Both the Pig and Fattal hotel brands are set for further expansion, it was revealed at the Annual Hotel Conference (AHC) in Manchester today (12 September).
Pig Hotels CEO Tom Ross joined fellow owner-operator Ronen Nissenbaum, CEO Western Europe at Fattal Hotels, onstage at the event where the two shared their perspectives on finding their own ways to success in the UK hospitality market.
Ross, who was promoted to chief executive earlier this year, confirmed further growth plans for the brand following private equity group KSL Capital Partners taking a major stake in the group last year. The business has already revealed it will be opening two further properties in the next two years, in Warwickshire and Kent.
Although Ross admitted it was difficult to find the right, interesting properties that weren’t cookie-cutter but could have the recognisable DNA running through the estate.
“We concentrate on our craft, on the thousand details,” said Ross. “The brand has been built over time with a consistency of product, of staffing.”
Ross also revealed the group is on the verge of applying for B Corp Certification, which measures a company's social and environmental performance, a project he says has taken a year and a full-time employee dedicated to the journey.
However, he said there’s a “big shock coming down the line” as the hotel industry wakes up to how hard it is to do sustainability properly.
“If you treat it as a tick-box exercise, you’re on the back foot already. You’ve got to really believe you can make a difference,” he said.
Fattal Hotel Group, meanwhile, has 270 hotels spread over 20 countries under brands including NYX and Leonardo Hotels.
Nissenbaum joined Fattal 18 months ago and has overseen the group’s growth including into the luxury market, which has seen the company add UK properties to its portfolio including the Dilly in London, for which it has £90 million refurbishment plans, and the Grand Hotel in Brighton, which it acquired for £60m.
With a CV including the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and New York’s Plaza and Waldorf Astoria hotels, Nissenbaum has sought to use his experience in the luxury market to support Fattal’s growth into this space, with the launch of its Limited Edition brand, an umbrella under which the Grand in Brighton, the Midland hotel in Manchester and the Dilly will sit.
“18 months ago, we talked about, ‘what niche are we missing?’” Nissenbaum told delegates. “That is one niche that’s missing is really going after the luxury client.”
The Limited Edition brand, he said, will “create a different level of five-star” and will continue to follow Fattal’s strategy of clustering hotels in UK cities, “which makes us stronger”.
Both hoteliers were optimistic regarding the future growth potential of the UK hotel market despite the challenges at this time.
“The industry always goes through cycles and I’m confident that well-run businesses will continue to do well,” said Ross. “People still want to entertain. In a recessionary period, it’s still what people want to do most... people still want to go out and have fun and they become more discerning... the focus for everyone is to ensure the product that they are giving is top notch. You can’t rest on your laurels.”
“A business that doesn’t grow goes backwards... when you have a growing business you have opportunities to offer your employees, everybody looks at you differently,” said Nissenbaum.
Fattal’s main growth focus is on the European market, but he also confirmed the business was looking at northern Africa and the Middle East, as well as the United States.
“Once we’re big enough (and I don’t know what that number is)... that the brand is recognisable... we’ll have more opportunities to manage properties,” said Nissenbaum.
“It’s so important for us to move into the United States, because 30 per cent of [our] business that comes to the UK, Germany, Holland and Spain is from North America, yet we have no brand there.”
He said growth will be a mix of owned hotels, potentially leases, management, and Fattal would also possibly look at franchising “one day when the system can produce enough loyalty”. Although there isn’t a target number, if the estate continues to grow at its current rate, it could build a portfolio of 400-500 hotels in the next five years.
“We’re a long-term player... we’re in this for the long run and when we buy something, we never sell, we don’t have an end-of-life fund,” added Nissenbaum.
“Whenever we did sell, because we had to, we leased back the property because we wanted to grow the fundamental brand and management. We saw more value in that than extracting the property at a 30-40 per cent premium.”