LONDON—Langham Hospitality Group is setting its sights beyond London and banking on growth in China and Europe as Robert A. Warman settles in as CEO.
The real push is in China, with 18 properties opened or in development or construction and including Eaton Luxe and Eaton Smart properties, two
Eaton sub-brands. The company, under the direction of former Capella Hotel Group COO and President Warman, also has plans to quietly grow its portfolio in Europe. Warman, who officially started Monday replacing Brett Butcher, was not available for comment prior to deadline.
K.S. Lo, LHG’s executive chairman, said in a news release that Warman is “ideally qualified to lead the company and drive innovation in these next stages of growth and expansion.”
New hotels for China include Langham Hotels in Datong, Hainan and Haining City in 2014, Qingdao in 2015 and Dalian in 2016, as well as an Eaton Luxe in Qingdao in 2014, said Duncan Palmer, managing director of the Langham, London and VP, Europe.
“As we develop the European portfolio, our established connections in China will be influential in driving Chinese travelers to Europe,” he said, adding the company also is looking at other Asian countries, with LHG even considering a further brand in the region.
“There are also cities in China where we can develop and drive rate. We’re not interested in franchises, but management contracts are acceptable with the right partner who understands the brand,” Palmer added.
LHG is the parent of a portfolio including Langham, Langham Place and Eaton. Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings is the parent of LHG. In North America, LHG has five properties, including the recently opened The Langham, Chicago, and Eaton Place, Toronto, while in the Eastern hemisphere, not including China, it has five properties scattered in Australia, India, Indonesia and New Zealand.
European growth
In Europe, the company’s portfolio is The Langham, London—flagship of Langham Hotels and Resorts. The London property opened in 1865, and even though the property has not always been in the Langham stable (for example, the BBC once owned it, and Hilton Worldwide once ran it), it hardly has been all-guns-blazing in Europe.
The Europe strategy, according to Palmer, will be a “quiet one, three to five hotels in the next three to five years.”
“We are cautious but quietly aggressive,” he, said. “We believe in real estate, but it must be well thought out.
“We punch above our weight in the luxury market, which is moving towards where we sit, and in the case of our London and American properties, as well as some others, we own 100%, so we have the luxury of taking our time and buying cleverly,” Palmer added.
London leveraging
Understanding and catering to Chinese travelers is not the only push benefitting from new LHG energy. The London hotel is again being revamped, which most likely will point to how new product in other European countries might look.
In the last decade, The Langham, London, introduced its Infinity Suite and transformed the lobby, which, Palmer said, was an “£80 million ($133 million) investment on budget, on time and on quality and brings a huge degree of assuredness.”
The next step is unveiling five or six new suites measuring more than 4,000 square feet with an expected daily rate of between £12,000 ($19,938) and £15,000 ($24,923). The room count has been above 425 but today stands at 380. The London property’s Langham Club Lounge also will be enlarged.
“Our metric is to look at earnings per square meter,” Palmer added.