residences ; a Baccarat hotel from SH Hotels & Resorts is under development in the hills of Florence , Italy , and should be ready next year ; it is developing with IAC Investments a Four Seasons in Puglia , Italy ; and a 140- room hotel on Lake Como at the old 285-room Hotel Britannia Excelsior with Bain Capital as its equity partner is about two years out . It has already acquired and sold a development in Amsterdam with a 476-key Radisson and 50 B-aparthotel / apartments .
Chief Operating Officer Guy Heksch says Omnam has two projects in Paris and another in Rome with operator announcements still to come .
In late August , it announced a partnership with Nicosia , Cyprus-based Mohari Hospitality to further develop lifestyle and luxury hospitality products , as well as food and beverage outlets and leisure offerings throughout Europe . The partnership is expected to announce new projects this fall . J . Allen Smith , Mohari ’ s managing partner and former President and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts , joined Omnam ’ s board of directors . Mohari ’ s portfolio includes the Four Seasons and Andaz hotels at Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica , as well as the 1 Hotel Toronto , among other .
Heksch says the group likes to take on more complicated , distressed , often mixed-use deals because they have the financial connections and the know-how on the development side to manage complex conversions . He adds that Omnam always looks at buildings which have rich histories . “ We ’ re looking for what we can really convert , respecting the building ’ s heritage – not trying to dilute the history and bring out the best in it .”
Heksh says designing to budget is really important for Omnam , as is branding , which adds value at the exit .
Driving F & B revenue ( ranging from 30 % to nearly 50 % of revenue ) is also a big part of the Omnam equation , and it tends to license with local F & B talent , working out a plan with the management company to compensate them for this lost revenue . “ It helps us not just from a revenue perspective but also with exposure , as well as the guest experience ,” adds Heksch , who was a long-time F & B executive with Starwood and Marriott . “ We treat it as a business within a business .”
More recently , Omnam has been concentrating on smaller F & B spaces , partially because of labor challenges and to narrowly focus a concept to be very good at one thing . “ We don ’ t want to build any more breakfast buffet rooms ,” Heksch jokes .
AGGRESSIVE DEVELOPER Omnam is very aggressively seeking additional opportunities , looking around the Mediterranean , specifically in Greece , Marbella , Spain , and more in Italy . Heksch could foresee another six to eight deals in the six months , including a couple in Italy ,
WE ARE ABLE TO FIND THE ROUGH STONES AND BRING THE BEST OUT OF IT , MAXIMIZING VALUE WHEN IT COMES TO THE REAL ESTATE . WE ARE CREATIVE THINKER AND KNOW HOW TO BUILD FOR THE RIGHT PRICE , ASSET MANAGE TO GET TO THE RIGHT MARGINS , AND WE ARE VERY DEMANDING AND INVOLVED .
– GUY HEKSCH
October 2022 hotelsmag . com 47