BERLIN — Sharan Pasricha, founder and co-CEO of Ennismore, said Ennismore's 14 hotel brands must remain relevant, authentic and creative, as well as have a sense of mission and purpose.
Having those attributes in place has been a draw to guests, especially leisure ones with a pent-up demand to travel.
“We’ve not been immune to challenges … but lifestyle, specifically, has rebounded a lot quicker,” Pasricha said during a video interview with Hotel News Now at the International Hotel Investment Forum.
But Pasricha said Ennismore, which is a division of Accor, needs to be constantly tweaking its 14 hotel brands to keep them relevant to customers.
He said 40% to 60% of Ennismore’s revenue comes from food and beverage, and a high percentage of it comes from locals.
That creativity and innovation come from within via several in-house studios of creatives, and Ennismore's sales teams are proficient at driving direct bookings from guests, Pasricha said.
“Engineers, folks focused on product and innovation, all about driving our guests straight to our brand.com websites," he said. "So, we already have a disproportionate share of guests that come to our brand.com, and hotels like The Hoxton are challenged now to try and continue that across all of our brands."
Pasricha said other teams set up in-house are called Carte Blanche and the Partnerships Lab.
Carte Blanche is for “restaurateurs, mixologists, creatives, and this is a team that obsesses in making sure that all of our public spaces across all our hotels remain relevant," he said. "And in doing so they partner with incredible chefs, incredible restaurant operators, conceive in-house brands to make sure our public spaces that predominantly speak to a local demographic, or locals in the area, remain relevant."
He said the Partnerships Lab was formed to ensure the firm is always aligned with global brands making a push in hospitality and other sectors.
Even though Ennismore is a division of Accor, Pasricha said each of Ennismore's brands are allowed to be themselves. Accor has even retained most of the leaders behind the vision of the brands it has acquired or invested in.
“Key to our success is making sure every one of our hotel brands is distinguished, is authentic, is relevant, has a purpose, and we want to make sure that not only that our brands are distinguished from one another, but they are distinguished adequately from their competitors,” he added.
He said there always is tension between scale and authenticity.
“We have to make sure that we are always on that fine line. Of course, we want to build a global business. We have 100 operating hotels today and close to 200 in the pipeline,” he said.
For more of Pasricha’s insight and comments, watch the video interview above.