SYDNEY—Helping hotel owners realize their dreams is as important as providing the experiences guests are searching for—and the two ambitions often go hand in hand, according to veteran hotelier Gavin Faull.
Faull, a fifth-generation New Zealander who owns Hong Kong-based hotel management company Swiss-Belhotel International, said during a break at the recent Hotels World event that “being real” is the most important ingredient for success in a sea of brands with endless similarities.
“One problem with the hotel industry is it has gotten a little bit plastic, it has gotten a little bit boring,” Faull said. “I try and bring the family element down into the people. I talk about passion and professionalism, which are key words to my staff. They may be professional and do things perfectly, but if they’ve got no passion, it’s boring. That’s really what we want to bring back.”
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Gavin Faull |
Family has become more important than ever for Faull, who joined Swiss-BelHotel in 1990 and has owned it for the past 17 years. He also serves as chairman and president of the company.
“My three sons have joined me, which is interesting as they’re not hoteliers—they’re engineers and IT specialists and distribution specialists and financial specialists,” Faull said. “They’re professional and they tell you how it’s going. … We have some ‘very robust discussions’ as they say.”
The company has been located in Hong Kong since its inception in 1987, and Faull said it was a no-brainer to keep it there after he acquired it in 1999.
“Hong Kong is a great launching pad, and China is so important,” Faull said. “Everyone finds out with China it’s not so easy. I had my corporate structure in Hong Kong because it’s very easy to operate for banking, from taxation, everything else, and it has good visibility.”
Swiss-Belhotel has regional operations and development offices in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and United Arab Emirates.
The company is a straight hotel management company that manages hotels on behalf of owners and investors. It manages 140 hotels and resorts in 20 countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Australia, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia.
“We’re very strong in Asia, we’re strong in Indonesia, which is huge,” Faull said. “We’ve been there for 20 years. China still has growth but it’s hard for a small company in China (and) India. I’ve just been to the Middle East. I’ve got 10, 15 projects there.”
Swiss-Belhotel’s Middle East pipeline includes projects under development in Saudi Arabia, Amman and Iraq. The company recently signed contracts with six hotels in Jordan.
“It’s really moving fast,” he said.
But he is looking closer to home for the majority of Swiss-Belhotel’s growth.
“Asia is still the biggest opportunity because it’s such a huge population base—I’m looking at Cambodia, I’m looking in Malaysia, Vietnam,” Faull said. “But those are developing their infrastructure, which is critical to tourism growth. Infrastructure is a challenge.”
Faull said having 250 hotels by 2030 is a good goal for the company.
“That will help me grow more distribution and my team,” he said. “When I bought the company I thought if I could have 20 or 30 hotels life would be sweet. The market just keeps asking for more. It’s great to be wanted.”
Faull and his family know a little about longevity in a particular market—the family farm in New Zealand has been in the family since 1867 and what it has evolved into is a source of pride for the entire clan, he said.
“In my spare time I’ve developed that to 1,500 cows and 1,000 acres,” Faull said. “It’s a modern dairy farm, computerized. It functions just a little bit different. But it is a wonderful feeling to carry on the heritage.”
A family of brands
Swiss-Belhotel International operates 14 brands: Grand Swiss-Belhotel; Grand Swiss-Belresort; Swiss-Belhotel; Swiss-Belresort; Swiss-Belresidences; Swiss-Belvillas; Swiss-Belsuites; Swiss-Belboutique; Swiss-Belinn; Swiss-Belcourt; Swiss-Belexpress; Zest Hotel Plus; Zest Hotel; and Zest Hotel OK.
“Swiss-Belhotel is our core brand, and I change the back end of the brand depending on the product, whether it’s residence apartments or express or Swiss-Belhotel,” Faull said.
It’s the new Zest brand, which Faull refers to as “a two-star, fast-moving hotel” that provides many opportunities for growth, he said.
“That’s where the business is going these days,” Faull said. “We’ve seen the growth of the budget airlines. Seventy-five percent of the world is in the limited-service brand in the lower income bracket. And these people are now traveling because airfares are so cheap. So there’s a huge, huge opportunity for brands that reach that audience.”
That opportunity envelopes Zest, which launched in March 2015, he said.
“Zest is open in Indonesia to develop the brand, and now we’re looking at taking it to Australia and then to parts of Europe,” Faull said. “We’re looking at construction techniques to make it efficient and economical—not pre-fab totally but some sort of pod.
“It’s the (construction) cost, and it also brings down your labor cost and operational costs,” he added. “We know what a person wants. We know they want good beds, good TV, good communication. We’re just trying to keep the cost down but also making it sustainable, environmentally friendly and all the important elements.”
A new type of traveler
The most appealing aspects of such construction and design focus on cost control and connectivity, Faull said. Technology driven by mobile phone platforms is the end game.
“They just want a system that they can plug into,” he said.
Faull said Zest’s target market is educated millennial travelers who are plugged into the mobile experience.
“These days, they would prefer to spend $30 on a hotel room and $40 on a bottle of wine because they appreciate the nicer things, the luxuries in life,” Faull said. “Thirty years ago, people spent more on the hotel room than they did on enjoying food and beverage.”
A sustainable approach, including simple showers and limited food-and-beverage options, is among Zest’s calling cards, according to Faull.
“We provide the things so they don’t feel trapped in their hotels—the hotel’s just part of the day, and they can get out and enjoy what they want to do,” Faull said, adding that center-city locations are among its primary targeted locations.
That type of offering is also appealing to owners and developers, who often are looking for cost-effective managers that can provide reasonable financial returns even in a no-frills environment, Faull said.
Faull prefers for Swiss-Belhotel to remain strictly a management company, although he has done a few deals involving leases.
“I’m managing his business and I take a percentage of his fees on the top and the bottom,” Faull said. “Of course, the pressure is profit guarantees, performance guarantees and performance clauses.”