Hong Kong ? Luxury hotel brand Peninsula is entering the European market in August with a new Paris property as it enhances the technology offerings in some of its legacy hotels.
The Paris property will be Peninsula’s 10th hotel worldwide. During the next several years, Peninsula also will develop hotels in Yangon, Myanmar?converting a colonial building that once was the headquarters of the Burma Railway Co.?and London, where “after many years of looking, we have an amazing central London site and are in the final stages of planning,” Peninsula vice president of marketing Robert Cheng told BTN this month at the company’s flagship property here.
Considering that Peninsula’s Hong Kong property opened in 1928, reaching a dozen hotels might seem like a slow path for growth compared with such larger luxury brands as Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton. However, Peninsula currently is in “a very focused and intense period of growth,” Cheng said.
Peninsula owns at least a portion of every hotel it operates, holding no management-only contracts, according to Cheng. While this model allows the brand to take a longer-term perspective in its development goals, it also makes development more laborious, he said.
“We’re very selective with our locations in each of the cities, the sites and addresses, because when we open a hotel, we know it’s for the long haul,” Cheng said. “Paris is a beautiful heritage building we’ve meticulously restored and modernized.”
In addition to the new properties, Peninsula also is renovating the d?cor and technology at its Chicago property and plans to unveil in the last quarter of this year the first phase of the process.
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Source: Michael B. Baker (2014). Peninsula Broadens Hotel Footprint, Upgrades Technology, Business Travel News http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Hotel-News/Peninsula-Broadens-Hotel-Footprint,-Upgrades-Technology/?ida=Hotel%20Chains&a=mgmt published Apr 25, 2014. Viewed Apr 30, 2014.