power of a well-defined and consistent brand like Novotel and the difficulty of successfully repositioning a brand like Sofitel without changing the brand name”.
“I also learned that by all means you should try and stay away from adding hotels to your network that don’t conform significantly to the brand standards set for the brand since it will negatively influence your development potential.
And finally, if your company goes through major growth you should continue to focus on strong human interaction and allow teams around the world to operate within their own environments but of course, still following the general culture of the brand,” he asserts.
To take on the role, Van Vliet has postponed a sabbatical once again — his renovations on a house in France were cut short to join first Swiss-Belhotel than Paramount— but not many would be able to say no to the 22 stars Paramount is so famous for.
“It’s one of the most recognised logos in the world. So to have a chance to translate the Paramount Pictures Corporation business into a hospitality model is very exciting,” he says.
The first priority was to create the “brand DNA”, which Van Vliet tells me is now 95% complete. A key concern, of his and of the Paramount parents, was “what differentiates these hotels from the others?”
“The moment you put the name Paramount Hotels and Resorts as a logo or brand on a hotel people expect more: we are a luxury lifestyle hotel but it’s not enough if we only provide the facilities that are linked to a luxury lifestyle hotel. People, because of that logo, expect more.”
Before you get too excited, that is not to say guests can expect a Titantic-themed hotel or Godfather-style surroundings. The integration of Paramount’s history and film catalogue is far more sophisticated than that.
The focus is on the guest experience, “which will include elements of our primary associations with Paramount Pictures, being Paramount Pictures entertainment and technology, Hollywood glamour and California lifestyle, as well as our secondary associations being creativity, innovation, imagination and collaboration”.
A key element of the goal to differentiate the hotels was the recruitment of different partners, specialists in areas from F&B to corporate identity. Word clouds and mood boards were used to make the vision “touchable” and reiterate that the emphasis was on the “creative aspect rather than the direct application of the connection with the Paramount brand”.
Companies from Blau & Associates to POD Architects have been instrumental in creating the brand DNA, but Van Vliet won’t work with consultants once the hotels have opened: “Over time we will employ our own specialists in those fields that will form part of the team. By the end of this year we will have more than doubled our team from what we started with,” he says, meaning the group will grow to about eight people this year.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
