奢侈經濟開始復蘇，區域表現參差不齊
|
????奢侈酒店業正在復蘇？盡管在美國可能并非完全如此，但上周四，麗思卡爾頓酒店集團（Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company）宣布了一攬子計劃：到2016年，在其現有的75家酒店的基礎上，再增加36家，地點遍及從波多黎各到越南的廣大地區。 ????2011年，該公司不僅營業收入、入住率、平均房價均呈上升之勢；而且，它亦重拾顧客們已經習以為常的一貫作風，比如在香港開設世界“最高的”酒店：該酒店占據了香港環球貿易廣場的第102~118層。 ????《財富》（Fortune）就中國、阿拉伯之春、以及所謂的“美國國際集團（AIG）效應”等話題，對該公司總裁兼首席運營官賀夫?哈姆勒進行了采訪。 ????當下全球經濟一片低迷，奢侈品牌的處境如何？ ????與幾年前相比，我們現在的處境肯定有所改善。在經歷了漫長的發展速度放緩之后，業務終于開始復蘇。2008年和2009年是奢侈酒店行業的低谷，我們的收入損失了24%。但是，2010年業務復蘇的速度超出了我們的預期：預計增長率只有1%，但實際卻增長了11%；盡管如此，營業收入仍然比2007年低16%。而今年已在去年的基礎上又增長了12%。我們希望，營業收入到年底可以追平2007年。但是，預計第四季度可能會出現增長趨緩。因此，我有點兒擔心，我們的這個愿望有可能會落空。 ????在泡沫破滅之后，貴公司的集團業務一落千丈。現在，這塊業務是否也已開始復蘇？ ????麗思卡爾頓幾乎只有一類集團客戶，那就是金融機構。你也許還記得吧？當初美國國際集團挪用不良資產救助計劃資金，在奢侈酒店召開會議，因此備受指責。自那之后，這類會議幾乎一夜間就銷聲匿跡了。這就是我所說的美國國際集團效應。但是，現在金融會議已卷土重來，這是我們最重要的客戶。2010年，這塊業務完全復蘇，集團客戶業務一片繁榮。2010年，在麗思卡爾頓，集團會議入住天數合計18萬個夜晚，完全超出了我們的預期。今年，集團會議業務又增長了10%。因此，可以說金融會議業務已經全面復蘇。這是個好兆頭。 ????麗思卡爾頓在中東設有多家分號。阿拉伯之春對貴公司的業務有何影響？ ????無論在埃及還是在巴林，我們的業務均出現了下降。但是，阿拉伯聯合酋長國的業務卻始終蒸蒸日上。無論經濟形勢如何，人們照舊需要開會、出差，只是他們把開會的地點從巴林挪到了阿拉伯聯合酋長國或者卡塔爾。我們在這兩個國家分別擁有兩家酒店。在巴林，我們酒店的入住率一度在一夜之間由80%下降到了20%。現在，那兒的業務也已經開始復蘇。 ????那沙特阿拉伯的情況如何？你們計劃在那兒建個酒店，有這回事吧？ ????不錯，我們在利雅得的酒店定于今年9月開張。對我們來說，利雅得酒店非常重要，因為我們之前在那兒還沒有開展業務。利雅得酒店是家豪華酒店，共有450間客房，建造該酒店使用的大理石數量超過了其他所有麗思卡爾頓酒店所用大理石的總和。 ????7月份，我們還會接管阿曼的傳奇酒店——阿巴士單（Al Bustan）。該酒店于48年前建成營業，曾是中東地區第一家大酒店，聲譽卓著。阿曼斥2.2億美元巨資，對酒店進行了翻新。隨后，阿曼財政部長就致電我們，表示他們希望麗思卡爾頓接管這家酒店。對此，我們都興奮不已。 ????你們在整個歐洲只開設了9家酒店，其中有些由于執照問題還無法使用麗思卡爾頓品牌。然而，僅僅在中國一個國家，你們擁有的酒店就將達到9家。亞洲如今是否已成為奢侈業最活躍的地區？ ????我們在歐洲有9家酒店。目前，在中國有7家酒店：在北京和上海分別有2家，在深圳和廣州各有1家，在三亞還開有一家度假酒店。我們將在成都和青島綠城再分別開設一家酒店。盡管中國人認為深圳和廣州是二線城市，但這兩座城市的人口都達到了800萬~1，000萬。廣州200公里左右的狹長地帶上幾乎分布著全球四分之一的制造業。 ????在三亞的亞龍灣，我們經營著中國最昂貴的度假酒店。這家度假村的入住率約為80%，其中90%的客人是中國人，他們支付的房價都在400美元/天以上。我想告訴你的是：他們酷愛美食，酷愛飲酒，而且他們也精于品酒之道。 ????我們在香港的業務更是堪稱完美。酒店的入住率達到了100%，未來兩個月的食物和飲料也都銷售一空。而且，我們的酒店預定服務只面向會員。亞洲在騰飛。 ????在經濟低迷時期，身為萬豪國際酒店集團（Marriott）的一員是否有助于貴公司渡過難關？ ????這點毫無疑問。萬豪集團在全球各地擁有4,000家酒店。他們會根據我們的需要提供各類額外資源。其中最為顯而易見的是：萬豪為我們提供了預定系統等高科技，而這些單憑我們自己根本無力負擔。此外，他們亦幫助我們實現業務拓展。萬豪的分支機構遍布全球，我們的員工在其中一些分支機構中銷售麗思卡爾頓品牌。同時，萬豪在獎勵計劃方面也為我們提供了幫助。 ????那么，你為何還會夜不能寐呢？ ????那是因為擔心我們在美國的業務。眼下，美國的經濟依然沒有明顯的起色，失業率居高不下就是頭號難題。話雖如此，我們在加里福尼亞的業務依然堅挺。今年的頭4個月，弗羅里達干得也很出色。而且，在弗羅里達，由于夏季漫長，因此在年初的頭4個月就得做好全年的預算。美國業務的薄弱環節是從波士頓直到亞特蘭大的東北走廊地帶，我只能說，那里的業務增長慢于預期。 ????譯者：大海 |
????Is luxury back? It may not feel quite that way in the United States, but on Thursday, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company announced plans to add 36 hotels to its current roster of 75 by 2016, in locations stretching from Puerto Rico to Vietnam. ????Revenues, occupancy, and average daily rates are up in 2011, and the company is back to doing things in the style its customers are accustomed to, such as opening the world's "highest" hotel in Hong Kong -- it occupies floors 102 to 118 of the island's International Commerce Center. ????Fortune caught up with president and COO Herve Humler to talk about China, the Arab Spring, and what he calls the "AIG effect." ????What does it feel like to be a luxury brand at this point in the global economic cycle? ????It certainly feels better than it did a few years ago. We're coming back from a long slowdown. The two years of 2008 and 2009 were the worst for the industry. We lost 24% of our top line. But in 2010, we saw a recovery we didn't forecast. We estimated 1% growth, but ended up with 11%. We're still down 16% from 2007, but this year, I am up an additional 12%. We're hoping by the end of the year to close the gap. But when we look at the 4th quarter, we're seeing a bit of a slowdown. So I'm a little worried about getting that done. ????Your group business fell off sharply after the bubble burst. Is it back? ????At Ritz-Carlton, we pretty much have one group account, and that's financial institutions. Remember when AIG (AIG) was criticized for using TARP money to hold conferences at luxury hotels? After that, it pretty much all disappeared, so I call it the AIG effect. But it's back again. It's our number one account. We recouped everything in 2010. Group is strong. I did 180,000 group nights in 2010, which is more than I was budgeting. We're up an additional 10% this year. So finance is back 100%. That's one good sign. ????You have a large presence in the Middle East. How has the Arab Spring affected your business? ????We definitely saw business fall off in both Egypt and Bahrain. But the UAE has done quite well. People still have conferences and people are still traveling, so instead of going to Bahrain, they went to the UAE or Qatar. We have two hotels in the Emirates and two in Qatar. In Bahrain, though, we went from 80% occupancy to 20% occupancy overnight. It's coming back, though. ????What about Saudi Arabia? You're about to open a hotel there, right? ????We are, with a hotel in Riyadh opening in September. Riyadh is an important hotel for us. We have no presence there. It's a gorgeous hotel, with 450 rooms. There is more marble in that hotel than the rest of the Ritz-Carlton combined. ????We're also taking over management of the legendary Al Bustan in Oman in July. That was the first grand hotel in the Middle East, opened 48 years ago. It's a great name. They did a $220 million renovation, and then the Minister of Finance called us and said they wanted us to take over the hotel. So we're excited about that. ????You only have nine hotels in Europe, some of which don't even carry the Ritz-Carlton brand due to licensing issues. And yet you're about to have nine hotels in China alone. Is Asia where all the action is in luxury these days? ????We have nine hotels in Europe. We have seven hotels in China – two in Beijing, two in Shanghai, Shenzen, Guangzhou, and our resort in Sanya. And we're going to open two more, in Chengdu and Qingdao Green Town. They call Shenzen and Guangzhou secondary cities, but they still have eight to ten million people living in them. In a 200-kilometer stretch, Guangzhou accounts for something like a quarter of all the manufacturing the world. ????We run the most expensive resort in China, in Sanya, on Yalong Bay. We have about 80% occupancy at the resort, and 90% of our customers are Chinese, none of which pays less than a $400 daily rate. And let me tell you this: They love to eat. They love to drink. And they know how to drink good wine too. ????Hong Kong is also doing spectacularly. The hotel is sold out. Food and beverage is sold out for next 60 days. You can't make a reservation if you're not a hotel guest. Asia is booming. ????Has being owned by Marriott (MAR) been helpful in these tougher times? ????Absolutely. Marriott provided us with additional resources when we needed them. This is a company with 4000 hotels around the world. Start with the obvious: they give us technology—like reservations systems—that we could never otherwise afford. They also help us with development. They have offices all over the world, and we have people in some of those offices selling Ritz-Carlton. And they helped us with our rewards program as well. ????So what keeps you up at night? ????Our U.S. business. There isn't much positive out there right now, starting with the unemployment numbers. That said, California is pretty strong right now. Florida also did well in the first four months of the year—and you have to make your budget in the first four months of the year in Florida, because you're always going to have a long summer. The weakest part is the northeast corridor, from Boston all the way down to Atlanta. All I can say there is that we're behind where we'd like to be. |
