ABTN speaks to Riddian Davies, general manager of the Charing Cross Hotel, about corporate travel negotiations, the Olympics and a renaissance in the London hotel scene.
Part of the Guoman collection, the four-star hotel has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment of its executive Buckingham Wing, and is updating its bar, restaurant, and bedrooms.
The new executive rooms opened in April. What made you decide to invest in them?
We are competing within a five-star competitor set within the Charing Cross area. Our main aim was focusing on the corporate client which is a large portion of our business. The idea was to bring the Buckingham Wing up to the four star deluxe standard, concentrating on various things like the special check-in area for business clients and having a business centre available. The rooms are very nicely decorated and feature what a corporate wants – black-out curtains, mist-free bathroom mirrors, underfloor heating, that sort of thing.
Has the corporate client been difficult to hold onto in recent years?
During the recession time, yes it was. But everything is looking very positive moving forward. With the corporate clients, whatever happens business moves on. With the positive things that are happening within the UK over the next 12 months, such as the Olympics and Wimbledon, business is looking very positive for the next 12 to 18 months within that segment.
What will you be doing to encourage business travellers to stay with you?
We've got an ongoing refurbishment plan. Once our Buckingham Wing was completed, we went straight into redoing our lounge and bar area. We're totally converting that into a brasserie area, and our bar is becoming a very intimate cocktail area – totally transformed.
Over the next 12 to 18 months we will also be doing various refurbishment plans on rooms in the main wing. We're definitely moving with the times and we're keeping the product updated and we're making sure that we compete against our competitor set, which is very important.
The London hotel scene seems to be quite interesting at the moment, with lots of new openings...
Definitely. There must be a lot of faith in London moving forward, with so many hotels investing in the five-star segment – like the Savoy, the Corinthian, and our Guoman the Royal Horseguards. We as a collection are spending lots of money on our products.
Within the Charing Cross, there are so many five-star hotels that are updating their facilities and spending hundreds of millions, so the outlook is good. As for the Charing Cross hotel, we stand in very good stead amongst those hotels. Not everybody can afford those five-star rates, but you can come to the centre of London and be amongst those hotels at a very affordable four-star rate, which is what we offer.
The Olympics are approaching – do you think business travellers will avoid London during that time?
A lot of our corporate clients, especially the big corporate clients, we have two year agreements with. We will still offer them space over the Olympics, but a large portion of our inventory has been given to the Olympics Committee. So, we are having to make sure that with corporate clients that have supported us over the years that we are able to give the allocations of rooms.
That is something we're currently working on – how we can best accommodate everybody. Whilst it is a very busy period, there is also a lot of transient business that is going to come into London. We have to focus our attentions also on that, but also making sure we look after our corporate clients over that period 100%.
The Olympics isn't just August. There's build-up for months prior and also a couple of months after. London will be very busy from May onwards. It's important that we look after our corporate clients 100% over these times, because they are the ones that have been giving us business for many years.
You must have been planning for the Olympics for a while...
For the last 12 to 18 months as a group we have been working on various strategies and making sure we have the right amount of room stock available, for both Guoman and Thistle hotels. Generally speaking we have done a lot of preparation work in ensuring the product is up there with our competitor set.
Do you think there will be enough beds for the Olympics?
I think London has lots of hotels, and with the new hotels opening up over the next six to 12 months we will definitely have the right amount of room stock. London is a destination city and in my opinion a city that everybody aspires to come to. I personally think it's going to be an incredible success, especially within our portfolio of hotels.
In terms of corporate negotiations, what do you see happening next year? Will rates rise?
It's important that we look after our corporate clients. They look after a large portion of our business midweek. Corporate business needs to carry on within London and I think it's very important that we keep our eye on our corporate clients. Rates will obviously increase with inflation and various other things. We always have to move forwards, we just need to make sure we keep focussed on corporate and giving them the added benefits.
We are very flexible when it comes to corporates, to a degree. If it means we have to include breakfast in their rates, we actually review it case by case – see what they've produced in the past and what their predictions are for the future. It's very much working alongside our corporate, so it can be beneficial to both of us.
Do you think that in general the market is going to move towards being a sellers' market?
In my opinion, it's very debatable and it really depends on the performance of this year. This year is going to be quite a difficult year, in my estimation. With VAT and inflation and various taxes going up and what the government is having to do in order to cut its spend. Hoteliers have to strategise accordingly. In my opinion I think it's going to be a very difficult six to 12 months moving forward.
However, with the Olympics and the economy strengthening and us getting ahead of where we are from a deficit point of view, I think the future is definitely bright and it looks like we have a huge sum of opportunity that is going to happen within London.