"ITB Hospitality Day":Residences - Advantage real estate or hotel?
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Berlin (February 27, 2009). No more hotel finance without residences? That was certainly once true. In the current financial crisis, the importance of residences for hotels has, however, become more questionable. Yet many hotel groups still include "residences" in their strategy planning - a word with many meanings and business models. The finer details will be discussed by four experts during the discussion round "Residences: Advantage Hotel or Real Estate?" at the ITB Hotel Conference scheduled to take place on Thursday 12th March 2009 at 2.15 p.m. in Berlin. The event is open to all ITB guests. Prior registration is not required and attendance is free of charge. hospitalityInside.com is media partner for the ITB Hospitality Day.
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| Philip Bacon. |
Host Philip Bacon from HVS Hospitality Services in Madrid, the department of the international consultancy company HVS specialised in residences, will give different national perspectives on the term "residence". This will then be followed up in detail by the experts.
Given the current state of the economy, Scott Woroch, Executive Vice President Worldwide Development of the luxury hotel chain Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, is glad that up to now residences were pushed by the global luxury hotel chain merely as added value and weren't placed at the core of their business model.
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| Scott Woroch. |
The approach of Four Seasons to residences is just as selective as is the case in respect of hotels. Woroch believes in the power of the brand and his remains true for this segment. Behind this is an operator model very different to the one used by Frasers Hospitality in Singapore. Peng Sum Choe, CEO of Frasers Hospitality intends to expand into Europe with "serviced apartments". He hopes to appeal to various target groups with three different types of residences. Behind Asia's leading residence company is a large and diverse conglomerate, something which also provides support on the investment side.
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| Manfred Schoenleben. |
Just how difficult the relationship is between investors, project developers, operators and client can be will be explained by Manfred Schoenleben, CEO of consultancy company TMC Partners (and licence partner for the stand alone residences of Kempinski Hotels & Resorts). He will also attempt to throw more light on product definitions and on client relations. The latter is massively important in respect of the success or failure of the project.
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| Peng Sum Choe. |
The client doesn't care, after all, whether contracts are concluded with the investor/developer or with the operator. This issue does, however, have massive influence on the economic success of the residence and the radiance of the project.
Attendance at the 4th ITB Hospitality Day is free of charge to ITB visitors. All discussion rounds are interpreted in German/English. The hotel conference will take places in hall 7.1b, auditorium London. The panel on residences is scheduled as fourth discussion round from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Further information can be found here. / kn
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