Responsible for integrating Le Méridien among the Starwood's seven other brands, Michael Wale moved to London last November.He tells HTR about the work that has been accomplished and the ambitious projects that are in the process of being completed.
The first stage, achieved just 16 weeks after the integration, was the consolidation of the key Le Méridien systems into the systems and networks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. As of 20 March the Le Méridien business areas of Reservations, Distribution, Loyalty and Sales were fully integrated and properties are now positioned to experience the full benefit and impact of the Starwood networks.HTR: After the acquisition, what were the reactions of the owners and future developers of Le Méridien hotels in the world? _ M.W.: The reaction from our new owner community has been extremely positive. As a hotel company that not only owns but also manages hotels we are owners ourselves, so I hope that we have a good understanding of owners’ needs and expectations. In terms of developers – we have 14 new Le Méridien hotels in the pipeline and growing and investing in the brand is a key lynchpin of our strategy. We have aggressive targets to grow the Le Méridien portfolio globally. As with our other brands, our development teams are always looking out for expansion opportunities and growth markets. HTR: Is the development pipeline of Méridien well fed with new projects in areas where the presence of the brand is weak, such as North and South America? _ M.W.: Le Méridien has a healthy pipeline – we have 14 new hotel openings in 11 countries over the next three years in destinations such as India, Thailand and China. We have great plans to expand the brand – particularly in the United States, Latin America and Asia-Pacific – in order to enhance it and build on its great reputation and people.HTR: What is your timeline for achieving full integration? _ M.W.: Completing this phase of the integration is no mean feat, it’s a big milestone and has been achieved within very challenging timelines. Our goal was to have the Le Méridien brand 100% integrated into Starwood Hotels & Resorts within six months of acquisition and we are on track. We have still to fully implement Starwood policies, procedures, programmes and initiatives into all Le Méridien hotels and complete the integration of Le Méridien staff into Starwood.HTR: Will the brand keep a certain degree of autonomy in terms of sales and marketing structures? _ M.W.: We have recently appointed a brand leader for Le Méridien, Eva Ziegler, who joined Starwood as Senior Vice President, Le Méridien. As “Brand Leader”, Eva will have overall marketing leadership for the Le Méridien brand worldwide. Eva will be responsible for continuing to grow and position the brand to ensure that Le Méridien takes the lead in its segment of luxury brand hotels. She will be responsible for the communication and execution of the brand vision for Le Méridien globally, in order to align the marketing strategies with the operational needs of the hotels.Therefore, the brand will have a comprehensive brand strategy and retain an individual and separate identity, but it will also benefit from being part of the Starwood operating structure – alongside our other hotel brands. We bought the brand and have a strong belief in its future and a desire to see it grow and prosper. We feel that this brand has great growth potential, and it will sit alongside the current Starwood stable of brands as our eighth brand.HTR: Is it difficult to mix different company philosophies or cultures? _ M.W.:We are sensitive to the cultural uniqueness of Le Méridien and the distinctive European heritage it has, in comparison to our other brands like Sheraton and Westin which have a North American heritage. However, this is not the first time we have been involved in integrating a distinctly European brand into our portfolio. In 1997, we bought the Italian Ciga Hotels – which formed the foundation for our Luxury Collection brand that has grown into a successful portfolio of over 80 hotels worldwide, but has retained its brand essence, nearly 10 years later. Just five weeks after the acquisition of Le Méridien, the General Managers and many of the owners attended our Starwood Global Conference in San Diego in January. There they were able to get to know Starwood, our other brands and meet their new colleagues from around the world. This helped generate excitement and momentum across the board, and helped everyone understand the ethos behind our 8th hotel brand.HTR: How will you position Le Méridien in terms of image, product, level of services...in comparison to other luxury brands such as Westin or the Luxury Collection? _ M.W.: All our brands are quite distinct in their personalities and the experiences they offer our guests. They all have distinct brand positioning and different core values and hence distinct customer target groups and profiles. All Starwood brands have been through an extensive brand repositioning exercise in the last year that you will see unveiled at the end of May. Our work on Le Méridien is just beginning. HTR: Is there a risk of inside competition between Starwood brands? M.W.: Le Méridien is our first European brand, offering guests an experience that marries classic French heritage with contemporary global cultures. It’s an environment where you can discover chic, modern style with a European palate. This essence is unique to Le Meridien and is why we bought the brand and why we are going to keep and grow it significantly – so it is not a case of competition between the brands, but one of broader customer choices.HTR: Are you going to promote the Art&Tech concept for the new openings and implement it, even partially, as a signature in every Le Méridien worldwide? _ M.W.: Art & Tech is a design concept. Those hotels that open with the Art & Tech concept will continue as Le Meridien Art & Tech hotels. We are beginning to define the design direction of the brand, under the leadership of Eva Ziegler.HTR: What will happen to members of the Moments Loyalty programme? _ M.W.: A key achievement of this phase of the integration is that the Le Méridien Moments loyalty programme has been integrated into Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), which now offers Moments members access to over 800 hotels worldwide, across 7 brands. The addition of Le Méridien hotels to the Starwood portfolio of hotel brands gives loyal guests over 100 new hotels in 15 countries, where they may earn and redeem points, in new destinations such as Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Budapest as well as more choices in major destinations such as Paris, London, Rome, Shanghai and Dubai. With the addition of Le Méridien to the Starwood portfolio, Starwood Preferred Guests also have a wider breadth of locations to choose from as well as a hotel experience to suit every occasion. Starwood Preferred Guest made headlines when it launched in 1999 with a breakthrough policy of no blackout dates and no capacity controls, meaning members can redeem free nights anytime, anywhere.HTR: After the acquisition, what were the reactions of the owners and future developers of Le Méridien hotels in the world? _ M.W.: The reaction from our new owner community has been extremely positive. As a hotel company that not only owns but also manages hotels we are owners ourselves, so I hope that we have a good understanding of owners’ needs and expectations. In terms of developers – we have 14 new Le Méridien hotels in the pipeline and growing and investing in the brand is a key lynchpin of our strategy. We have aggressive targets to grow the Le Méridien portfolio globally. As with our other brands, our development teams are always looking out for expansion opportunities and growth markets. HTR: Is the development pipeline of Méridien well fed with new projects in areas where the presence of the brand is weak, such as North and South America? _ M.W.: Le Méridien has a healthy pipeline – we have 14 new hotel openings in 11 countries over the next three years in destinations such as India, Thailand and China. We have great plans to expand the brand – particularly in the United States, Latin America and Asia-Pacific – in order to enhance it and build on its great reputation and people.
