Kempinski has extended its joint venture in China by 50 years, and expanded its territory, says Michael Henssler, speaking exclusively from Beijing, China. Henssler is chief operating officer Asia for Kempinski Hotels SA and member of the management board of Kempinski SA, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
To add to his responsibilities, Henssler is also general manager of Key International Hotels Management, a partnership between Kempinski and Beijing Tourism Group (BTG). The partnership started in 1992 with the opening of Beijing Lufthansa Center, a mixed-use complex that includes the 540-room Kempinski Beijing Lufthansa Center. Key International Hotels has a six-person board, three each from BTG and Kempinski.
The joint venture, to develop and manage hotels, originally covered mainland China, the Special Autonomous Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau, and also Taiwan. “Now we are mandated to develop and manage hotels throughout the whole of Asia, including Mongolia but excluding the Indian sub-continent. I see particular opportunities for our Kempinski and Nuo brands in all major cities, especially in Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines, and our profile has definitely been enhanced by the high-profile October 1st, 2018, opening of our flagship Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore,” says Henssler.
Under the extended JV, Kempinski will handle development of new projects and subsequent management. To cope with this additional responsibility, Henssler is developing an expanded all-Asia team, to include vice presidents for development, finance and operations. Now there are 25 Kempinskis and two Nuos open in Asia, but rather than predict how many he hopes to have fully operational in 10 years’ time, he says definitively that it is more about quality and market leadership than expanding in numbers.