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a fine line between maximizing every potential profit per square foot in a space like that and then also making it unique and interesting enough that people walk away and remember it ,” Deitemeyer says .
ROAD AHEAD Omni also continues to disprove the prevailing wisdom that bigger , full-service hotel development is all but dead in the U . S .
It has succeeded with its thoroughly locally curated hotel in Nashville and has big plans for a 600-room hotel in Louisville , where the deal with the city includes the construction of a grocery store – but it won ’ t be white-labeled . Instead , the Omni team is all in with an upscale grocery complete with a breakfast buffet , seven live hocker stations and even an old food truck going directly inside the store . “ We have lots of corporations that just travel with us and are excited about Louisville opening because that ’ s the next place that they can go because no one really is building these big hotels anymore ,” Deitemeyer says . “ And they ’ re fun to be in .”
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Omni is also part of the master development that includes a 1,200-room hotel in New Orleans , as well as mixed-use developments near new sports and leisure facilities in Atlanta and Frisco , Texas . Deitemeyer says there are another eight construction projects being reviewed .
“ Our goal is to re-deploy money into the space ,” he says . “ We like the space and the family likes the space . What that means for us really depends on opportunities … I sat in a meeting with Bob [ Rowling ] the other day and he wants to double our earnings , which means we ’ re going to continue to be opportunistic .”
At the same time , Omni ’ s still relatively new Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Sales Peter Strebel has put together a new team and in June introduced
The Omni hotel opening next summer in Frisco , Texas , will serve as a cornerstone of The Star , which will be anchored by the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and the Ford Center at The Star .
a marketing plan that includes the first mass media advertising campaign in a long time for Omni , mainly because after its acquisition of five KSL resort properties in mid-2013 it has many more leisure customers to keep informed . “ We have a very high-end customer , so we ’ re doing a pretty large print marketing campaign with upscale magazines such as Food & Wine , Bon Appetit and Esquire … We are also going heavy into radio through Pandora and Spotify ,” Strebel says .
He is also putting more emphasis on social media and user-generated content . With only 60 hotels , Omni must develop a voice that resonates with customers better than distribution . “ We have to feed social media , but ultimately we want the actual end-user to do social for us ,” Strebel adds .
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“ By creating a really unique experience and exposing people to something different , they will be the ones posting all the social content and then it ’ s much more authentic than if I film a movie and post it .”
Better yet , Strebel says data suggests if consumers look at user-generated content it has the highest conversion rate of anything on the Omni website . “ If they ’ re into those kind of pictures , 23 % eventually book a room ,” Strebel says , adding that data also shows when businesses respond to what millennials do or post ,
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they become more loyal to that business .
In the meantime , Deitemeyer and his team are sticking to their success plan and taking care of their people who interact with the guests .
While it wasn ’ t publicized , Deitemeyer says during a big company anniversary celebration last year , Omni gave out US $ 6 million to 3,000 associates with at least five years of experience and making less than US $ 50,000 annually . It was unexpected , he adds , but that is what you might expect from a company that marches to its own beat .
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October 2016 hotelsmag . com 17 |