Worldhotels, has achieved significant progress in implementing…
Worldhotels, has achieved significant progress in implementing new initiatives and hitting key targets in 2005. A successful year 2005 to date, has resulted from major projects including the launch of the new Worldhotels brand identity in January, strategy focusing on growing the Asian market and particularly China as well as improving distribution and member services, such as the launch of its own GDS Chain Code, WW, and the presentation of its training product, Worldhotels.training in July.
Over the entire portfolio, the company has achieved growth of five percent, up to 498 members, in 2005 through the end of September.
China has been a key focus for the company which has resulted in four new member hotels in China this year, bringing the total hotel portfolio for Greater China to 25. The new member hotels in China this year were the Seagull Hotel Shanghai which joined the First Class Collection in May, the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Hong Kong which joined as a First Class Collection member in July, The Loong Palace Beijing (formerly the Crowne Plaza North Beijing) which joined in August as a Deluxe Collection member, and the Richwood Garden Hotel Dongguan which will join as a Deluxe Collection member next month.
Earlier this month Worldhotels held its first General Manager’s Summit for China Hotels at the Garden Hotel Guangzhou, at which a white paper on cross-marketing initiatives between the member hotels in China was agreed. An industry first, the initiative aims to assist member hotels to fully exploit the great opportunities presented by the current boom in business travel to China, and includes such co-operative ventures as cross-selling for groups and MICE business, joint advertising, creating regional collateral and brochures and joint regional training for member hotels in the China region.
Another important initiative to grow business in the China Market is Worldhotels announcement that rates for all its member hotels in mainland China will be posted in RMB for the first time effective January 2006.
The company has enjoyed significant progress this year so far, with its successful strategy for the Asia market resulting in an expansion to 81 member properties and revenue uplift of over 18 percent through the end of September. This focus will continue into 2006 and to embrace the high potential for travel and tourism in the Asian market, Worldhotels will be introducing a Japanese website in January 2006. Additionally the global hotel group has further strengthened its position in the EMEA region, growing to 349 member hotels and with a revenue uplift of almost eleven percent.
Globally, the Average Room Rate worldwide increased by over four percent. Year-end-figures are expected to reflect the current trend with forecasted generated rooms revenue and the hotel portfolio to reach over 500 with a total inventory of more than 100,000 rooms.
Worldhotels’ focus on increasing incentives and group bookings as well as the promotion of its meetings product, Worldhotels.events, launched in March 2004, has led to a growth of 65 percent, and demanded room nights at over 362,000 through to end of September in the groups and meetings sector, with America showing a successful growth of 51 percent.
Worldhotels’ growth reflects the successful implementation of a number of major initiatives. In January the company launched its new brand identity, positioning it as a global hotel group, and embarked on a major global strategy for 2005, which included PR and advertising campaigns across key markets, to increase awareness of its new brand amongst the travel trade, hoteliers and consumers. This was followed by the launch in July of its own GDS Chain Code WW for independent member properties as part of the Worldhotels Master Chain Code EW, Exclusive Worldhotels, the gateway for travel agents to Worldhotels’ entire portfolio. The launch of the WW code was one of the final pieces in the completion of the Worldhotels brand.
Enhancements in E-Commerce activities and web presence also resulted in Worldhotels` receiving the ‘Standard of Excellence’, in the Web Marketing Association`s WebAwards, the premier International Web Site Award programme. The Awards recognised worldhotels website as a leading site with standards recommended to other corporate websites, following improvements to ensure the site is easily navigated and user friendly, as well as makes information searching and booking a quick and seamless process.
In improving services to its members, Worldhotels launched its pioneering training programme, Worldhotels.training in Summer 2005, providing members with access to the most up-to-date expertise in vital commercial areas such as sales, marketing, distribution as well as revenue and yield management, knowledge not usually made available to independent hotels or small hotel brands.
Worldhotels recently announced the launch of a flexible pricing strategy for 2006, providing consortia and travel management partners with a guarantee of the best, unrestricted rate available. By displaying the best available rates along with Consortia Rates as a ceiling rate via the GDS the company protects its best customers in high demand periods.
A focus on growing strategic partnerships, to increase the number of marketing alliances and frequent flyer partners, has most recently encouraged Malaysia Airlines to partner with Worldhotels from August, taking the total number of airline partners for the group to eleven.
Commenting on the success, Worldhotels` Chief Executive Officer, Michael Ball said: “2005 has been an extremely exciting and innovative year for Worldhotels. Our new brand identity and our fast development are ensuring that we stay ahead of our competitors and are becoming a major force in the marketplace. We have achieved some incredible results for our members this year, boosting room nights, increasing revenue and providing vital support to help business grow. Our focus will continue to provide support for our members while maximising the WORLDHOTELS portfolio. This includes initiatives such as enlarging the resort portfolio which is already paying dividends in the addition of 34 resorts during 2005, recently 14 Steigenberger Resorts, and accounting now for 25 percent of our portfolio.”
