DESIGN CONTROL

Having overseen the sparkling rebirth of The Langham, London, veteran hotelier Duncan Palmer has returned to Asia to take up his next big challenge. Leader travelled to Hong Kong to find the new Vice President - Design of Langham Hotels and Resorts standing tall at The Langham, Hong Kong which, incidentally, is also his to run.

Was this move part of a bigger plan?

Duncan Palmer: It was indeed. Brett Butcher, who used to be the Managing Director of The Langham Place here and in charge of the Langham Place brand, took over as CEO of the company in April and needed a team of people behind him to support the direction of the Langham brand. Having been involved in the redevelopment and branding of our flagship hotel in London, it was only natural for me to come here where our holding company, Great Eagle, is also based. This way, if we have to redesign things we can approve them easily and move forward. As VP of Design, my remit is the Langham brand as opposed to Langham Place, which we’re keeping separate as a brand and differentiating in terms of design.

What’s the difference?

Duncan Palmer: Both are 5-star, but the Langham brand is more European in terms of its elegance and classic design. The design of Langham Place is strongly contemporary.

We spent a serious amount of money on The Langham, London not just to build that business in itself but also to communicate our brand values. The design work we’ve done with two top global designers, David Collins and Richmond International, is going to speak to the brand and help us get new management contracts.

What are your responsibilities as Langham’s VP of Design?

Duncan Palmer: Ultimately, I’ll be safeguarding the needs of the brand, looking at the design, detail and finishings of the bedrooms, bars and restaurants and interpreting whether they’re of the right quality in line with the brand. Any major refurbishments done at each of the Langham hotels worldwide will come through me and I’ll make sure they capture the detail and the basic essence of enchanting hospitality.

We’re also going to be very carefully monitoring best practice. As you grow a new brand, you tick off the things that really work out well. You’ve got to be critical, and you need to say what it is that didn’t quite turn out how you would have wanted it to. Part of my remit over the next 2-3 years is to document what we do and what works well, and when we’ve got something that works, the point is to use it to our advantage, especially if it’s something that’s unique. We’ll spread it around to other properties.

So you’re overseeing the interior design of each and every property?

Duncan Palmer: Yes, I’ll be liaising with every Managing Director or General Manager of every Langham hotel regarding major projects, reviewing the major design elements and documentation. I’ll also be identifying the interior designers that we can work with, whether in Europe, USA, Asia or Australia.

What do you think is the relationship between function and design?

Duncan Palmer: Design has to be functional too. We can only deliver the required style of service of a Langham hotel if we have the right set up. If you look at the attention to detail, operating equipment and architectural features of the Artesian Bar, The Landau restaurant, the new lobby and the new guest rooms at The Langham, London, you’ll see we’ve given staff all the things they need to make their job better and easier.

And the relationship between design and the brand?

Duncan Palmer: It’s being very careful about how we grow the brand. We need to have a degree of control about the designs going forward and make sure the feel and quality are right.

What projects are you working on right now?

Duncan Palmer: Aside from running the day to day operations here, I’m working with the MD and designers of our Pasadena, California property to create two new restaurants and a new bar. We’re also looking at the bedrooms in Melbourne, Australia. We’ve just been approving the colour schemes for a bedroom mock-up so we can then go to the hotel and redo all the rooms. We’ll be doing the same in Auckland and Hong Kong. Long-term, we’re looking at Boston in the public areas to make improvement there also.

My design remit includes taking the luxury feel and quality of our bedrooms in The Langham, London into the bedrooms of our hotels worldwide. People will step into them and say ‘That’s a Langham room!’

What about the design of conference and banqueting areas?

Duncan Palmer: When you’ve got a 300-400 room hotel, one of the most important things to have is a good banqueting set up. You need to have the right break out spaces. In London we created quite unique meetings facilities over two levels at Langham House next to the hotel. The design is very Langham, and very up to date. Langham House offers excellent break out spaces with the five or six meeting rooms. We can take road shows for Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and all the big institutions. They may not necessarily be on the road much at the moment, but I’m sure they will be next year or the year after in larger numbers.

(Ed’s note – Thanks to Tim Marsden, Hotel Manager of The Langham, London, for the great tour of Langham House. Katie Benson has taken over from Duncan Palmer as the new MD of The Langham, London and is also Regional VP for Europe and North America)

Is investment in conference & banqueting very much part of The Langham plan?

Duncan Palmer: Yes, we’re doing a very big ballroom for up to 1,200 in New Zealand, which is going to be the largest hotel banqueting suite in Auckland.

What we call the MICE business – meetings, incentives, conference and events – is very important for hotels with 350-400 rooms, and for most it should represent 10-15% of your rooms business. We’ve just had a wonderful piece of MICE business here at The Langham, Hong Kong -- 150 rooms for five days only a few weeks ago.

How do you feel about moving back to Asia?

Duncan Palmer: I had twelve years in Asia with Mandarin Oriental so it’s a return back to Asia for me. I think Hong Kong is a very exciting city. It’s the centre of Asia for me, and whilst I appreciate that Shanghai and Beijing are moving very fast, career-wise, it’s good to be where our head office and company are based. Initially, the company is going to grow predominantly in Asia, and it’s exciting to be based where the company is expanding. In the long run, we’ll also take on further properties in Europe and America.

What are the company’s plans in Asia?

Duncan Palmer: We’ve just opened our first boutique hotel, The Langham, Shanghai. We have also announced two properties in Bangkok for a Langham and a Langham Place Hotel. We open a Langham Place in Koh Samui in November, so Thailand is going to be significant for us also. Our other brand, Langham Place, has really changed the face of Mongkok, where we built a 58-storey office tower, a 600-bedroom hotel, and a 250-store shopping complex with one of the longest ascending escalators. It’s very inspiring, architecturally, design-wise and in terms of positioning.

Wouldn’t it be wise to exercise a degree of caution during these times?

Duncan Palmer: Of course there will be a degree of caution over the coming two years, but if we grow slowly, I think we’ll grow with a degree of purpose. I think with any brand, it takes time to differentiate yourself against other world-class brands and you’ve got to find something that’s unique to you. Here in Hong Kong, you have a large number of international hotels and the beauty about The Langham, Hong Kong is its European elegance and classic style.

What’s the difference between living and working in Hong Kong and in London?

Duncan Palmer: In Hong Kong, you’ve got far more people, it’s very service-orientated and you’ve got a tremendous amount of support, whereas in London you really have to do things by yourself. Labour is very much more expensive in London. You have to do things there with less staff, so as you know, you get spoilt here.

But like London, we’ve also had a downturn of business here in Hong Kong but there are things we can do to make the hotel as efficient as we possibly can. With my years with the Mandarin Oriental and the Savoy Group and The Langham, London, I’ve got a good balance of European and international hotelkeeping, with an Asian touch and great attention to details.

So is this the peak of your career?

Duncan Palmer: It is. I’m best positioned here to grow my career, as the company is growing. There are not many new luxury hotel brands coming into the worldwide market on this scale, with 6 or 7 big properties in big cities, and with a remit to grow the company like we do. Of course I love London as well and I’ll be back there one day. I still have my apartment and my house there and all my cars that I’m famous for! I’ll be back there four, five weeks of the year, spreading those visits through the years.

And the fact that I’m English is also very good for the business here. About 20% of our business in HK comes from the UK. We presently own our six operated Langham Hotels. It’s quite something, quite phenomenal. Obviously we’re looking at more management contracts being negotiated now but it’s not to say that we won’t continue to invest. In the next few years ahead, there will be some good opportunities.

How long do you see yourself staying in Hong Kong?

Duncan Palmer: A minimum of five years in this role, because I’d like to work on this particular property as well, and it took me five years to do The Langham, London. I think you have to get into a property, live it and in it for at least six to twelve months, look at the opportunities and put the ideas forward. Of course I believe that what we did in London, keeping the operations running during the redevelopment, is still very important and we want to do that here. My advice for redeveloping a hotel is, do only several floors at the same time, but by all means keep your operations running if you can. Don’t close the hotel….it worked very well for us in London.

To find out more about Langham Hotels & Resorts, visit their website on www.langhamhotels.com. You can contact Duncan Palmer at duncan.palmer@langhamhotels.com