“My goals for 2020 are development, and brand building. I am extremely passionate about both and I strongly believe we have a lot of opportunity ahead,” said the always-optimistic Martin Smura, CEO of Kempinski Hotels and Resorts and chairman of its board. Even the loss of Kempinski Hotel Geneva and the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, both of which leave the system at midnight at the end of December 31, does not deter him.
“It’s a common occurrence for management contracts to reach their term and most owners today seek financial commitments to extend,” Smura said. “Sometimes those financial demands are frankly unrealistic economically. I think any media coverage of an exit is to be expected and I don’t view it as negative. We are extremely proud of all we have achieved in Geneva.”
Somewhat conveniently, Kempinski is headquartered in Geneva, with a corporate force of 80, and Smura and his team spent several months in what seemed to be positive negotiations with that local property’s owners. “In the end, however, we couldn’t align on the way forward for the property,” he added. “Although we had always worked towards a positive outcome, we have other irons in the fire.”
Smura had, however, anticipated potential negative media reaction. Two months ago, in October, he pre-empted ongoing critical comments that could eschew as individual hotels left the Kempinski system by putting out a single statement that in all he expected to lose up to five properties, including Hamburg, Germany, and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
He has, meanwhile, more than enough on his plate. Covering 35 countries, there are 79 properties (20,000 keys, 22,500 employees) to look after. All these, except Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski, Munich, which is owned, are leased, or directly managed. Add to this 21properties under development. The newest signing, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota, Havana, is for the 162-key Gran Hotel Bristol La Habana, a few yards from that group’s phenomenally-successful two-year-old Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana, which has replaced American business lost through sanctions by eager French tourists.
“We have seven hotels opening by mid-2021, the same number we have opened since mid-2018,” Smura said. “The recent media interest in our announcement to partner with 12.18 to introduce the 7 Pines Hotel lifestyle concept globally has received extremely positive press.”
This relationship with the Dusseldorf-based 12.18 will, in one way or another, bring New York, and resorts in Scotland and Ibiza, Spain, into the Kempinski fold. Smura is, after all, giving prominence to building a brand he joined full-time on July 1, 2019 – he had for many years chaired Adlon Holding AG, then-owner of Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin.
“Kempinski is a founding member of The Global Hotel Alliance, which via its fellow member brands reaches, as of this week, over 16 million members,” Smura added. “Thanks to the alliance’s enviable engagement metric, we build strong guest relationships. Our own intuitive website search allows our own loyal members, who are signed up to Kempinski Discovery, to access and book hotels globally across all brands, and vice versa, others book with us. This offers endless solutions for travel.”
Ten days ago at the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes, France, Kempinski hosted a stylish buffet lunch for some of the world’s top travel advisors. The theme was celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the company’s signature Ladies In Red, capable concierges who greet guests in hotel lobbies and advise on the locale and experiences. “We were the first to understand the importance of guest experiences in building and retaining loyalty… and now I eagerly wait to see how Kempinski Discovery will emerge over the next two years,” Smura said, adding that he truly believes that with all this happening “Kempinski Hotels moves from strength to strength.”