'Excellent' timing for opening of new Le Méridien hotel

Europe's tourism, currently in the trough of a downcycle, is set to recover in the third quarter of next year, according to Juergen Bartels, joint chairman of Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts.

Mr Bartels was in Malta last week to visit the site of the Le Méridien St Julian's, a new hotel under construction in Balluta Bay, set to open next summer. He gave me the first appointment of the day last Wednesday at Le Méridien Phoenicia's business lounge.

The tourism business, he said, is a bell-wether of the world economy. "Our industry is six months ahead of its time. I see a change in various cities.

"We were hoping this year that the Asian economy would be the motor. This was the first time ever we expected the Asian economy to be the motor of the world. It didn't happen for a special reason - SARS."

He now sees some delay before this recovery will filter through in the world economy as a whole and the American and European economies in particular. Le Méridien is using this time to renovate a number of its London hotels - at a cost of $400 million (Lm146 million).

Mr Bartels dwelled on the current business strategy of Le Méridien. It is aimed in two directions: a loyalty programme that pushes frequent clients to its resorts through a points scheme and a direct appeal to women, whom he believes have great power in deciding on the choice of hotels.

"We have 38,000 rooms in Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, and we have membership in the loyalty programme in 57 countries. (Our clients) accumulate points and spend (them) in resort hotels."

So, he pointed out, Le Méridien's programme of opening hotels in Hamburg, Vienna and Turin in the coming months was good news for Malta because clients staying at these hotels would be earning points to spend at resort hotels like Le Méridien St Julian's.

The programme that taps into the power of women is known as Le Guestbook. "We have asked the owners of travel agencies to give us permission to pay a two per cent commission to their employees directly.

"We now have 18,800 travel agency employees in 36 countries, 84 per cent being women and 51 per cent of them incentivised, so we have big expectations."

Further stressing the power of women in the decision-making process, he added: "Women decide resort destinations, to start with. Then they go to travel agents. People who travel have PAs and they are mostly women. And they also decide for and with the men."

Mr Bartels, 63, who has a career in the hotel business that spans four decades, joined Le Méridien in July 2001 when it was acquired by Nomura International plc's Principal Finance Group and was elevated to joint chairman last March.

"When we bought Le Méridien it was said that it was different, and I liked that. But I wanted to underline how we are different. And I started to modernise the design under certain conditions and circumstances. It's called Art & Tech and Biedermeier.

"Renovation is marketing and design is marketing," Mr Bartels affirmed, pointing to Renzo Piano as the designer of the new Turin hotel as one example.

There was a nervous moment when I asked Mr Bartels about sustainable tourism, asking whether for a country like Malta that should mean not opening any more hotels. He recovered nicely, pointing to Malta's decision ten years ago to go for upmarket tourism.

"We are an upscale hotel company. Our customers mostly fly first class and business class. I have been watching Malta consciously for the past 10 years since you decided to concentrate on upmarket tourism.

"You have a limited airspace. You have a limited capacity of what you are given from the airlines. And I would say, when you want additional growth, you need to make sure that you are going to have airline capacity."

Mr Bartels believes Malta took the right decision to switch to the higher value-added tourists who were likely to spend more during their stay. "I think tourism in Malta is sustainable as you switch and as you continue to switch. As you are offering (higher quality properties), you are obviously switching."

Le Méridien's new Malta hotel will complement the Phoenicia. With the number of rooms going up from the current 130 to over 400, the new hotel will benefit from the experience of the marketing team that was set up here in the 1960s, backed by over 900 salesmen around the world.

The latest Art & Tech design will be incorporated in Le Méridien St Julian's, with now fewer than 16 suites decorated to this high specification, including special beds, bathrooms and flat screen TVs.

Mr Bartels expressed satisfaction that Villa Cassar Torregiani is to be renovated but the hotel would lose character without it. He believes the timing of the hotel's opening is "excellent". Not only will it be in time to tap the summer season but the world economy will be back on track.