The hotel’ s signature restaurant, Beast & Butterflies, is a modern take on Spanish tapas. |
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opening. Midweek rates start at $ 500 per night.“ We believe there is more to be had.”
TYING IT TOGETHER Millennium Hotels’ guiding principles spring from its chairman, Leng, who controls Millennium through City Developments Limited, a Singaporean multinational real estate company. They are based in growth, entrepreneurship and transformation.“ What we love in our people is the concept of blue-ocean thinking,” Prakash said.“ Blue Ocean Strategy” is a seminal business book published in 2005 that“ at its core” is about focusing on creating new, uncontested market spaces rather than competing in existing, overcrowded ones, so-called
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“ red oceans.” It involves making the competition irrelevant by pursuing value innovation instead. It’ s also part of Millennium’ s ethos.
“ Our teams are guided by it,” Prakash said.“ It is the difference between an owner / operator and a management brand.” The latter, he said, are focused on process and procedure. An owner / operator is guided by“ transformation thinking,” he said.
Millennium is an owner and operator and currently has a portfolio of 150 hotels worldwide, 70 of which Millennium owns outright, the others mostly through franchise agreements, predominantly in the Middle East. Much of its growth is predicated on acquisitions rather than
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ground-up development.“ Our growth will not be hundreds of hotels every year. It may be five or 10,” Prakash said.
Millennium currently operates 12 brands, from the luxury Biltmore to a soft brand called Leng’ s Collection, paying homage to its chairman and similar to a Marriott Autograph Collection, Prakash said. The Bostonian Hotel in Boston, The Knickerbocker in Chicago and The Bailey’ s Hotel London are examples.“ These are recognized by our customers as independent hotels,” he said.
There are five current Biltmore properties, highlighted by a property in London’ s Mayfair and The Biltmore Los Angeles, a storied property that dates back to 1923. Its
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lifestyle bucket consists of M Social, Studio M, M Socialite and Millennium Place. Other verticals include Premium, Comfort and Long Stay.
Prakash likes to say that Millennium has hotels from Anchorage to Auckland, which, beyond its cute alliteration, illustrates its breadth of product.“ Millennium is a nimble, solution-oriented operator, poised for growth,” Prakash said.
Its loyalty program, My Millennium, currently totals four million members, with its largest bloc consisting of Middle Eastern members. Prakash noted that 80 % of all Millennium bookings come through its loyalty members.“ The program really resonates with members,” he said.
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66 hotelsmag. com November 2025 |