HONG KONG-based Langham Hospitality Group will launch a China hotel brand and is repositioning its Eaton as a lifestyle brand catering to a new generation of travellers.
New CEO Robert Warman told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Part of my joining (Langham in March) is to grow and expand Langham as an international hotel company that has multi-brands and to be recognised as among the best in each of the segment we are in.”
Both the China brand and the new Eaton will open large possibilities for Langham, with Warman bent on taking the group from 22 hotels today to 100 hotels in five years and 500 in 10 years. Apart from the two brands, he will continue to seek expansion for the core luxury Langham brand as well as plug key cities such as Singapore where the group is not represented.
The China brand, to be launched in September, will be pitched at the five-star level but just below the Langham brand.
“We could become the reliable place for new Chinese travellers,” he said, adding that the brand will also be expanded to Asia and worldwide, although there are enough opportunities in China itself for Langham.
He said the Chinese traveller’s tastes and wants are not entirely different from international guests. However, what Langham’s China brand hopes is to provide well for Chinese guests in areas such as food, language, etc.
The redesigned Eaton meanwhile competes within one of the hottest segments in the hotel market today, the lifestyle arena catering to travelling Millennials.
While hotel companies such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts and InterContinental Hotels Group have been among the first in this segment with Aloft and Indigo respectively, the competition increases with new entries including Eaton and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s Radisson Red, the first few of which will open in the US (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 26, 2014).
Warman reveals all in View from the Top in TTG Asia, September 26 issue
