Five Years after Starwood Acquisition, Le Meridien Emerges with New Brand Direction and the Strongest Portfolio Ever
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Five Years after Starwood Acquisition, Le Meridien Emerges with New Brand Direction and the Strongest Portfolio Ever
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Category: Worldwide - Industry economy
- Figures / Studies
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2010-11-30
Five years after Le Meridien brand's acquisition by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (HOT 57.19, -0.58, -1.00%) , Le Meridien has been re-defined, now boasting the brand's strongest portfolio in its 38 year history and its strongest performance indicators. A total brand re-launch, from product consolidation to a new and highly innovative brand strategy, including a large-scale service culture transformation program, has catapulted Le Meridien brand into a new era. Over the past five years, Starwood has applied its brand building prowess to Le Meridien, which has re-imagined the hotel experience to cater to the world's creative class of 150 million people globally.
Now represented by 105 properties in 50 countries spanning five continents, Le Meridien has undergone a dramatic re-launch to become a sought-after, contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand. With 85% of its properties located in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts provides an international complement to Starwood's strong North American portfolio and has accelerated Starwood's leadership as the most global hospitality company.
"Starwood's industry leading centralized services plus its expertise in building leading lifestyle brands has turned out to give Le Meridien a new life and a bright future," said Eva Ziegler, Starwood's Global Brand Leader for Le Meridien and W Hotels Worldwide. "The result has been unprecedented success and transformation since the Starwood acquisition five years ago. With our distinctive positioning and guest initiatives we have started to attract a new audience of creative, world-traveling guests who embrace the brand as part of their lives."
BEST PORTFOLIO IN BRAND HISTORY
Today, there are currently 105 Le Meridien hotels globally. Since the Starwood acquisition in 2005, the company has exited 45 Le Meridien hotels that did not meet standards under Starwood. 50% of Le Meridien hotels have been renovated or will be renovated by end 2012. Starwood has opened 20 new Le Meridien hotels in the past five years, including San Francisco (USA), Minneapolis (USA), Philadelphia (USA), Panama City (Panama), Shanghai (China), Bangkok (Thailand), Chongqing (China), Xiamen (China), and Taipei (Taiwan), among others. Starwood has announced 10 new Le Meridien properties in its global pipeline for the coming years in key markets, including: Oran (Algeria), Istanbul (Turkey), Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria), Zhengzhou (China), Xian (China), Lonavala (India), Mahabaleshwar (India), Ho Chi Minh-Ville (Vietnam), and Doha (Qatar). North America and Asia Pacific, specifically offer strong growth opportunities for Le Meridien brand.
BEST PERFORMANCE IN BRAND HISTORY
Since the Starwood acquisition, Le Meridien brand has seen:
Highest levels of guest satisfaction in the history of the brand Global average daily rate (ADR) reach the highest in the history of the brand RevPAR index at the brand's highest level ever at 105.4 points in 2010 The European portfolio reach its highest RevPAR index of 113% compared to its competitive set Europe become the strongest performing region in terms of RevPAR and RevPAR index -- $129.60 and 112.2, respectively Nearly 45% percent of Le Meridien guests as Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members -- further proof of Starwood's powerful contribution to the brand's performance Double digit growth year-over-year in room nights booked by SPG members The amount of Le Meridien stays booked online double in past four years
LE MERIDIEN: A FORWARD LOOKING, DESIGN-LED LIFESTYLE BRAND
Under Starwood, Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts has launched a new brand direction that aims to provide a new perspective through culture to the creative class, the brand's aspirational target guest. In this light a series of brand initiatives have come to life inside the hotels through a bold, boundary-breaking "curatorial" cultural program.
In 2006, Le Meridien appointed Jerome Sans, currently director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, as Global Cultural Curator for the brand. Sans and Le Meridien founded LM100(TM): a global family of cultural innovators who work together to create interactive cultural experiences into the hotels. With Jerome Sans Le Meridien introduced Unlock Art(TM) a program that grants guests complimentary access to a local cultural contemporary center through one-of-a-kind key cards created by a range of LM100. Le Meridien arrival experience was the first step to transform its lobbies into "hubs" around the world, which will offer a creative environment consisting of contemporary curated art in high impact areas and a coffeehouse atmosphere. In 2010, Le Meridien introduced "A New Perspective," a signature event series made up of culture talks with global and local creative spirits and designed to inspire and stimulate guests as well as the local community. Beginning in 2011, Le Meridien will re-launch its lobby spaces as creative hubs, a key initiative for the brand. The "hub" concept is currently being piloted at some of Le Meridien's flagship hotels around the world and will ensure the environment created, the food & beverage experiences provided, and programming through a curated art approach, are authentic and unique to Le Meridien.
LE MERIDIEN IS AN AWARD WINNING BRAND
In 2010, Business Travel News awarded Le Meridien the number one spot in its ranking of Overall Upper Upscale Business Hotels in North America. Le Meridien arrival experience was named the Most Innovative Concept in the Upscale Hotel Industry at the 2009 Worldwide Hospitality Awards in Paris. In 2009, Conde Nast Traveler nominated six Le Meridien properties as the World's Best Places to Stay; the magazine's Gold List 2009 winners include Le Meridien Bangkok and Le Meridien Chiang Rai (Thailand)
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