Desbaillets leaves Six Continents : eHotelier Newsletter

After nearly a quarter of a century of working for and developing the Inter-Continental brand in Asia/Pacific, Daniel Desbaillets is understood to be taking early retirement from Six Continents Hotels.

Desbaillets, who was appointed chief operating officer-Southern Asia for Six Continents brands under managing director Richard Hartman’s watch, will leave the company on October 31.

Desbaillet’s departure marks an end of an era for the Inter-Continental brand in the region – he has been closely associated with the brand since the early 80s, having worked in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong before he became president-Asia/Pacific for the brand prior to its takeover by Six Continents.

He has been through three ownership changes of Inter-Continental – from Pan American to Grand Met in 1980, to Saison in 1988 and Bass in 1998.

His departure comes at a time when Inter-Continental is revamping its image and refreshing its positioning.

Desbaillets has spent the whole of his working career in Asia with Inter-Continental except for an 18-month break when he opened the Shangri-La Jakarta.

Director of Operations, Six Continents Hotels Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore Rolf Hubner, believes Bali's "remarkable resilience" will help pull it through the terrible tragedy of Saturday.

Hubner, who lived in Bali for six years as general manager of the Bali Inter-Continental, said, "Such events have a traumatic effect on us all and will surely influence those who are planning a holiday right now and for some time to come.

"But Bali has always shown a remarkable resilience during bad times. I know that the Balinese and those living on the island defend this island's strengths and peace with passion and will do everything to convince the world that at heart, its peacefulness and serenity will not disturbed permanently. Visitors have always been treated with respect and joy and this will not change."

Hubner said the Bali Inter-Continental was "enjoying excellent business at this time, thanks to a very healthy MICE component".

"Very fortunately, none of our guests or employees were directly affected by the tragedy. There is no active evacuation of guests, other than for medical reasons but, of course, some guests have decided to return home prematurely and we have experienced some cancellations."

Hubner said there would be a healing period and business to Bali would decline during this time.

"The uncertainty about the situation in the Middle East obviously does not help either. The industry and the government (local and central) will need to communicate with its friends and partners and explain what is happening and what progress is made.

"I am convinced that everybody on the island and with an interest in its well-being will get together in a concerted action to overcome these difficult times, and they will succeed."

Bali incident: The Rational Tourist should not be afraid

Life is simple. You try to maximise happiness and postpone death. Unfortunately, these two aims often conflict, as anyone who has tried to climb Everest or run with the bulls in Pamplona will testify. So the wise tourist must apply risk management. The nightmare of Saturday's attack on a club in Bali will haunt the families and friends of the victims for years. It will also scare away thousands of prospective visitors, not just to the formerly peaceful island but to the entire Indonesian archipelago. And millions of people whose usual destinations are far from the butchery in Bali may decide a foreign holiday is a risk too far. If a tranquil isle can suffer such a grave attack, where in the world can be safe?

That question is as misguided as it is rhetorical, but it is typical of an attitude that has prevailed since 11 September 2001. I sympathise with those whose fear of flying increased when they saw the terrible consequences of a plane hitting a building, live on television. But to fret about flying makes about as much sense as worrying about contracting Ebola fever. On European, North American and Australasian airlines, there is so small a risk statistically that it should form no part of a decision about where - or whether - to travel.

A rational tourist knows that of the 450 or so British people who die abroad of non-natural causes each year, the chart-toppers are always the same. They have nothing to do with terrorism, nor diseases that destroy your vital organs. Road accidents claim between 150 and 200 lives - a high proportion of them in France and Spain. Many of the victims may be unaware that Britain is an uncommonly safe place. As soon as you cross the Channel, the chances of dying in a car crash double, which is a good reason for travelling on the fatality-free French high-speed rail network.

Drownings and other "accidents at sea" account for around 100 deaths of British people abroad. Many of these are alcohol-related. For too many tourists, "don't try this at home" becomes "try anything while away"; heavy drinking and a midnight swim do not mix. When we transform ourselves from rational human beings to holidaymakers, there is a tendency to cancel common sense and caution along with the milk and newspapers. We set off in the fond but mistaken belief that a plane ticket and a Rough Guide confer some kind of touristic immunity.

One in 10 of British visitors who come to grief abroad is murdered. A few - very few - are pawns sacrificed in some power struggle, but many are victims of economic crime - like the London graduate who died at the Great Wall of China two weeks ago, killed for the sake of his video camera.

Other leading causes of death are, brutally, when a traveller's luck runs out. Skiing and mountaineering claim half a dozen victims each year. On average, one British tourist dies each month from malaria contracted abroad.

So what is the anxious tourist to do? Some of the steps to prolonging life, such as taking routine health precautions, are obvious. Countries engaged in civil war should be avoided by all except the mentally unstable and journalists. In places such as Egypt, where tourists have been firmly in the firing line in the past, backpacking may be a wiser strategy than joining an organised tour group; but, with the benefit of hindsight, the converse has applied in Australia, where distressingly many backpackers have died at the hands of a serial killer, petty criminals and an arsonist with a grudge.

If your son or daughter has recently joined the gap-year exodus to south- east Asia and Australasia, you could be sick with anxiety right now. Parents with younger children may be worrying about the risks they perceive when their offspring decide to venture abroad, and may begin lobbying against travelling the world.

But there are two risks that are much greater than the threat of terrorism. The first is that the more humdrum dangers will be overlooked - a driving holiday in Portugal or Turkey is one of the more potent risks you or your loved ones could take. The other is that the potential for good offered by world travel will be sacrificed along with the innocents who died in Bali on Saturday night.

When the first passenger flight by a Jumbo Jet took off on 22 January 1970, it marked a step change in international tourism. The Boeing 747, more than twice the size of any existing aircraft, made air travel more accessible - boosting the economy of islands from Barbados to Bali. Certainly, by enabling more people to travel further than ever, it placed some tourists in uncomfortable or dangerous circumstances. Sometimes, as the relatives of the victims of Pan Am 103 know, the aircraft itself has been a target for those who seek to change the world by violence.

Changing the world by peaceful means is a better idea; and tourism is an essential element in making the planet a safer place to be, through increasing understanding. It is also great fun. The human inclination in the face of Saturday's outrage may be to retreat to the relative security of home. But in my experience, happiness increases proportionately with the distance from familiar surroundings.

"If al-Qa'ida don't get you", a veteran traveller of my acquaintance is fond of saying, "deep vein thrombosis probably will." Fortunately, he is wrong on both counts.

Australia, which sustained the biggest loss of lives in the Bali bomb blast, will see the inevitable "short to mid term negative impact" on its inbound tourism given that Bali is a popular stopover for visitors to the continent.

However, managing director of the Australian Tourist Commission, Ken Boundy, said the outbound market is likely to be more impacted than inbound.

He added, "There will be a devastating effect on Bali as a destination and it will have severe economic effects given its reliance on tourism. It is the end of the notion that Bali is not really part of Indonesia."

Boundy said the industry should expect more caution from travellers moving around South-east Asia for business and leisure.

"As indicated the outbound market from Australia is likely to be down and I would imagine that would also apply to other regional countries, at least in the short term. Having said that it will vary widely.

"For example, I have just met with the Korean travel industry this morning. Like China, they do not appear to be deterred by terrorism and these are two markets that have seen big increases in outbound travel since September 11."

Boundy noted the growing requirement for the travel industry to be conscious of security for travellers. "Equally, we can continue to promote travel in the region. It can be argued that airline travel has never been safer due to the new security environment. There are risks associated with everything we do but there are some areas that may be more vulnerable and dangerous than others and travellers need to be alert to this."

He added that measures put in place after 911 would continue to provide benefits and protection for travellers. "At a local level, we need to continue to provide information, be diligent with security and recognise that Australia's approach to safety has few peers in the world.

"This starts with the national carrier Qantas and flows through to border protection and general security. Having said that, this incident will resonate more deeply in the minds of certain travellers like backpackers who can identify more closely with the Balinese tragedy."

Boundy, who is a board member of PATA, said that in such times of crisis, "probably the two most significant contributions (by PATA) will be timely provision of regional information and a decision to continue to hold the Annual Conference in Bali in April, given their satisfaction that appropriate security is in place".

Malmaison: A Brand For All Seasons - Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) has released the full year results of Malmaison, the brand over which it assumed complete ownership rights and operating control last month. In the year to 30 June the five Malmaison hotels overcame difficult trading conditions in the UK market to record a 21% increase in net operating profit to £5.8 million and a 10% increase in gross turnover to £20.6 million. Occupancy fell three percentage points to 80%, with RevPAR down 1.4% to £70. The current room count of 556 will have risen to 844 by 2003 following the opening of a 189-room hotel in Birmingham this autumn and a 99- room hotel on Charterhouse Square in London next year. MWB will take the room count higher still, to 1,200, if its long-standing plans to open one hotel in each of Oxford, Liverpool and Brighton come to fruition. MWB was also able to derive pleasure from the corresponding results of the Howard Hotel in London which despite being more reliant than Malmaison on international business saw gross turnover rise 10.8% to £7.2 million and a threefold increase in net operating profit to £1.2 million. However, average room rate did fall, by 14.3% to £144. The Howard Hotel is currently enjoying a second and final phase of refurbishment, which when it finishes at the end of this month will have increased the room count to 189.

De Vere's Hotels Show Character -De Vere Group can take pride in its trading update for the year to 29 September, which showed RevPAR and turnover ahead across the board. This was nothing less than the company expected: despite subdued commercial demand its De Vere hotels saw like-for-like RevPAR 1.4% up on last year, with the Village leisure hotels recording like-for-like RevPAR growth of 0.7%. Likefor- like turnover at the De Vere hotels and the Village leisure hotels was up 1.2% and 2.5%, respectively. The company also noted that it expects its 14- strong Greens health and fitness chain, which now has some 59,300 members, to turn last year's loss of £1 million into an operating profit of £1.3 million.

A Demerger Is Announced - Six Continents has announced the proposed separation of its hotel and retail divisions, together with plans to return £700 million to shareholders. Tuesday's statement came as little more than a formality, given the broad hint the company had dropped in a statement the previous week and, more especially, the subsequent media speculation, much of which proved to be remarkably accurate. The hotel division will retain the Six Continents name and will incorporate the Britvic soft drinks operation. The division's new Chief Executive will be Richard North, who will be succeeded as Finance Director by Richard Solomons. Current Chairman Sir Ian Prosser will stay on for some five months beyond his due retirement date in July 2003 to oversee the demerger from his position as non-executive Chairman. Sir Ian's counterpart in the retail division, responsible for the pub and restaurant operations, will be Roger Carr, with Tim Clarke assuming the role of divisional Chief Executive. The company expects that the demerger, which is subject to shareholder approval and all necessary legal processes, will be complete after next April, at which time shareholders will receive their money, if market conditions warrant. By returning this money the company has effectively admitted defeat in its long-running attempt to make a major hotel acquisition before the end of 2002. After the demerger, each division will be listed separately on the stock market with each taking on debt of some £1.3 billion. Six Continents feels that the separation will give each division greater freedom to pursue its own strategy and to drive its own operational development.

Six Continents Falls Into Line - Alongside the announcement of its intended demerger, Six Continents released a trading update covering the 11 months to 31 August. The company revealed that trading was in line with its expectations and that while marketwide RevPAR remained depressed, it had shown signs of improvement in the second half of the period under review. RevPAR for the 11-month period at the company's owned and leased InterContinental hotels in America was 16.5% lower and in the corresponding hotels in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region 16.4% lower than it was a year ago. At the Holiday Inn hotels in America, RevPAR was 8.6% lower, and was 4.1% lower at Holiday Inns in the EMEA region. Although Six Continents remains cautious about the timing and extent of any recovery in the hotel market it is pushing ahead with capital expenditure programmes, and plans to spend £500 million on its hotel portfolio in 2003.

If You Want A Sexi Hotel, Try Spain - Spanish real estate company Rincon Sexitano is to invest a reported €12 million in the construction of the Hotel Sexi, a 45-room, three-star property that is expected to open in Almuñécar (Andalusia) in southern Spain in early 2004. NH Hoteles has also headed south to open the €13.2 million 163-room, four-star NH Marbella. NH's compatriot Barceló Hotels & Resorts, meanwhile, has ventured into two new territories by signing a franchise agreement with Tunisian hotel group Sangho covering four hotels in Tunisia and one in Morocco, a total of 1,107 rooms. Elsewhere, Portuguese tourism group Estoril Sol is to invest some €30 million in the construction of a hotel and apartment complex near the Hotel Estoril Sol and a further €20 million to build a hotel near Casino Estoril in southern Portugal.

Paradise Is A Mixed-Use Development - Grosvenor Developments and Henderson Global Investors will be looking for a green light from the government that will allow them to start work on their £700 million Paradise Street mixed-use development in Liverpool early next year. The proposed development will cover some 43 acres and will be divided into five themed sector s. A new 107-room budget hotel will be built and the Liverpool Moat House will be replaced by a luxury hotel. It is hoped that the development will be finished in 2008 in time for Liverpool's octocentenary. Over in the West Midlands, developer Wilson Bowden is set to start work on the £30 million Regent Hotel development in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. An unnamed, leading hotel chain is close to signing a deal on the project.

Three UK Sales - Scottish & Newcastle Retail (S&N) has sold the 44-room Roker Hotel in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, to Russell Foster of Durham Estates for an undisclosed sum. The hotel, which had an asking price of £1.65 million, is one of 23 hotels and inns that S&N put up for sale as part of a rationalisation process, and is the fourth in the northeast region to have been sold. Meanwhile, Pickering Properties has disposed of the Welbeck Hotel in central Nottingham. The 97-room property, which had an asking price of £6.5 million, was acquired by an unnamed private buyer based in London. In London's Canary Wharf, Hotel Properties Limited of Singapore has sold, through two of its subsidiaries, Quin Properties Pte and HPL (Eaton), a total of 45 serviced apartments at Eaton House to Snazzy Homes for approximately £18.3 million.

Danubius Hungry For More - Danubius Hotels is to manage the €16.4 million Thermal Hotel Visegrád, in Visegrád on Hungary's northern border. The 180-room, four-star hotel is expected to open in 2004. As one hotel enters Danubius's portfolio, so another, also in northern Hungary, is set to leave within the next 60 days. The 165-room, three-star Hotel Eger-Park in the town of Eger has been claimed by an unnamed buyer for an undisclosed sum. Danubius considers this sale, of a hotel which it felt did not fit the group's profile, to be a one-off transaction. The group also announced that through its subsidiary Lecebné Lázne it had paid the Slovakian National Asset Fund a reported €6.2 million to take its stake in Slovenské lieèebné kúpele Pieštany (SLK) to 87.66%. SLK operates a total of 14 hotels, more than 3,000 rooms, in Slovakia. Elsewhere in Hungary, Hunguest Hotels is this month set to open what will be its first four-star hotel, the €8.2 million 142-room Hunguest Hotel Aqua-Sol in the eastern town of Hajdúszoboszló.

Going Dutch - Dutch construction companies Thunnissen and Deurwaarder are to team up to build a 50-room hotel and a health centre for a total cost of €28 million in the town of Obdam in the western Netherlands. Meanwhile, another construction firm, Heijmans IBC, plans to build a €19 million 140-room, four-star hotel in the southern city of Breda. Staying with the Dutch theme, Golden Tulip UK (GTUK) has appointed hospitality veteran Paul Dukes as its new Chairman. GTUK last month secured £33 million in equity and debt funding to open at least 30 Tulip Inn or Golden Tulip hotels across the UK and Ireland over the next three years.

Prince Al-Walid Initiates Sudan Campaign - Billionaire Saudi businessman Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz has signed a US$30 million agreement with the Sudanese authorities to build a fivestar Mövenpick hotel in the capital Khartoum. Meanwhile, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is to manage its second hotel in Saudi Arabia, the US$50 million 223- room, five-star Madinah Mövenpick Hotel, which is due to open in early November. Elsewhere on the Arabian peninsula, the Kuwaiti Safir International Hotel Management will this month open its first hotel in the United Arab Emirates, the 147-room, five-star Safir Deira Hotel in Dubai. The UAE will also welcome the 137-room Al-Maha Regency hotel to Sharjah on 15 October. And off the coast of the peninsula, work has begun on the US$8 million extension of the facilities at the Bahrain Sheraton Hotel in the Bahraini capital Manama.

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Tishman to run boutique hotel group

Tishman Hotel Corp. has taken over the management of five Manhattan boutique hotels, including The Shoreham in midtown and Hotel Wales on the Upper East Side.

Tishman replaced Boutique Hotel Management Group, a Manhattan firm.

The five properties are owned by Credit Suisse First Boston and have been for sale for more than a year. The investment bank bought the hotels in 1998 from Bernard Goldberg, a noted local hotelier.

Seattle – October 1, 2002 - Douglas N. Dreher has been appointed president of The Hotel Group, Inc. He will be responsible for the oversight of all managed and owned properties, new hotel development, acquisitions, and strategic planning.

Dreher, who has worked for The Hotel Group, Inc. for 13 years, has served as executive vice-president of The Hotel Group, Inc. since 1998. During his tenure, Dreher has supervised hotels throughout the United States and Canada.

“Doug’s tremendous energy and leadership qualify him well for this new position,” said Ed Lee, CEO of The Hotel Group, Inc. “Doug is one of the key reasons for our current success."

Prior to joining The Hotel Group, Inc., Dreher worked for Westin Hotels in Los Angeles. Dreher is a certified hotel administrator from the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and is president-elect of the Washington State Hotel & Lodging Association.

Dreher received his bachelor’s degree from Washington State University’s College of Business & Economics in the Hotel & Restaurant Administration School. He and his wife Maria reside in Edmonds, Wash. with their two children.

Established in 1984, The Hotel Group, Inc. owns and manages 25 properties in 10 states including Alaska, California, Washington, Texas, Arizona and Tennessee. The company currently has 10 different franchise brands in its portfolio including Hilton, Marriott, Radisson, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn and Best Western. The Hotel Group is headquartered in Edmonds, Wash. with a Southwest division office in Scottsdale, Ariz., and regional offices in Spokane, Wash., and Nashville, Tenn.

Johannesburg is increasingly being viewed as the Singapore or Paris of Africa because of the business and shopping opportunities it offered, Environment Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said yesterday. He was speaking at the release of SA Tourism's quarterly report, and said that SA was starting to show signs of living up to its tourism potential.

The latest statistics showed that tourism to SA had been growing strongly, rising 7,4% to 2,36-million visitors for the first five months of the year. Moosa said that with 72% of visitors coming from Africa, it was a priority to attract new visitors from the continent and ensure that those who already knew the country made return visits.

The minister was particularly happy about the success achieved in increasing the number of visitors from the UK by 10% in May. This rise led to a 108% rise in the number of seats booked on South African Airways flights from London to Cape Town for that month. The increase in May was an indication that SA was starting to change the seasonality of its tourist arrivals, Moosa said. He said SA Tourism would focus next on attracting visitors from India. One advantage of attracting Indian tourists was that they normally came in the offpeak period. Another market that SA was targeting was China.

Moosa said that after lengthy talks, SA was only the second country in Africa to have received Approved Destination Status allowing Chinese tourists to visit here more easily. This was significant as only 17 other countries worldwide have this status. He said this had put SA in an "extremely competitive" position, and that in a year's time the volume of visitors from China would be noticeable.

Newsletter - October 16, 2002