 Meet the woman who presided over what she calls the “the second most seamless changeover in Hong Kong history”. Jennifer Fox, MD of the Hotel Inter-Continental Hong Kong, talks about the challenges of emerging from the Regent's shadow.
When the four-strong takeover team from new owners Inter-Continental strode into Hong Kong harbourside icon the Regent, new managing director Jennifer Fox didn't have much to worry about in the way of operations.
The 514-room property was running with the silky smoothness for which it had become renowned over two decades of near-flawless performance.
The first moves for Fox and her team were obvious: all staff, except Four Seasons careerists like GM Thomas Gurtner, were reassured their jobs were safe and that the new owners were keen for them to stay.
Other key executives imported with the new management include F&B director John Cheah, who spent 15 years with Hyatt and was most recently F&B director at the Royal Garden. Sales director Carlos Souza joined from the Peninsula - he had previously worked at the Regent for a decade.
Fox is still recruiting a director of marketing and an executive chef.
Planning began for a seamless takeover under the direction of hotel manager Tom Myer; with every last proud Regent "R" logo noted and replacements ordered.
The changeover was made overnight, with guests who went to sleep at The Regent waking up in the Hotel Inter-Continental Hong Kong.
For Fox and her colleagues, the challenge was not to keep the hotel open and running to its customary high level of performance, but to persuade the world - and, in particular, the Regent's fanatical cohort of long-term repeat customers - that Inter-Continental would continue the superlative Regent standard of service.
It's no secret to anyone in the industry that the solid, business-like
Inter-Con does not carry the same connotations of deluxe class as does The Regent brand.
"The Inter-Continental brand is high and strong in Europe," says Fox, "but it doesn't enjoy the same status in the US." That's obviously a concern when 50% of business comes from North America.
So how are Fox and her marketing team spreading the word?
While she made the rounds of top corporate customers in Hong Kong, sales manager Benjamin Bahn, who handles US group and incentive accounts, was busy contacting his global clients. Meanwhile. the property was linked to the group's powerful global sales network, a high-profile PR company was appointed in the US and specialist general sales agents (Wendy Wegner Associates in New York and Nancy Rosene and Associates in Los Angeles) who handle only high-end clients, were appointed.
Incentive specialists J.J. Gubbins have been retained to spearhead efforts at ITME in October and Fox will lead a marketing team across US.
She will be lunching with key travel agents and media, meeting corporate clients and spreading the message that the name may have changed, but the hotel remains essentially the same.
Fox is determined to maintain the property's market share of the big spenders. "The message is that nothing is going to change, except to get better," she says.
Rack rates stay the same, from US$400 for a standard (Superior Plazaview) room to $575 for a harbour-view room.
Hotel manager Meyer is optimistic. "International business travellers are sophisticated," he says. "They do not stay in a brand - they stay in a hotel. People are not that brand-loyal any more, and they know their properties. So we're selling the property, not the brand."
Initial feedback seems positive. "Customers are very comfortable coming back," says Meyer.
Money certainly seems no object as Bass paid New World Hotels US$346 million for the Regent as a first move in re-positioning the brand in Asia. "They are building quality," says Fox.
In addition to the sky-high $673,000-per room purchase price, extensive refurbishments are planned, particularly to F&B facilities.
Her title of managing director, rather than GM, reflects the importance of the property to the new owners in its efforts to build Inter-Continental into a luxury global brand. She reports to a board of directors headed by regional chief Richard Hartman.
|
|
