It is easy to see why hotels vie for the somewhat safer bet of bagging a celebrity chef or big brand name.
3. Star power
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, it’s easy to see why hotels vie for the somewhat safer bet of bagging a celebrity chef or big brand name, as opposed to launching a new concept in-house or leasing space to a perhaps unknown independent concept.
This is not a trend that is likely to be going anywhere in 2016, when "there are certain brand names that definitely fill your lobby”, according to Sparacino. He adds that “the aura that great restaurants bring” generates “phenomenal” hotel traffic.
Expanding on this point, Van Den Bussche remarks: “A halo restaurant adds not just to the traffic, but to the perception of the hotel and the room rates. That helps really argue the case for investment. It pushes your RevPAR (revenue per available room), and helps to release the capital to go for the right name.”
There are factors to consider though, not least the nationalities of your hotel guests and nearby residents, as Robinson notes: “If you’re bringing a famous celebrity chef from America, they’re not necessarily particularly well known. But if they’re bringing many American customers with them to their hotel, then it becomes a destination.”
She adds that launching the Marco Pierre White restaurants in Dubai, for example, was “very much a commercial opportunity” but it can be more important to have someone who is eager to market themselves and “very active in social media, without which you die in restaurants”.
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