With political unrest sweeping across the globe in 2014, Willis believes that security concerns are no long attributed solely to the Middle East.
“I think for some years perhaps the Middle East was tarnished with a security issue, political unrest. But you can see that it’s not something that’s isolated to this region,” says Willis, referring to the recent Paris and Sydney attacks among other incidents.
“I think today these are global issues and people see them as that. People do their homework; they are researching and travelling accordingly.”
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Another flourishing GCC market for Rezidor is Kuwait, home of what Willis describes as the group’s flagship Middle East property; The Symphony Style Hotel Kuwait, which saw year-on-year growth in 2014 above the average for the country.
The property became one of the first member hotels of Quorvus Collection when it transitioned from Missoni Hotel Kuwait back in May 2014, and is still the only Quovus hotel in the Middle East. The reflag followed Rezidor’s termination of its master licence agreement with the Italian fashion house Missoni, which Willis explains was a result of Rezidor wanting to “take the brand more towards a collection”.
“We parted company with the Missoni family as they looked to concentrate on the key element of their business, which is solely fashion and not hotels.”
Describing what the group is looking for to build its Quorvus portfolio, a collection of independent properties, Willis says: “We’re looking for a destination hotel that has something key about it, whether it’s the location or the style or design. Hopefully we’ll bring a lot of expertise to the table to assist the hotel and develop it to better things.”
At the same time as the announcement of Quorvus in February last year, The Rezidor Group introduced its upscale offering; Radisson Red, a ‘lifestyle select’ brand.
“It’s a self-service concept,” he says. While technology has been a key focus for the Park Inn and Radisson Blue brands — the firm was one of the first to offer free WiFi throughout its properties 10 years ago — Radisson Red will epitomise the tech focus.
“We’re definitely targeting the millennial traveller, trying to meet and exceed their needs. Red will have a real focus on design, detail and technology.
“I think we’ve been a real market leader. We’re very careful with the IT we put into hotels. We make sure it’s a 100MB line, we make sure the facilities are really up-to-speed with the demands of the guest, and Red is going to take this to a new level. I know there are key design elements that are going to come into play in public areas; watch this space.”
While he can’t reveal all at the moment, Willis admits Rezidor is “definitely looking toward Red in the Middle East”.
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