Saudi Prince to Sell Movenpick Resort and Spa?
Karon Beach’s spectacular and prized Mövenpick beach front resort has been put on the market by broker Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels with a price guide of around AUD$151,000,000. The 362 unit resort is located on Karon Beach Road and directly opposite Karon Beach and sits on close to 83,000 square meters of beach front property.
The Mövenpick resort was just recently purchased in 2006 by Kingdom Hotel Investments which is controlled Saudi Prince Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal for around AUD$112,000,000. The sale of the the Movenpick resort follows a recent number of hospitality assets that Saudi Prince Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has sold.
The Kingdom Hotel Investment Portfolio has 22 hotels across 15 countries with 6 other Mövenpick branded properties. What is interesting is that KHI 2010 earnings report showed that this Phuket property was one of the biggest contributors with increases in RevPaR of 37% in 2010.
This shows that the property has performed very well during the Global Financial Crisis but the property might be needing a renovation soon to keep it at the top of places to stay in Phuket. The Mövenpick property is ranked #3 in hotels to stay in Karon Beach with over 570 reviews on TripAdvisor.
It is likely the new owner would consider keeping the Mövenpick brand as it would be the 4th re-brand of that property since the Karon Villa Resort was first opened in 1984. The location has also just introduced Mövenpick Residence Karon Beach which is a new residential development comprised of 5 low-rise buildings featuring a total of 30 contemporary two bedroom apartments.
The other reason a new owner might consider keeping the Mövenpick name would be that last year the Mövenpick group announced an expansion plan into Thailand with 3 new properties in Koh Samui, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. The new Thailand locations will be:
- Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Bangkok
- Mövenpick Resort & Spa Mae Nam Beach Koh Samui
- Mövenpick Suriwongse Hotel Chiang Mai
App for last-minute travellers
With the amount of mobile traffic to the web growing around 220% over the last 12 months many more consumers are making less calls and wanting to book and buy everything online. Many travellers are now wanting a simple booking experience and often leave the booking until the last minute when booking a hotel room.
One new mobile app to come out of San Francisco is “Hotel Tonight” which offers a free app for travellers to book for that tonight only. The app works on the massive amount of unsold hotel rooms that can be discounted up to 70% and are now longer available through traditional online or agent channels.
The app gives the benefit for travellers who are rushed or disoraganised and no longer have to risk paying the “rack rate” which is often over inflated compared to a pre-booked room. While many travellers don’t often get left paying the full rack rate it does still leave hotels with a large amount of unsold last minute stock. The “Hotel Tonight” app available for Android and iPhone users seeks to satisfy this market.
While it is only available at around 28 US cities currently for the app to stay ahead of Priceline, Kayak and Expedia they need to expand the application globally. The app is unique in that it rotates only 3 hotels in each city all the time ensuring that any of their hotel partners don’t get the image of being cheap. The app is also protective of their hotel partners revenues as the rates are only available last minute and via their mobile app so any other rooms are sold at their full rack rate.
The “Hotel Tonight” app does have the to face the challenge that larger hotel chains such as InterContinental Hotels Group are apparently already creating their own mobile apps. There is also the industry feeling that they created online travel monsters such as Expedia or Kayak in the past so might be a bit cautious of creating a new discount platform via “Hotel Tonight”.
The biggest upside to the “Hotel Tonight” app is that it charges 5% less commission to hotels than typical online travel websites charge. The biggest advantage is the mobile app encourages consumers to make impulse purchases of hotel rooms before the room deals disappear and it brings back some spontaneous purchase behaviour.
JetBlue Getaways to Partner with Google Offers
JetBlue Getaways was one of the first airline vaction programs to partner with Google Offers to provide package deals. The JetBlue Getaway Google Offer was available to subscribers in Washington DC, New York, Boston and Austin and offered a $30 package that can be used to receive $300 in discounts towards any JetBlue vacation package of 3 or more nights for 2 or more people.
The Google Offers profile enables JetBlue to get frontpage exposure that might not have been possible if they have of joined the others travel providers on Groupon or Living Social. As Groupon has teamed up with Expedia does this mean that Google Offers might be looking for a formal travel partner?
The JetBlue Getaway Promotion offered 900 discount packages that were quickly sold out as the 90% travel discount was too much for most people to pass up. Even with a smaller audience than some of the other coupon/group buying sites Google Offers does show that it can make sales.
The question is did the package sell out because of the great 90% discount, was it because of the power of Google Offers or was it because it was a great offer?
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