Marco Roca, executive vice president and chief development officer at Hard Rock International, is on a roll as the group picks up the pace on development and aims to reach 100 hotels managed or franchised by 2020.
The Orlando, Florida-based group recently announced projects in Atlanta, an EB5 new-build that will open in 2018 and when announced the company’s first managed hotel, as well as a project in Hartford, Connecticut, also a new-build scheduled to open in fall 2018. It most recently announced the repositioning of a short-lived 135-room Swissotel in Goa, India, and projects in Cancun, Mexico, as well as a ski resort deal outside Dallas.
In December, the brand, which globally still represents America’s rock ‘n’ roll culture, had 22 hotels open and some 20 signed management or franchise deals (only two with a gaming component), worldwide. Roca said another 20-plus deals are in process and in total about 130 deals are in various stages of development, which makes for a massive development story and allows Roca to better boast a goal of 100 hotels within four or five years. “You will see Shenzhen (China) and Dubai opening as managed deals sometime next year,” Roca told HOTELS last month. “Behind that we have a large number of deals via Cancun, Abu Dhabi, Brazil and other major markets that we will announce very soon.”
Looking farther afield, Roca added that targets include London, New York, Madrid, Berlin and Los Angeles, and even more markets with a strong music component, such as New Orleans and Nashville.
What has traditionally been a new-build, one-of-a-kind concept is moving more toward a mix of new-builds, conversions and adaptable reuse projects. “I think more opportunities for conversions will come as people are feeling more comfortable with the brand,” Roca said.
Of course, with any pipeline, there is “breakage,” but Roca is confident deal depletion will remain below 20% for Hard Rock. “Honestly, there’s a lot to be concerned about with the economy as a whole,” Roca said. “So many people speak about how much longer this development cycle is going to last, and that is a bit perturbing. There are also more players in the lifestyle segment, so frankly just getting the word out quicker is one of our goals. We were pretty silent for a while and just going out and getting the voice of Hard Rock, singing our song and letting developers know that we’re an available brand to consider, is part of our challenge.”
On the programming side, Hard Rock continues to follow its musical roots, which Roca said keeps the brand relevant. The sound track at the hotel stays current and there are high-tech amenities for Millennials, aficionados and artists. Hard Rock is also following the rooftop bar craze, which includes plans for a bar on the 101st floor of the project under development in Dubai. “Everything we’ve done, which was long before people started talking about lifestyle brands, ever since our very first Hard Rock, has been about lifestyle,” he added.
That being said, Roca and his team are also being very careful that it’s just an authentic experience. “We don’t want it to be a scripted by saying here’s a little guitar icon and you need to press that to get anything to happen in the hotel. We’re not there,” he said.
Looking ahead, the move toward smaller and limited-service hotels is not lost on Roca. While he isn’t ready to talk about plans in another segment, he admitted it is part of the discussion. “At this point certainly there’s a very good space for it and it would make sense,” he said. But it’s all about what can you do in a lifetime.”