Will Kempinski return to India?

Martin R. Smura, Chief Executive Officer Kempinski Hotels and Chairman of the Management Board, shares if India will see the brand anytime soon

Can you explain in detail about the expansion plans of Kempinski, globally?

At Kempinski, we are focusing on ambitious international expansion plans as part of our long-term strategy. Our goal is to operate more than 100 luxury hotels by 2021. In the next 12 months alone, nine new hotels with a total of 1,961 rooms and suites will open: three of them in the Caribbean and one hotel in Tel Aviv, Tbilisi, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Brazzaville and Almaty respectively. And further seven hotels with 2,404 rooms are currently under construction.

Part of the development growth plan is the opening of the very first Kempinski hotel in New-York in partnership with the German 12.18 Investment Group. Originally built in 1927, the property is strategically located in Manhattan’s central and fashionable Midtown East, close to the Rockefeller Center and the Museum of Modern Art, and will go through a total refurbishment before re-opening as the 7 Pines Kempinski Manhattan by the end of 2020.

So far, the Kempinski strategy was based on management contracts. We sell management know-how to hotel owners for a fee. In future, our expansion won’t be only based on management contracts but also on the acquisition of properties in order to leverage our core business of hotel management services to create additional value through real estate. We will only focus on hotel development projects that can deliver the brand promise in terms of product and performance.

Which are the latest innovations in terms of facilities and services at Kempinski hotels worldwide?

At Kempinski, we strive to offer tailored guest experiences. We have launched our guest intelligence tool to better anticipate guest requirements and assure a seamless experience to them. Our guest intelligence tool is combined with our guest messaging hub. We are one of the first hotel

India has high potential for future growth in the hospitality sector. For this, we plan to intensify our efforts to bring Kempinski back to India”

companies to implement globally a consistent, systematic and centralised guest messaging service, and are one of the few to have the WhatsApp business API.

With growing competitiveness in many markets around the world, what are you doing to stay ahead of the competition? Are you also going to consider renovating and revamping old Kempinski properties?

We are a small group compared to the big hospitality players around the world. However, our small size gives us agility and creativity. We play to our strengths, focusing on building relationships with individual owners. We focus on our long-term value strategy, getting each hotel to meet the high expectations of our discerning guests as well as investing massively in our people with training, talent development and education to maintain the highest level of service. When it comes to renovation, we ensure that every hotel has a proper improvement plan in place. We support our owners and investors to stay ahead of the competition and invest in a meaningful and sensible way in their properties.

Which are the top 3 markets for Kempinski. And what is your strategy to attract tourists/ guests from other countries? Is there any particular country/countries you have in mind to tap? Why?

Our top business drivers are 1- China, 2- Germany, 3- USA. Russian and Middle Eastern markets are also important markets for Kempinski. We wish to strengthen our sales capabilities globally to build further awareness about the brand in existing and potential feeder markets as well as pursuing new revenue streams in emerging segments. Today, we have a solid network of sales offices with luxury segment specialists across the globe to further increase brand visibility. We also benefit from excellent commercial partnerships such as ALHI, Virtuoso, Signature and Ensemble on the US market for instance, which allows increasing our brand visibility in this market.

We continue to leverage our cooperation with Global Hotel Alliance as one of its brand members. The alliance provides Kempinski with an additional global network of sales, marketing and distribution across 51 countries. It also gives us access to 16 million members, and thus potential customers, worldwide, through its loyalty programme.

The number of Chinese travellers continues to rise year on year, whether it is inside China or abroad. Kempinski Hotels already benefits from a strong presence and reputation in China and we have a Kempinski hotel in most of the big cities and feeder markets. We also have implemented minimum operational standards to accommodate our guests from China.

India is a growing market to us where we see huge potential for future growth for outbound travellers. Several of our hotels already enjoy a strong wedding business from India. We tapped into the market in 2018 and opened a Global Sales Offices in partnership with Nijhawan Group. Since then, we see very promising results with revenue from the Indian market increasing by 30 per cent.

Kempinski had a long relationship with Leela in India. After the association got split, Kempinski exited the country. Why did it happen?

Kempinski Hotels and Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts enjoyed a fruitful 25-year relationship which helped both companies to considerably increase brand awareness within the country. At the time, both companies had different views on brand positioning in the Indian market.

However, as longstanding members of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), we are still partners, significantly benefiting from the expertise and services delivered by GHA which Kempinski Hotels is a main shareholder of. We very much look forward to further strengthening our collaboration in future.

Are you planning to relaunch the brand in India anytime soon?

India is a very dynamic market and offers enormous potential for future growth in the hospitality sector. Our plans are to intensify our efforts to bring Kempinski back on the Indian sub-continent.

Can you explain some of the distinct features of Kempinski that set it apart?

Kempinski Hotels is the oldest luxury hospitality group in Europe with an authentic story that started more than 120 years ago. We value individuality over uniformity and this is reflected in each of our unique locations as well as in the way we operate and engage with guests, owners and colleagues.

Are there any challenges you want to highlight that you face while operating a luxury hotel chain like Kempinski?

As an independent private luxury group, one of the main challenges we are facing right now is public-listed companies buying out hotel management contracts which are up to renewal, with upfront payments. This is a challenge we faced lately with our recent exits. As a nonpublic listed company, we don’t pursue such a strategy.

We are one of the first hotel companies to implement globally a consistent, systematic and centralised guest messaging service and one of the few to have the WhatsApp business API”