Global Update
On HOTELSMag . cOM
IntervIew :
FRHI ’ S aggRESSIvE gROwTH pLanS
Jennifer Fox was promoted to president , international , for FRHI Hotels & Resorts , Toronto , a year ago , while remaining president of the Fairmont brand . Under her leadership the company has pledged to grow its portfolio by 50 % over the next five years , primarily outside North America .
“ We have a different strategy for each of our brands ,” Fox told HOTELS . “ Raffles will always be a smaller brand . Today we have 11 Raffles hotels . We expect that brand is going to double its size over the next five years . For Raffles , our strategy is to be in mega-cities and key resort locations . With
Read the full interview : http :// hotelsm . ag / 1nj2lCo the Fairmont brand , we ’ re at 70 hotels going to about 100 . We want Fairmont in major cities around the world and resort locations . With our Swissotel brand , our biggest portfolio is in Europe , and we ’ re growing steadily in Asia . We see a lot of opportunities to grow our Swissotel brand , which is currently 45 hotels open or under development .”
Jennifer Fox bloG : wILL FacEbOOk REpLacE TRIpadvISOR ?
Facebook has been steadily rolling out review features similar to what TripAdvisor offers with its Facebook Reviews . HOTELSMag . com blogger Benji Greenberg , co-founder and CEO of hotel social media marketing firm
Benji Greenberg
BCV , Chicago , wrote in a recent blog post that
Read the full interview : http :// hotelsm . ag / 1twgpK7 this could be a game changer .
“ With a massive , active user base ( more than 800 million daily users ), Facebook has the potential to seriously threaten TripAdvisor and other niche review sites ,” Greenberg writes . “ That ’ s before even mentioning mobile , where Facebook ’ s 600 million daily mobile users far exceeds TripAdvisor ’ s 100 million total app downloads .”
IntervIew :
THInk ’ S FRESH TakE On LIFESTyLE
Lifestyle hospitality owner-operator Think Hotel Group , Miami Beach , run by three lifelong friends from New York City , has opened its first hotel in New York City as well as two hotels on one block of Miami Beach and plans to open two more on the same block .
“ By owning properties next to each other , we can offer amenities others can ’ t ,” Shawn Vardi , Think Hotel Group president and COO , told HOTELS . “ A 52-key boutique hotel couldn ’ t offer two restaurants normally , but we can offer four restaurants and two pools . Not having the flag gives us freedom . We can change and respond more quickly to the market , especially since we also own the properties .”
Read the full interview : http :// hotelsm . ag / 1qvvkCz
Shawn Vardi
18 HOTELS September 2014 www . hotelsmag . com