SYDNEY — Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels, paints himself as a “deal-closer.”
“I don’t like to chase deals, I like to close deals, which is really important because you can chase hundreds of [them], but then it’s the ability to close … and it’s also the ability to be really fast and think differently in terms of closing [them],” Rajakarier said at the recent Hotel Investment Conference Asia-Pacific Australia New Zealand.
Minor Hotels' portfolio extends across 530 hotels and resorts in six continents. Rajakarier said this one skill is a huge part of the company's success.
At the conference, he announced the arrival of Minor Hotels' NH Hotels brand in Australia. The company recently signed a new-build hotel at Sydney’s international airport that will open in 2026.
Rajakarier said his approach to closing deals is mostly the same: do it as quickly as possible.
“Sometimes people are scared, but even during COVID we were closing deals. People said, 'you are crazy.' And I said, 'No, this company needs to grow. And we need to grow in a sustainable way.' And every crisis creates an opportunity, [which the pandemic] did,” he said.
Dave Baswal, CEO of Hong Kong-based Ovolo Hotels, said it’s important to stay small, at least “to some extent.”
“And small is not about just the size of the organization. Small is not the way we think, and the scale. Small is about keeping an independent asset unique and keeping that experience linked and focused within that smaller region,” he said.
Baswal said being “small” does not mean expansion is not possible, but that it has more to do with “keeping the brand independent.”
“We’re very opportunistic at the same time. If we find the right partner with the right growth strategies to go into the market and open new hotels, we’re not afraid of that opportunity. But at the same time, we’re not really putting a number in front of us, that we have to be that size at that point. What’s important to us is to continue creating unique independent experiences one at a time,” he added.
For Rajakarier, investments in new assets are about taking a leap of faith.
“Sometimes, you just need to have that gut feeling, [to] have that tenacity and the courage to do it. And take ownership. And say, if this was my money, what would I do with it?” he said.
Minor acquired NH Hotels in 2018, which Rajakarier said has “taken the company to a different level and made it a truly global company.”
“It’s really important that Minor and NH never overlap in one country. That was really key to us,” he said.
Minor owns 85% of NH’s assets.
“We have an ownership mindset. We don’t have a management mindset,” Rajakarier said.
Owner-operator Ovolo has approximately a dozen hotels spread between Australia, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Baswal described his relationship with Ovolo founder Girish Jhunjhnuwala as somewhat “yin and yang.”
“I have a lot of say, but he throws us out of our comfort zone, which I love. We came to Australia seven years ago. We now have eight hotels in Australia, [and] we just got into Bali, which is another very different product … but at the same time while working with Girish to create new concepts, we’ve managed to tie all of these independent hotels into a collective and into Ovolo Hotel’s mindset,” he said.
Food and beverage experiences are essential to the group, Baswal said.
“At some point, I will be able to take those concepts and replicate and multiply, but that would require investment in the business. At the moment we are a very independent lifestyle brand, and we plan to remain that way for a short period of time,” he said.
Baswal added Ovolo wants to diversify its portfolio through management deals, but it isn’t proving easy.
“Many of our assets are mature. We do need to diversify and find alternate ways to grow. So, we just started looking into management opportunities. We are talking to a few developers, builders and partners who have either a building or who have an asset, a mixed-use building property that currently requires refurbishment, and it’s very hard in this market to actually make those investments,” he said.
Ovolo’s strength was in “refurbishing and repositioning,” Baswal said. Now, its strength is exploring “new markets with the right partners.”
“What we’ve done really well in the period is that we’ve value-added assets. We bring that refurbishment and repositioning expertise, which pushes a midscale hotel into upscale and upper-upscale territory, and actually played it well in the portfolio. We’re definitely keen to start working with the right investor market. It’s in that key category of 80 to 200 rooms [that] we think we can create something,” he said.
Baswal said Ovolo has just sold the 50-room The Inchcolm by Ovolo in Brisbane for 25 million Australian dollars ($16.06 million) to an Indonesian family.
“We will be managing that asset. We have a couple of other assets for sale at the moment,” he said.
Baswal reiterated his desire to keep his brands feeling independent, and that includes this newly sold hotel.
“[To] have that freedom for expression and to control the destiny of the asset. But we’re definitely looking for [joint ventures], opportunities and asset ownership cycles,” he added.
Trust in Teams
Rajakarier said food and beverage and new concepts are equally important to Minor.
“Most hotels don’t do [food and beverage] well, so we brought it into the hotel. In Europe, we have about 13 Michelin Star chefs. ... [And] we have timeshare, which is another add-on to the mixed-use business, and that’s how you maximize your profit per square meter on every land space you have. We’ve been bringing in new concepts all of the time,” he said.
To do any or all of this requires the best teams of employees, Rajakarier added.
“Employ someone who is better than you. It’s really important to lead a team and be passionate,” he said.
Trust and transparency are essential, “because your team needs to believe in you,” Rajakarier said.
“The industry needs to do more about really attracting talent,” he added.
Baswal said “a high level of trust” also is the solution in retaining staff.
“We attract a lot, and we have a very big pool to draw from. We just don’t retain the talent. And that’s our biggest issue. People find a way into the hospitality industry. It’s easy to get into, but it’s also very easy to get out of,” Baswal said.
On another panel at the conference, Sarah Derry, Accor’s CEO for premium, midscale and economy brands in the Pacific, said the industry needs to address not only a skill shortage, but a less-skilled workforce.
“The difference this time around is the skill level of the individuals that are coming into the industry. It requires more investment from us, more training. That’s the challenge at the moment.”