Just six months in post and Philippe Harb, chief operating officer of One to One Hotels & Resorts, is making headway expanding his corporate team and raising awareness of the company’s four brands
In January 2014, Philippe Harb took the helm of the hospitality arm of UAE-based investment company Al Husam Group, as chief operating officer of One to One Hotels & Resorts Management LLC, having been promoted from his role as corporate director of operations.
He took over the Abu-Dhabi hotel management company, established in 2007, from previous CEO Sami Ayari, and is supported by a small corporate team, which is set to expand in parallel with the company’s properties.
| Advertisement |
With just a corporate chef, chief financial officer, corporate lawyer and a recently appointed business development manager covering Morocco, Harb admits that currently, One to One Hotels & Resorts doesn’t have the “team”, “structure” or “capital base” to open “10 hotels a year”.
“We only want to open one or two properties a year so we have to be very careful. We want to hand-pick every property because for us every property is like a small baby,” he explains.
Return on investment is of the utmost importance to the small team and accordingly, the focus has so far been on “boutique hotels from 50–150 rooms”, which Harb explains, is “part of our differentiation strategy.”
“We think that boutique properties are in high demand and can generate RevPAR close to a five-star hotel and they don’t fall as far during low season. They are a lean operation, easy to run and you can get the best return on capital investment,” asserts Harb.
The first One to One projects fell under the flagship ‘Boutique’ brand. Debut property, The Village, Abu Dhabi, a 127-room hotel opened in 2008, followed in 2010 by a Lebanese mountain resort project, Dhour Choueir.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
