Courting the locals makes a difference When the Hotel Bel-Air reopened last October in Beverly Hills, management made sure the area’s residents comprised the first group in to celebrate the hotel’s return. At the time, Francois Delahaye, COO of the Dorchester Collection, which manages the hotel, explained to me that it was vital the locals see the renovated luxury enclave as their own so they would again host their celebrations at the hotel and frequent its food-and-beverage outlets. Once that was accomplished, Delahaye said, Dorchester would welcome the rest of the world back in. I was reminded of that conversation recently when Michael Hobson, chief marketing officer of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and I were discussing his group’s global expansion (think Asia and the Middle East). Hobson was reflective of the time when Mandarin Oriental opened its New York property in 2003. Breaking into the Manhattan market with a luxury hotel was no easy feat, he told me. Naysayers warned that a proper luxury hotel had to be in midtown, not on the West Side’s Columbus Circle. Moreover, the local set had to be convinced this new edifice could be considered “theirs.” To accomplish that, Mandarin Oriental humbly sought that market’s input before the hotel opened. The best part? New York’s “local” market, which included some heavyweight luxury brands outside of the hospitality industry that would use the hotel for confabs, was all too willing to give advice on how to court the local affluent set. In the end, the Mandarin Oriental became one of Manhattan’s top luxury establishments. Getting buy-in will only happen if you design your hotel to draw the locals. “We design our spaces so the food and beverage and the public areas cater as much to the local community as they do to the hotel guests,” said Anton Bawab, regional president of the Viceroy Hotel Group, who spoke on a design panel I moderated at IHIF recently. Koen Van Malder, projects director, design, construction & engineering EAME, for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, pointed out at IHIF that “the bar and the Living Room are integral parts of every W project.” He said as much time is spent designing a W bar as a W guestroom. “In a city hotel, your food and beverage is busy on the weekends while your rooms might not be as busy with corporate guests, but that has an equalizing effect when you have an engaging public area,” Bawab said. My advice? Don’t let your local community be an afterthought to your hotel’s genetic makeup or you will risk not having it be a contributor to your profit margin.