NEW YORK—A fledgling Hong Kong-based branding, development and management company is looking directly to Asia, the Americas and the Middle East to establish a footprint attractive to consumers interested in high-end boutique hotels.
“We want to be in markets where there are cultural innovations,” said Yvonne Choi, chief development officer-Americas and global head of residential for Cachet Hotel Group, during a break at the recent NYU International Hospitality Investment Conference. “Markets where there is a shortage of lifestyle hotels.
“Our guests have a finer appreciation for design, food-and-beverage, nightlife, the convenience of mobility and technology,” she added. “Our projects reflect that.”
Cachet’s brands include Cachet Deluxe in the luxury segment; Cachet Beach, Cachet Boutique and URBN Hotels & Resorts in the upper-upscale segment; R Hotels in the upscale segment; and Savant Hotels in the upper-midscale segment.
Cachet has three hotels open:
- Cachet Boutique in Shanghai, China, which opened in 2014 with 45 hotel rooms;
- URBN Boutique in Shanghai, China, which opened in 2008 with 26 hotel rooms; and
- Westlake Village (California) Inn, a conversion property that originally opened in 1968 and has 141 hotel rooms.
“We currently own two of our projects,” she said. “We like management. We like to align ourselves with an owner with sliver equity or key money.”
Choi said developers and owners that are visionaries and pioneers fit into Cachet’s target market. Its pipeline includes projects in Mumbai; Guangzhou, China; Taiwan; Phuket, Thailand; Koh Samui, Thailand; Bali, Indonesia; Hawaii; Toronto; and Boston. Target markets include Beijing, Tokyo, Macau, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Miami, Cancun and Mexico City.
Choi described the company as a global lifestyle hospitality branding company that includes hotels, resorts, residences, food-and-beverage outlets, nightlife outlets and technology platforms. Cachet’s focus is on management and franchising agreements, predominantly in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions but with a growing interest in the Middle East thanks to recently signed joint venture with Arjomand Group. Choi said Cachet will franchise its brands when the right opportunities present themselves.
According to Cachet’s website, the company’s value creation formula results in a per-key savings of 40% for hotel developers and 20% better operating margins from outsourcing F&B to recognized brands and lower fixed costs.
Cachet’s pipeline has 29 hotels in development, comprising 4,100 hotel keys and 1,008 branded residences—2,100 of which are signed, under construction, or have an executed letter of intent—scheduled to open through 2019.
Cachet recently announced its expansion into the Americas with flagship property Cachet Corazon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Owned and developed by Cabo Villas Beach Resort and Spa, the project will mark the company’s first resort destination and the official launch of the Cachet Beach brand when it opens in late 2016. The Cachet Deluxe hotel part of the project will open in early 2018.
“(The Cachet Beach brand) is open to a wider band of customers, but we want the experience to be similar to the high energy of the Cachet brand,” Choi said. “It’s about being outside.”
The story began in 2012
Cachet was launched in 2012 after the company took over a hotel in Shanghai and renamed it Cachet Boutique, Choi said. It followed that up with the introduction of the Cachet Deluxe in Bangkok.
Primary executives include founder and chairman Robert Roche, president and CEO Alexander Mirza, and chief creative officer David Laris.
In early 2016, Cachet opened its Americas headquarters in Santa Monica, California. Meredith Gelacak, president of hotel operations–Americas, oversees the office. The company is looking for strong development partners and/or investment funds to launch Savant in the U.S., Choi said.
It has found investment partners elsewhere in the world.
In February, Cachet signed a development agreement with Qingdao Izunco Inn Investment Company to build eight Savant Hotels in Shandong province. The targeted midscale segment is the largest hotel segment in China with $36.3 billion total room revenues in 2015 and has seen the fastest growth with compounded annual growth of 12.5% over the past four years, Cachet announced in a news release. Financial details were not disclosed.
Cachet announced in early June that United Arab Emirates-based Arjomand Group made a strategic investment into Cachet’s enterprise. Financial details were not disclosed.
Through its equity investment, Arjomand Group will receive a minority ownership interest in Catchet Hotel Group and Farooq Arjomand, founding chairman and CEO of Arjomand Group, will be appointed as a member of Cachet’s Advisory Board.
Arjomand Group’s investment will support CHG’s growth as it scales its global operations and broadens Cachet’s footprint in Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, according to a company news release.