DEVELOPMENT
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess opened in 1987 as part of a master-planned development led by the city to make it a top leisure and golf destination .
Fairmont San Francisco originally opened in 1907 and its interior was heavily damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake .
Willis said . “ But , if ever there ’ s a location that can flick a switch and recover , it ’ s San Francisco .”
He ’ s as optimistic about upcoming Fairmont properties , which include Fairmont Breakers , Long Beach , Calif ., Fairmont Orlando and Fairmont Phoenix , in the U . S .; Fairmont La Paz Puerta Cortés Resort and Residences , Mexico ; Fairmont La Hacienda , Spain and Golden Prague Hotel , a Fairmont Managed Hotel , in Europe ; Fairmont Dubai Skyline and Fairmont Hanoi and Fairmont Port Douglas , Australia , in Asia-Pacific .
Luxury hotels have long build times , as much as three years , depending on site . They are expensive to build and expensive to operate , but , according to Willis , worth the investment . Despite recent travail , luxury hotels have persevered , even thrived . “ If you look at the last 18 months , hotel rates within the luxury segment have been unprecedented ,” Willis said . “ A lot of people have traded up [ in hotels ] after two years of being locked down or unable to travel . They ’ ve got a few extra dollars to spend and if it ’ s $ 100 a night or $ 75 a night , that can take you up a segment .”
STR predicts that luxury segment RevPAR will be up 6.9 % in 2023 , 7.1 % in
2024 and 6.4 % in 2025 . That ’ s the highest growth rate of any segment next to upperupscale .
BUSINESS IS OPEN Willis has also seen a noticeable reemergence in corporate travel , bucking the notion that COVID would obviate the need to go to a physical workplace and , also , cut back the need to travel for business . “ It ’ s returned nicely ,” Willis said . “ There was this ethos that business travel would be no more .”
Consider the workplace at Fairmont . Willis works out of Dubai and when the office was fully reopened in August , there was such demand to come back that corporate actually had to ask for everyone to not all come back at once . “ The office is not dead ,” Willis said . “ I don ’ t really want to work from my kitchen surrounded by three teenagers and my dogs .”
He ’ s also bullish on group business , one of the first segments to drop in the advent of COVID . Group business is normally a high-revenue generator due to the ancillary spend typically associated with this cohort . “ We are doing very well within the group business segment , not least because we have some big [ hotels ] that are able to handle those big events ,” Willis said , pointing to
hotels such as the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess and Fairmont Austin that have the massive infrastructure to accommodate meetings and conferences .
The profile of a Fairmont owner is varied , but all have one thing in common : deep pockets . They differ depending on where the hotel is being built or located and include institutional owners , large funds and high-net-worth individuals — especially in the Middle East .
Willis thinks of Fairmont as a Swiss army knife of hotel brands — able to provide many different experiences . “ It ’ s a mix of things — not one shoe fits all ,” he said . “ We have resort Fairmonts , especially in the Middle East and Asia ; we have a lot of business Fairmonts , especially in Europe and the U . S .; and we have a lot of leisure Fairmonts in the U . S . and Canada . It ’ s a real mixed portfolio and that goes very well with our guest mix .”
All of it helps feed a 60-million strong loyalty program , Accor Live Limitless , which , by its myriad brands , creates a travel ecosystem that extends from traditional hotels to alternative accommodations . Fairmont is one part of the brand machine . “ There ’ s a lot of growth here , there ’ s a lot of opportunity here and the brand is super strong ,” Willis said .
32 hotelsmag . com May 2023