Skift Travel News Blog

One of the most prominent general managers in Dubai, Tolga Lacin, is leaving his post. The Marriott leader is moving on for a role in Ennismore.

Lacin led some of Marriott’s flagship destinations in the emirate, including The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi, the long-standing Le Meridien Dubai by the airport, and the newest W Dubai. He has been Marriott’s area general manager in Dubai since 2020 and its complex GM before that since 2019.

He will now become COO for Ennismore’s lifestyle brands in UAE and Turkey. In the UAE, Ennismore has 25hours, SLS, Hyde and a new SO in Dubai, while in Abu Dhabi, it will open a Mondrian hotel. In Turkey, the operator is expected to open the Hyde Bodrum resort next year.

In total, he leads 14 hotels either in development or operational. Ennismore has eight pipelined hotels in the region, including a Delano in Dubai.

Lacin shared: “I’ve long admired what Ennismore has been doing in both the UAE and globally, and I’m delighted to be joining the team at such a pivotal moment in their growth. I look forward to working across such varied and iconic global brands such as SLS, 25hours, and SO/, and supporting our general managers and hotel teams to continue to deliver outstanding service and experience to our guests.”

Before becoming Marriott’s area GM, Lacin was a Starwood man. He has been with the original Westin and Le Meridien Mina Seyahi cluster in the city since 2009.

He will leave Marriott for his new role with Ennismore in early 2024.

Ennismore, the lifestyle hospitality group, said on Thursday it’s in exclusive talks for “a long-term partnership” with Cain, a privately held investment firm, to scale the hotel brand Delano worldwide.

The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the proposed deal. French giant Accor has a majority shareholding in Ennismore.

Under the plan, Cain — which has $15 billion assets under management — would get a minority stake in the Delano brand and give unspecified help to Ennismore in its development pipeline, which includes planned Delano openings in Seoul, Istanbul, and Cartagena. Cain’s capital would also fuel the renovation of the original, flagship Delano property in the Art Deco district of Miami’s South Beach, and also fuel the growth of the sister brand Maison Delano.

Cain has a history with the Delano. In November 2020, it took over the strategic repositioning of 1685 Collins Avenue, formerly known as The Delano South Beach, to eventually bring it back as a 194-room Delano.

It has a history with Accor, too. Between 2016 and 2018, Cain International helped SBE Entertainment Group finance and institutionalize their business and acquire Morgans Hotel Group. Then Cain sold its stake in the $1 billion of assets (including brands like SLS Hotel & Residences, Delano, Mondrian) to Accor.

Cain is best known for last year joining Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a $900 million in Aman Group, the ultra-luxury resort brand. Other past investments have included the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the Raffles in Boston.

Cain — led by CEO and co-founder Jonathan Goldstein — has also done hotel deal and development work involving brands such as Raffles, Six Senses, and the Rosewood Hotel Group and has a host of other leisure businesses, such as the Swingers Crazy Golf chain.

Mondrian Singapore Duxton, a 302-room luxury hotel, has seen its opening delayed by a couple of months. The Straits Times has a fun profile by Louisa Lim of all the frenzy behind-the-scenes in how the joint venture by hotel group Accor and lifestyle brand builder Ennismore aims to get the five-star hotel just right.

An interview with Robert Hauck, the hotel’s general manager, explains how the brand — founded in 1996 by Ian Schrager and featured in the TV series Entourage and songs by rapper 50 Cent — needed to be customized for the local market, such as by obtaining art from Singaporean artists like illustrator Andre Wee.

To make the property a local hit, the manager has hired celebrated talents to lead the house restaurants Christina’s and Canyon Club. These include the 39-year-old Jacquelyn Yvonne Chan, a former Olympian for Malaysia, and the 59-year-old Lim Tow Seng, a tattoed ex-convict whose life has been documented on TV. A fun detail:

“Mr Hauck had vowed to track down “Ah Seng” after spotting him on German television. It took him three months to locate the 59-year-old at his workplace, a bak kut teh shop, and offer him a job.”
He reminisces about the moment: “Ah Seng was very shy and very reluctant. I asked why and he said, ‘I’m afraid… You know, I’m afraid people will look down on me.'”
Today, Ah Seng is the manager for Bistro 126, the hotel’s staff restaurant, and a walking poster child for Mondrian Singapore. “He practically ignited the whole campaign for us,” says Mr Hauck.

— Louisa Lim, for The Straits Times

The article echos themes about how lifestyle and luxury hotels need to emphasize locally-relevant and distinctive offerings and create experiences to talk about that were discussed in this video by Ennismore Founder Sharan Pasricha at Skift Global Forum 2022.

Subscribers can read the Straits Times article on Mondrian Singapore Duxton here.

As announced in mid-2022, Accor is now in the process of reorganizing its operational structure into two divisions, the hotel group stated Tuesday.

Deputy Group CEO Jean-Jacques Morin heads the executive committee and serves as CEO of the Premium, Midscale and Economy division, taking in brands such as ibis, Novotel, Mercure, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, and Pullman. Accor structured the unit around four regions: the Americas; Europe and North Africa; Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Asia Pacific, and Greater China.

Group Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin leads the Luxury and Lifestyle division, serving as the division’s CEO. This division includes Raffles & Orient Express; Fairmont; Sofitel MGallery & Emblems, and Ennismore.

“Accor’s new organization is now being implemented progressively throughout the first quarter of the year depending on local legislations, particularly regarding the obligations to consult staff representatives,” the company stated. “The new structure will allow the Group to accelerate growth and better address market developments, deliver the highest possible levels of service for all its stakeholders, facilitating accurate and effective fulfilment of guest needs and expectations, and providing clarity and performance to its partners.”

The reorganization brings to the fore the possibility of divestitures, Skift reported in July.

The restructuring of Accor’s operations was originally pegged to take place October 1, 2022.

The following excerpt is from today’s edition of Daily Lodging Report, a subscription newsletter.

The Hoxton is set to expand its global community, with seven hotels lined up to open in some of Europe’s key cities by early 2024.

The Hoxton will open its fourth London hotel in Shepherd’s Bush this December, followed by a huge 18 months with openings in Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Edinburgh, Vienna and Dublin.

The hotels are:

• Shepherd’s Bush with 237 rooms
• Brussels, opening spring 2023 with 198 rooms
• Amsterdam, opening in spring 2023, the second property in the Eastern Docklands district, will offer 136 rooms
• Berlin, opening in summer 2023 with 234 rooms;
• the 211-room Edinburgh property is opening in the summer 2023;
• Vienna will be opening in late 2023 with 196 rooms;
• …and opening in 2024 in Dublin with 129 rooms.

For context on The Hoxton’s parent brand Ennismore, co-owned by Accor, see this video from last month’s Skift Global Forum.

Roch Ventures, a European venture capital fund with Boston Consultant Group ties, announced that Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs, Ennismore Brand Chief Operating Officer Chadi Farhat, and former Air France Executive Vice President Amel Hammouda have joined the fund’s board of directors.

Bobby Demri, former Boston Consulting Group software innovation director, and Ludger Kuebel-Sorger, senior partner emeritus at Boston Consulting Group, co-founded the fund in January. It aims to make euro 100 million ($102 million) worth of investments in tourism and hospitality companies over the next few years with a focus on European tech and sustainability.

The fund is eyeing seed stage and Series A investments in Europe. It soon plans to open offices in Tel Avis and Frankfurt.

Saudi Arabia’s tourism development fund said it would help invest in the building of lifestyle hotels in the kingdom through a new hotel investment fund worth $400 million (1.5 billion Saudi riyals) that Al Rajhi Capital will manage.

Ennismore, a lifestyle hospitality joint venture with Accor, will pinpoint locations, provide financing options, and lead the development and operation of these projects, which will create about 2,000 hotel rooms.

Ennismore didn’t specify which of its 14 brands — which includes 25hours, The Hoxton, Delano, Gleneagles, Mama Shelter, Mondrian, Morgans Originals, and 21c Museum Hotel — will appear in the kingdom.

Saudi’s tourism development fund (TDF), created in 2020, has $4 billion to drive tourism growth in the kingdom.

Ennismore was founded by co-CEO Sharan Pasricha, who will be speaking at Skift Global Forum in New York.