Skift Take
Hotel companies venturing into broader hospitality concepts isn't a new trend, but the rapid growth seen over the last decade is a warning sign to not go overboard. Exclusivity is what makes some of these brands appealing in the first place.
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.
Major hotel brands are increasingly behind offerings that go beyond the business of selling guestrooms. But it’s a lesson in self-control for companies looking to beef up their most luxurious brands.
Companies like Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons boosted their hotel-branded residential offerings in recent years. Four Seasons also offers a private jet service while Rosewood Hotel Group entered the private membership club business earlier this year.
More are likely on the way: The new and incoming CEOs of SH Hotels & Resorts and Standard International, respectively, both told Skift in recent months about a desire to get a bigger footing in the residential sector.
“Hotel companies or lodging companies are now looking to do everything [with] hospitality,” said Gilda Perez-Alvarado, global CEO of JLL Hotels & Hospitality, in an interview with Skift. “That's where the blurring of the lines has happened with residential trying to move closer to hotel and hotel companies saying, ‘We're not just hotel companies. We actually are a hospitality company, and hospitality has different connotations.’”
Hotel-branded residential offerings represent the biggest and fastest-growing example of companies moving into non-guestroom offerings. The number of these type of residences doubled in the last decade with the development of 52,000 units across 370 projects, according to Savills data quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
Accor inked 17 deals for mixed-use hotel and condo projects last year, and leaders at the Paris-based hotel company indicated plans to beat that figure this year. The general industry consensus in the past for building hotels in this manner is that the pre-construction sales from the condo side of the project offered more of a f