“We just needed that one catalyst to take it off, and Ernie has been that catalyst,” Scully explains. “A tremendous amount of people follow and know him, and I’ve already had people contacting me saying they’ve worked with Ernie and they want to talk about the opportunity of working together.”
Els’ involvement is both financial and personal — the hotels will look to build on the work done by his foundation Els for Autism, with a number of rooms allocated in each property for families affected by autism.
Staff at the properties will be trained to understand the needs of children with autism, while the hotels will also aim to offer employment opportunities to adults on the autism spectrum.
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Els explained to Hotelier how families like his — his son Ben is affected by the condition — often face problems on holidays and at hotels. “Parents of kids with autism have a real problem because the older the kids get, the louder they get, acting out becomes more of scene with big individuals. And people just think they are naughty children.
“For an autistic kid, who is severely affected by it, to get his point across to us normal folk, he feels he has to act out in a certain way.
“As people in the autism world we understand that, but people in the normal world don’t get it. In a hotel, restaurant, movie house, on the street, in a train, on a bus, public stuff, it’s tough for these people and they want to hide away.”
Having Els on board means there will be opportunities to leverage the power of his names and brands, including his golf design business, restaurants and wines. It is also already opening plenty of doors for Scully, who is the new company’s managing director.
“They don’t call him the ‘Big Easy’ for nothing. He’s humble and he’s got a true belief and reason for wanting to come on,” says Scully of Els.
“He’s not supporting this just because he thinks it’s a money-making venture. There’s a philanthropic side of it, which he is very involved in, and he realises we can provide the tools to spread the message for his foundation. He’s an absolute pleasure to have on board.”
Scully expects the first properties for the new brand to be in the Middle East, with the UAE and Egypt identified as markets where he is already seeing interest. “We are open to the region and we are already speaking to developers in these areas. We’ve got two prime plots in Dubai where owners are interested in coming on board with us,” adds Scully.
And, while five-star luxury will be the focus for the first few properties, mid-market options for families are already on the agenda.
“We’re initially starting with five-star, but we will be developing three- and four-star. [It’s] very much our objective. We just believe that our first prime and show-piece properties in the Middle East need to be five-star, but we will immediately be looking at three- and four-stars.”
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