PERSONALITIES
developing a Six Senses mixedused development in Papagayo , Costa Rica , as well as 28 ultra-luxury residences at Amangiri . Canyon Group also has landbanks near Malibu , California , and Hacienda La Gavia in Mexico to be developed sometime in the future .
Vazifdar says Canyon has another segment in mind for near-term growth and ultimately , as he shifts gears to an executive director ’ s role , he would love to create a small portfolio of ultra-luxury tented camp concept for out-of-the-way U . S . destinations .
For now , the group enjoys seeing its portfolio perform at amazing levels , even since the middle of the pandemic , as ultra-luxury travelers fled to safe havens like Amangiri , which in 2020 added Camp Sarika tented camps achieving rates close to US $ 5,000 a night at 90 % -plus occupancies . Canyon Group is also celebrating the April bittersweet exit from its Amangani resort in Jackson , Wyoming , which it sold for about to US $ 2 million a key .
“ There was a flight to safety and products like ours did extraordinarily well ,” Vazifdar says about Canyon ’ s recovery through the pandemic . “ We shut down our resorts for only two and a half months , and when we opened , we were practically running 100 % at rate premiums that were obscene … We knew that we would come back . But what surprised all of us was how fast and how furiously we came back .”
He points to resiliency of the hotel industry and how ultra-luxury always comes roaring back . “ Our industry always comes back stronger than what the market predicts ,” he says . “ When you have all the analysts or the big banks , saying , ‘ The sky is falling and the world is coming to an end .’ They are so wrong every single time . Our industry is coming back . New York is coming back . Miami is on fire .”
Other than implementing a 24-hour lag time between checkout and the next check-ins , there were no knee-jerk reactions to the pandemic at Canyon ’ s properties . “ I ’ ve always maintained , don ’ t try to do something that ’ s different – try to do what you have always done , but just do it a little better . Try to make one day better than the day before ,” Vazifdar says .
Canyon is telling its operators to focus on very high-end group business such as small group think tanks and board of director meetings . “ Focus on small , high-end group business , buyouts , weddings , small weddings , bar mitzvahs , and things like that ,” Vazifdar adds .
At the same time , Vazifdar says too many hotels used COVID as an excuse not to perform at their best , and that is an approach that will have long-term ramifications . “ I ’ ve seen luxury hotels using COVID as an excuse for diminishing services . They compromise guest experiences , depriving guests of very basic hospitality like cutting out room service . They empty out minibars , don ’ t put coffee makers in
Aerial of resort and pier at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji
the rooms , and I can go on and on … That ’ s bs . They ’ re trying to squeeze the last dollar out and not looking at the long-term impact .”
WHAT ’ S NEXT ? While Vazifdar is pivoting in his role at Canyon Group , he has always been one to reinvent himself and never really slowed down during the pandemic . As mentioned , he has his eyes on more experiential products in what he believes is an overlooked niche – luxury tented camps . Not ultra-luxury , but there is not , in his opinion , something upmarket available in the U . S . “ There is this void at about US $ 2,500 ADR , where you can do standalone tents – and I am absolutely convinced that ’ s a phenomenon that will happen ,” he says .
He is a big believer in his conviction because if there was one lesson he took away from the pandemic it was guests ’ desire for what he calls “ space vastness .”
Canyon ’ s existing properties created a lot of extra space for dining and outdoor recreation without it looking clinical , placing tables around swimming pools , in courtyards , etc .
This new requirement for space should lead to the creation of even more suites . Even the Courtyard by
50 hotelsmag . com July / August 2022