Prevue March/April 2015 - (Page 12)

fresh meets The Evolution of Local Hospitality Legacy hotel companies have launched a surge of new hotel brands in the lifestyle segment for both business and leisure travelers. Hyatt Centric F or meeting planners seeking fresh hotels for urban incentive travel programs, many of these new ﬂags offer a modern social mindset that places a priority on local destination experiences. Because of that shift, parent brands are tweaking the guest experience of their more established brands also. The goal is to better integrate the local destination and create more engaging public spaces for better networking and attendee engagement. "Nowadays hotels are not merely a hospitality company, they're lifestyle providers," says Greg Dogan, CEO of Shangri-La Hotels. "Guests expect us to inform them of the things that are happening at a particular location, which includes food and drink, and obviously shopping. If you look at the type of hotels that we have, we're not a cookie cutter hotel company. We're very localcentric and we bring out the best in each local environment that we go into so we try to care of our guests in that way." In our Jan/Feb cover story, we highlighted the pending opening of Virgin Hotels Chicago. After the brand's ﬁrst hotel swung open it doors, we talked with Virgin Hotels CEO Raul Leal to learn about The Commons Club social venue. This is a central public space with different energy zones where attendees can mingle and meet the locals. "The concept of The Commons Club will be replicated in every Virgin hotel," says Leal. "There's a strong focus on food culture and social programming, and from day one, we said the proposition for the brand is that we really want to be where the locals go and hang out. So a lot of our programming and a lot of our pricing is not exorbitant." Rocco Forte Hotels is aggressively expanding across Europe, and while the Forte family is determined to maintain traditional notions of hospitality, it is shifting some things to create a more local vibe. "Now everyone is talking about a 'sense of place,' but we were the ﬁrst people to really start doing it when we started out," says Sir Rocco Forte, CEO. "The staff has to feel that themselves, so in our newest induction programs, we teach them about the entire history of the hotel, what makes it different...what makes it special, and we teach them about the city that the hotel ﬁnds itself in." Announced in late January, Hyatt Centric is scheduled to launch 15 hotels this summer across the U.S. and Europe. All of the properties will be located in the center of popular business and leisure destinations, hence the name, with the stated purpose of acting as a community portal to introduce visiting attendees to the local community. Hyatt Centric is deﬁned as being "lounge-centric," with wide open public spaces designed with a living room vibe, and a mix of hi- and low-tech ways to discover the destinations. Everything about this brand is smart and streamlined to help busy travelers navigate their city better. "We call our guests Modern Explorers because these are people who are very curious, very independent, and very time crunched," says Kristine Rose, VP of brands, Hyatt Hotels. "They have a wish list and they really want to make the most out of all of their experiences and reasons for traveling."-Greg Oates shangri-la.com; virginhotels.com; roccofortehotels.com; hyattcentric.com "From day one, we said the proposition for the brand is that we really want to be where the locals go and hang out." 12 | prevue magazine http://www.shangri-la.com http://www.virginhotels.com http://www.roccofortehotels.com http://www.hyattcentric.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue March/April 2015

Planner’s Pick: Los Angeles
Fresh Meets: The Evolution of Local Hospitality
Bureau Buzz: Atlanta
Good Business: On the Agenda: Zero Waste
Sea Shores: American Queen Steamboat Company
Incentive Bound
FLORIDA
CALIFORNIA
NASHVILLE
IHG EUROPE
On Location: Bermuda
CLUB MED CANCUN YUCATAN
On Location: Beaches Turks & Caicos
On Location: St. Kitts
On Location: Delano Las Vegas
Club Med Meetins, Incentives and Corporate Events 2015 Edition

Prevue March/April 2015