Beach huts at Le Pirate
Le Pirate hopes to roll out more of its small-scale yachts .
destination for Australians and Brits , who make up a large percentage of Le Pirate ’ s clientele .
Le Pirate ’ s concept caught the eye of Horwath HTL ’ s Robert Hecker two years ago at a conference in conference in Jakarta .
“ I thought his product and concept was the perfect solution for developing resorts in more remote locations where construction from scratch can be difficult , time consuming and expensive , and where intrepid travellers want to go , but otherwise have no or limited quality accommodations ,” Hecker says .
The concept in the early days wasn ’ t perfect . Initially , service was sparse and food was basic buffet style meals served daily . All that changed after Taffin brought on his son , 26-year-old Louka Taffin , as head of Le Pirate ’ s marketing . Tapping directly into guest response , the younger Taffin revamped the F & B , switching over to an a la carte menu that ’ s now standardized at all three existing Le Pirates . Linen changes and housekeeping became daily and Le Pirate adjusted the prices on its bike rentals after guests complained that they weren ’ t competitive with local rates .
“ For us , when it comes to marketing – yes , you can focus on the pretty pictures and what people see , but the most important thing is the guest experience , because at the end of the day , they ’ re going to be the ambassadors of your brand ,” says Louka Taffin .
Those ambassadors dominate Le Pirate ’ s Instagram account , which has over 50,000 followers and only posts photos tagged by guests . Along with word of mouth , the social media site drives the brand ’ s foot traffic – amounting to some 29 %.
Occupancy consistency is currently such that Le Pirate operates almost 100 % sans OTAs . ( They still use booking . com , but hope to eliminate that as well by 2018 ). In terms of expansion , Fredo Taffin says he ’ s been in talks with potential partners in Sri Lanka and the Philippines , with the goal being to open six more Le Pirates and two small-scale cruises in Indonesia over the next five years .
Part of the brand ’ s success also relies on a low-density , low-cost model . Each Le Pirate is small ( the original has just 10 keys , the other two have 24 , 14 ), and average cost per key for the three resorts is about US $ 40,000 , with upfront investment averaging around US $ 700,000 . An average night ’ s stay at a Le Pirate clocks in at about US $ 60 , meaning guests can direct cash at other amenities like rentable bicycles and paddleboards and , in the case of Le Pirate Labuan Bajo , a boat excursion packaged with meals and snorkeling .
Taffin ’ s advice to more the more established hotelier world is flexibility – finding that balance between what defines you as a brand while not being afraid of handing over power to guests .
“ Very often , traditional hoteliers are contained by overheads and systems and it ’ s very hard for them to reform ,” he says . “ We started in the market we wanted , so we have shaped our systems based on this market .”
Taffin ’ s son Louka agrees . “ Try to create a rougher edge , where it ’ s a little more authentic and based around experiences and activities ,” he says . “ Millennials don ’ t care as much about the rooms anymore , it ’ s about what the hotel has to offer .”
“ THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THE GUEST EXPERIENCE BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY THEY ’ RE GOING TO BE THE AMBASSADORS OF YOUR BRAND .”
– LOUKA TAFFIN
April 2017 hotelsmag . com 53