GLOBAL UPDATE
David Fattal
FATTAL now has
54
HOTELS IN EUROPE as part of an
85-HOTEL PORTFOLIO .
FATTAL SUCCEEDS BEYOND ISRAEL
Israel is a small country , and with 30 hotels Fattal Hotels constitutes 25 % of the market . When Founder and Chairman David Fattal realized there was not much room to expand in his home country , in 2005 he led expansion into Europe .
Fast-forward to today , and after the February acquisition of 20 Queens Moat Houses ( Germany ) Holding hotels from Goldman Sachs , Fattal now has 54 hotels in Europe as part of an 85-hotel portfolio , and he has bigger plans yet .
First , over the next two years many of the new hotels in Germany will be rebranded to Fattal ’ s Leonardo and Leonardo Royal brands . Fattal expects the deal will increase turnover by 25 %, and he expects profits to grow 35 %. In addition , this summer , Fattal will open its sixth Leonardo hotel in Berlin as part of a mixed-use development designed by Philippe Starck . Moving forward , Fattal wants hotels in East Asia , Africa and the United States .
“ When we first entered Germany , the prices of hotels within the major cities were much cheaper in relation to other major cities in Western Europe ,” Fattal says . “ We were looking for a country with a business culture that resembles Israel , with ambitious people and hotelier tradition , as well as the ability to grow and expand rapidly .”
However , Fattal has not forgotten his homeland of Israel and says business the past few years has been good because conditions have been relatively secure . Fattal is currently building four hotels in Israel that are expected to open up in 2013-2014 : Herods , Dead Sea ; Herods , Herzelia ; Leonardo Plaza Netanya and Leonardo Boutique , Tiberias .
As a company that started as a management company , Fattal says he will not allow an external management team to run his hotels , as he believes in his own team ’ s abilities and knowledge . “ We know best what should be done in our hotels ,” he says , adding that finding good people is his biggest challenge of the day .
With the current and pending growth , Fattal is reorganizing its management with regional teams . “ We also must strengthen marketing and revenue management ,” he adds .
HISTORY
BECOMES REALITY
It took some 140 years , but the Palais Hansen in Vienna is finally the hotel it was intended to be . Designed by Theophil Edvard von Hansen and Heinrich Förster as a hotel for the 1873 world exposition in Vienna , instead the structure served as police headquarters and home to several different municipal departments . In September 2010 a painstaking restoration of the property began , led by Vienna-based architect Boris Podrecca and Austrian architecture firm Atelier Hayde Architekten , with interior design by Jean-Claude Laville .
This past March , the 152-room Palais Hansen Kempinski Vienna debuted . The first Vienna hotel for the Kempinski Group , the property combines Renaissance Revival architecture with high-tech touches like iPad check-in . Other features include two restaurants , two bars , a cigar lounge , a delicatessen , a florist , multiple meeting and event spaces and 17 private residential penthouse apartments . One of the crowing jewels is Kempinski The Spa , 8,611 sq ft ( 800 sq m ) designed to reflect both Eastern and Western Europe and employing a nature-inspired spa philosophy .
Viennese 1920s-style glass art as well as Ottoman-style lamps , mosaics and wooden folding screens are among the design details in the spa at Palais Hansen Kempinski Vienna .
10 HOTELS June 2013 www . hotelsmag . com