Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) passed the 600-hotel mark at the end of last year. To go even further, would you now like to reach the 800 or even 1,000 hotel mark? What would be the right size for your group?
Richard Hyde - It's a question we still find difficult to answer internally. The important thing is not so much quantity as quality that matters to me. But it's nice to see that so many hoteliers and customers love the SLH brand. Without necessarily pursuing a massive growth strategy or diluting our brand, we could easily reach 650 or 700 hotels in two or three years, simply by adding hotels where our customers want us to be.
Where do you see opportunities to add new hotels?
R. H. - In France, where we currently have around forty hotels, including 7 in Paris and 25 on the Côte d'Azur, there are probably a good dozen urban destinations where we could have a presence, such as Marseille and Lille among others. The same applies to other cities in Spain and Germany. We would also like to have more hotels in the United States, in cities like Boston or San Francisco. But the number one destination for our customers is Hawaii. It's there, more than anywhere else, that we'd like to have a hotel. Don't forget that most of the hotels in our top 10 are in seaside destinations Ibiza, Marbella, St. Barths and the Maldives. But we also have great development opportunities in China, where we have 21 hotels and could have many more, as well as in India and Saudi Arabia.
What do business customers mean to Small Luxury Hotels?
R. H. - A third of our hotels are in city centres, another third are country houses and the final third are seaside resorts. So, although it's not necessarily related, I would say that the proportion of business travellers is similar to the number of urban hotels, around 30 %. In addition to the leisure clientele, there is also a good proportion of 'bleisure' travellers. In light of environmental issues, people want to travel less, combining business trips with extended weekends. This is a trend that we are seeing with longer stays.
Is the MICE segment important for SLH?
R. H. - We have a small MICE department. It's not a big business for us, few of our hotels have real meeting facilitiesSome of our hotels, such as the Breidenbacher Hof in Düsseldorf or the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal in Paris, have beautiful rooms. But we do get requests for exclusive events, and many of our hotels can be made private.
One of your group's major news stories is the partnership signed last year with Hilton. Why did you team up with this world leader in the hotel industry?
R. H. - For five years, SLH was a partner of Hyatt. Then they bought Mr. and Mrs. Smith. and wanted to concentrate on this acquisition. So to move on, we entered into a partnership with Hilton. Participation in this programme is optional for our hotels, but we have almost 450 that can be reserved on all Hilton channelsOn Hilton.com, on the app or via the call centre. The 200 million Hilton Honors members can also use their points to stay for free. This partnership is also beneficial for Hilton, which can offer its members a wide choice of luxury boutique hotels in destinations where the group does not have a presence. It is win-win. Since its launch last July, the partnership has proved a great success.
Other voluntary chains such as Preferred Hotels or Relais & Châteaux are not linked to a major hotel group. Why was it important for Small Luxury to be close to a player like Hilton?
R. H. - Our aim is to offer value-added services to independent hotels. And what independent hoteliers can't get is access to a loyalty programme and a massive distribution system. Similarly, to get the same exposure on the internet, it would cost them thousands of euros. These days, with the cost of technology and distribution, would you rather spend money with Google or Booking or work with Small Luxury Hotels, which has a partnership with a company like Hilton? The answer is given by several hotels that want to join SLH because of this partnership.
Aren't you afraid that some of these establishments will join the Hilton Group later on?
R. H. - Hilton's Curio Collection brand could potentially attract some, but our model is different, with no membership fees, based solely on commission. The hotel only pays for what it gets in return, while retaining its total independence. In other news, the average size of our hotels is much smallerThe trend is for even smaller establishments. And the trend is towards even smaller establishments, with an average of 38 rooms for new establishments. Which just goes to show that small hotels are very popular at the moment, and will no doubt continue to be so for some time to come. The desire to enjoy new experiences, to avoid overtourism: all these factors make them attractive. The environmental impact too, because it's easier to run a small hotel on a sustainable basis. One of the key elements of our hotels in the future is to be as sustainable as possible. We now have 70 hotels in our Considerate collection, launched in 2021. And we want to share their best practices to guide all the others along this path.
Last year, Small Luxury Hotels also launched the SLH Club loyalty programme. What is really new about this?
R. H. - In fact, it's not quite a new one, as we've already had a recognition programme for 25 years, aimed at rewarding customers who stay at several of our hotels. It was a fairly modest programme with benefits varying between the three levels, with upgrades, early check-in and late check-out, as most loyalty programmes do. Although over 80 % of our business is generated by travel agents, we have a real fan base, representing a large percentage of bookings on slh.com. It's this share of bookings that we wanted to strengthen with this new programme.
In fact, the programme is returning to its original name, SLH Club. Why return to it, and what changes have been made?
R. H. - The programme launched 25 years ago was in fact called SLH Club, before being changed to SLH Invited. We've decided to go back to that name, simply because it's so familiar. easier for everyone to rememberOur customers are increasingly international, from China to Mexico and Australia. In fact, it is organised into three levels - Club 01, Club 02, Club 03 - and is complemented by the launch of a new, highly functional application, with the same level of information as on our website. This means you can log on to the loyalty programme, find your holiday history, your SLH Club level and the number of holidays required to move up to the next level. And, of course, to book them!
