The company is also looking at creating more resorts around the world — mainly in Asia — and is yet to finalise agreements.
With 550-580 staff to be recruited for the Dubai property, the hiring process will begin in quarter four of 2015, and already, a sales and marketing consultant is on board to implement the strategy for the hotel.
Not confusing Langham with Dukes or other British brands, Palmer is clear that the property will be “classic rather than traditional” in terms of interiors.
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“The Langham London has a light marble lobby and I think there will be classic touches in the Dubai property. Often people perceive traditional as something that’s old-fashioned and dark in colour, so it’s not going to be like that.”
This extends to the service, which he asserts will be more European than English. “English hotels can be formal and not very welcoming, so ours is more of a European style of service. It’s service with poise, an enchanting style that creates memories and a differential.”
While parent company of Langham Hospitality, Great Eagle Holdings Limited is a Chinese real estate company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the brand touch points have come from the company’s flagship property — The Langham London. Located on Regent Street, in the West End of the UK capital, it was according to Palmer, “Europe’s first ‘grand hotel’”, having opened its doors in 1865.
Great Eagle Holdings took over management of the property from Hilton Worldwide in 1998 — along with five other properties it owned — and these were the debut hotels under its new management arm, Langham Hospitality Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the firm.
“Once we acquired these properties in the late nineties it was a good opportunity to create the company and brand positioning,” says Palmer.
Now with 22 hotels in its portfolio in Asia, New Zealand and North America, Langham has 13 more in the pipeline, with aspirations to develop “around 100 hotels over the next five to seven years”.
Palmer has revealed that around six to eight of these hotels will be in the Middle East, and the company is already in negotiations in the region. One is being discussed for a second city location in Dubai, and the company is in talks for properties in Doha and Abu Dhabi.
“With Dubai we have aspirations and we’re in close discussions to do another property. That will be different — it will be from the Langham family and it won’t be on The Palm,” comments Palmer.
“In addition to that, we’re also in negotiations for opportunities in Abu Dhabi and Doha. We have aspirations to position ourselves in the Middle East. We haven’t yet in Europe, but we want to tackle the Middle East first, as we think that’s more important at this particular juncture,” says Palmer.
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