KEMPINSKI Hotels and Resorts is offering small hotels a new type of marketing and management contract that will allow owners to retain their managerial team, but use the company’s expertise on an ad-hoc basis.
The upmarket hotel group says the new product, called Management a la Carte, is unique and expects a high number of hotels to apply for the scheme. Participating hotels will pay a fee to be entered into Kempinski’s directory, become bookable under the company’s global distribution system code, and benefit from sales teams in London, Germany and the US.
The deal gives hotels help on any subject from Information Technology support to food and beverage reviews. The hotel will pay a fee every time a service is used.
The 31-room Swiss hotel Chateau Gutsch has become the first hotel to join the scheme and will add Kempinski to its title as part of the tie-up.
Director of international sales for UK, Ireland and Scandinavia Caroline Moody said: “The idea is to offer small properties something they can become part of and benefit from without feeling like they have stretched their budgets too much.
“Each hotel we deal with has individual needs and as we are quite small, with 29 properties, we are used to dealing with them on that basis. This new initiative demands that attention is paid to those hotels’ individual requirements. One hotel owner may be an IT whizz and not need our support in that area. Another may want advice on restaurant menus.”