The approach to food and beverage from younger consumers is very quality-driven, adds Ingham, and says it’s much more about the quality of the experience and the food, and “not about the fanciness”.
This new brand positioning and target market has been made effective immediately, reports Ingham.
He’s keen to stress that this is not a completely new direction that has been launched out of the blue. “What happens by nature, particularly with a brand like W, is that every hotel is different to the previous one. Our goal is to have a constant DNA that flows through the brand which is inspired by our roots in New York.” Ingham says that some of the elements in the repositioning are what the teams across W have already been experimenting with as they open new hotels.
| Advertisement |
And W Dubai — Al Habtoor City is probably a great example of the evolution of the brand. he notes.
Praising general manager Peter Katusak-Huzsvar, Ingham says: “There’s nothing quite like it in Dubai yet, so we are super excited. If you think about W’s DNA and what W stands for, and being at the forefront of design, what’s new and next in fashion and music, the fun-filled energetic cocktail culture-driven scene… Dubai is kind of the Manhattan of the Middle East, and that fits so well for W which is a Manhattan-born brand.”
He’s equally full of praise for the W Doha, which has been open since early 2009. “W Doha completely redefined hospitality in Qatar, and broke everybody’s expectations of what you could do. The W Doha manages to be forward-thinking and avant-garde in its approach and yet is a genuine mix of all of the locals and expats and tourists in a way that is W-energetic but fully respectful of the local culture,” notes Ingham.
Beyond these two W properties, there’s a lot more coming for the region. One more Dubai property will join the fold, along with a hotel in Jordan, Oman and Abu Dhabi. Egypt and Morocco will also see the additions of W hotels over the next few years.
However, it’s not just opening hotels that keeps Ingham busy. Alongside these are initiatives that very much cater to the brand’s target market. What She Said, for example, is a global speaker series that features inspiring women from the worlds of fashion, music, tech, media and more. After launching in March 2016 at the W Austin during SXSW, it moved to W London — Leicester Square in April 2016 with designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg in conversation with London-based designer Mary Katrantzou.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
