PERSONALITIES
AGI
Contributed by MARY SCOVIAK
WHAT WILL
LUXURY HOTELS LOOK LIKE AFTER THE PANDEMIC ?
THE LOWELL ’ S GM , HEIKO
KUENSTLE , ON
MANAGING AND INNOVATING THROUGH A RECOVERY .
Heading into 2020 , the outlook for New York City ’ s hotel industry wasn ’ t pretty . Increasing supply , labor costs and property taxes , continued incursions from Airbnb and a sobering forecast of city visitor growth slowing to 2 % had most consultants projecting a 0.8 % rate hike for NYC ’ s hoteliers .
“ They were telling us flat was the new up ,” says Heiko Kuenstle , general manager of The Lowell , a 5-star landmark on the Upper East Side . Obviously that message was meant for somebody else .
By early March , he and his team had leveraged an enviably loyal customer base , a US $ 25 million renovation and a 2019 ranking as the number one hotel in New York by readers of both Travel + Leisure Condé Nast Traveler into a 12 % jump in combined occupancy and rate . Then COVID-19 hit .
Kuenstle ’ s strategies for managing through a pandemic , as well as his playbook for addressing the longer-term issues constraining the New York market , could be a blueprint for how the luxury sector will evolve over the next few years .
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER Job one : Make hotels more bulletproof . “ Managers in the luxury sector need to move from a transactional approach to one of relationship-building ,” says the 51-year-old , German-born Kuenstle , whose CV includes stints at Michelin-starred restaurants and 5-star hotels in Europe , along with Plaza Athénée and The Pierre , a Taj Hotel , in New York . The Lowell retained room service when coronavirus-related regulations shuttered its F & B outlets and instituted a “ forgiving ” cancellation policy as well .
“ Sure , there was a short-term hit . But it was worth it to maintain our customer relationships over the long haul ,” Kuenstle says . “ When this pandemic is over and fear about the virus subsides ,
26 hotelsmag . com May 2020