We have loads of Hilton group properties here in the UK, tons of Marriotts and countless IHG hotels.....but very few spg.

Why is that?

I would have thought that many properties around the country, that are otherwise branded as part of one of the above chains, would be ideal on either the FP or Aloft platforms.

Is it the case that spg's fees are (a lot) higher than the other chains, and therefore less attractive to hotel owners (akin to Amex vs. MC/Visa)? Or simply that spg's marketing people are not focused on the UK?

 

It's better coverage than Hyatt. You're highlighting why most don't only have SPG or Hyatt as their only hotel chain. You've pretty much got to pair them with Hilton, Marriott, or IHG as your backup hotel chain.

 

Agreed, Always wanted one up in Manchester.

 

IHG is a British group, so it is not surprising that it is more powerful in UK.

Same story for Hilton. In 1964, Hilton separated its company that handles international operations. This separated company was then acquired by a British leisure firm, which in 1999, changed its name to Hilton Group plc.
After the acquisition, there were then two separate companies that were operating with the Hilton name.

Hyatt has very poor position in Europe.

And remember that Accor, one of the world leaders in hotels industry, is very strong in Europe (as it is a leader in Asia and South America).

 

SPG has 0-1 hotels in most countries in Europe. The only countries to have 10 or more properties are Germany, Spain and Italy.

 

Most European SPG hotels are either former:
- Ciga hotels, an Italian hotels chain bought by ITT Sheraton in 1994. Those hotels, as well as a number of top-tier Sheraton Hotels, were then marketed as ITT Sheraton Luxury Hotels. After Starwood bought Sheraton, they established a separate brand identity for The Luxury Collection and expanded it.
- Le M�ridien hotels. The company was founded by Air France in 1972 and was sold to Starwood in 2005.

 

There was a W Hotel planned for Manchester, which was to be part of the Origin complex. That all stalled back in 2010 and nothing has come from it beyond the initial works at the site, which currently lies abandoned.

There was also due to be a Westin Hotel in Birmingham as part of the Snow Hill project. This was part of Phase 4 of the development, but it was put on hold a year or so after Starwood were appointed to manage the hotel.

 

Is this good or bad in your opinion? Literally no expansion here?

 

For some reason, Starwood isn't building much in the UK. I did a google search, 'Starwood new hotels' and got this page: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/corpor.../all/list.html

You can play with it a bit, but you'll see that the UK is only scheduled to get an Aloft opening in Liverpool on August 2014.
SPG's doing much more expansion in other countries than Europe in general and the UK in particular.

I'm not trying to throw any darts here, but my guess would be that other areas in the world are more profitable.

 

UK is not good in chain hotels. Hilton are strong and some GHA but not much SPG. Price might be the reason? People in UK may not be able/willing to pay lot for hotel?

 

10 properties for such a small, insignificant country is not bad at all.

 

United Kingdsoms of the Europe are not so small and they have also some policitical importance. And yet, I agree, ten hostels is not bad for them

 

Aloft in liverpool is much better than westin in Birmingham or w in Manchester ( a town with too many flash lightweight hotels with too much bling and little substance already). I live in north and find it hard to to plat requalication if not been abroad a lot. Aloft in Liverpool would solve that for me. Currently looking at trip to aloft in excel and Edinburgh Sheraton to get those final nights in.

 

I thought Scotland only had 2 properties not 10

 

The UK market is pretty broadly spread and SPG is under represented. There are plenty of markets that are pretty expensive, so it isn't a case of cost, it is a case of how aggressive a hotel chain want to be. In the case of Starwood, they have a low base, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they haven't been aggressive with trying to take on new properties.

The likes of Hilton and IHG have been active. Marriott lost quite a bit of their UK portfolio a number of years ago when some hotel owners chose to re-flag their properties. They have made more of an effort and have started to grow again. There are also a number of UK based chains (at various levels, from luxury / boutique, down to the budget end) that have sizeable hotel portfolios, so more competition in the market.

It is mainly down to corporate strategy. I'm sure Starwood would like to manage more properties in the UK and many other markets, but it isn't an easy process. I was involved with a competitor hospitality group a few years ago on the marketing side, but met a few times with the team responsible for trying to expand their portfolio. Even when there is an appetite to expand, it usually takes a lot of time, planning and effort to expand by getting owners to move to a new group, or to win the management contract for proposed properties. (e.g. the Manchester and Birmingham examples above) In the case of Hilton, they kick-started things in the UK and Europe by buying Mint hotels to increase their footprint.

The 'why are they so few / no SPG properties in....' questions come up regularly. I'm sure they would love properties in many of these places if the opportunity arises.