GRAND RESTORATIONS: THE LANGHAM, LONDON

PUTTING THE JEWELS BACK IN THE CROWN

When it first opened its doors to enchant the Prince of Wales and Victorian high society in 1865, The Langham inaugurated a new era in British hotel keeping, providing all the services and amenities of a luxurious London residence on a scale unseen before. Never content to sit on its laurels as the original Grand Dame of European hotels, ‘the lady of Portland Place’ is undergoing its latest development, spearheaded by Managing Director Duncan Palmer. He spoke to LEADER’s Gina McAdam about the passion, planning, and discipline involved.

It’s a fact that as a destination, London has come up tremendously in the last fifteen years, retaining its place as a top global city. People worldwide are travelling more. And they’re looking for hotels that have a degree of brand attachment, but also something special and unique to match their character and personality. Each hotel property, whatever its location, must generate its own excitement. This is the aim of Langham Hotels International, the management company behind the multi-million pound development of The Langham, London.

A vision

It all started with a vision. Dr Lo Ka Shui, a certified cardiologist and scion of one of Hong Kong’s leading property investment and management companies, wanted to create his own hotel group. He proceeded to acquire some of the most unique properties around the world, taking over their management contracts and rebranding them. Thus was established Langham Hotels International, a hotel management company and wholly-owned subsidiary of its parent company, Great Eagle Holdings Limited, of which Dr Lo is Chairman and Managing Director.

Today, Dr Lo’s hotel management company has seven luxury hotels branded under The Langham name located in global gateway cities, including Hong Kong, London, Boston, California (what used to be the Ritz-Carlton), Auckland and Melbourne. The company is likewise tapping into the worldwide demand for the premier resort experience, developing Langham Resorts and Langham Place Resorts, looking for properties with the right size that fit the different brands. There is also the four-star Eaton Hotel in Hong Kong and the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, the latter being the only property not managed by Langham Hotels International. Currently, 16 hotels, including affiliates, are open or in the pipeline across four continents.

A sizeable investment

Why is it so important to be aware of this vision? Because it provides the context for what is by far the most sizeable investment to be spent by the parent company on any one of its properties.

Some £70-80 million pounds is being poured into The Langham, London for a development project that began in 2004, based on a strategy developed and owned by its team of senior managers, led by Managing Director Duncan Palmer. The goal is to enhance the position, reputation and architectural value of a hotel that has bequeathed its historic brand name, not to mention its gilded history, to a growing international empire.

Not many people know that during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the hotel was once the favoured London residence of the landed gentry and aristocrats, the choice of exiled royalty and the likes of Noel Coward and Arnold Bennett. Its name has been dropped in a number of Sherlock Holmes stories. It was once the home of the BBC. And it also housed the first hydraulic lift in the world. Even back in 1865, The Langham took pride in innovation.

In 2008, it’s confident that it has the style and sustainability to move forward as a legendary hotel appealing to a discerning, international market.

Keeping the business running

The challenge has been to keep such a large property open during its development, operating within what is in fact a building site. Other hotels undergoing similar projects have had to close. But The Langham, London has been fortunate in there being one or two aspects of the hotel where the public can gain entrance to. A brand new temporary lobby was set up. Remarkably, the hotel has enjoyed in excess of 70% occupancy year-to-date at an average room rate £80 higher than when it was a Hilton.

‘We’re moving in the right direction, ‘says Duncan Palmer, one of the most successful career hoteliers with close to 30 years’ experience in the industry, including general manager stints at the Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok, The Connaught and The Savoy in London. For twelve years he was with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, including a stint in the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok.

‘The Langham, London expected to remain open as part of the plan. We’re operating a 160-bedroom hotel, with 250 bedrooms out for renovation. Management moved forward in 2006-2007 with very detailed planning and organisation in terms of getting the strategy right but also getting the detail of the designs finitely done. The project, however large, is on budget, on time, and to the right quality. Those are the three key things to remember.’

But time and space to plan and execute were essential. Dr Lo and his team in Hong Kong participated in the planning, but once approved, Duncan and his team were given the freedom to get on with things.

Duncan says, ‘I thought I could definitely help Dr Lo achieve his vision with this property. It’s got a wonderful structure and an exciting challenge to reposition the hotel amongst the very best in London. In our discussions, he agreed with that, and I agreed to join him on the basis of what he wanted to create, and on the basis that I have the credentials and experience and could put the team together to help him do it.’

A phased project

How have they managed so far? The hotel opened the Artesian Bar and The Landau Restaurant, both designed by David Collins, in 2007. Even earlier, in 2005, during detailed planning stages, it unveiled its massive Infinity Suite, previously the Royal Suite. The Landau Club (‘a hotel within a hotel’) remains open, along with the health and fitness club. At the end of 2009, it will be opening a rooftop Chuan Spa already established in Langham hotels in Hong Kong and Melbourne.

‘Everyone has worked very hard to create the sophisticated design to make the guest experience not only be legendary, but enchanting and inspiring,’ says Duncan. ‘Sophistication will be embedded in the details, finishings and quality of the products used to achieve a high degree of elegance. At the same time we’ll continue to offer a cheerful, mature, seasoned service that will surprise, entertain and delight people, and create an experience that will make them want to come back.’

Although the look of the hotel will be essentially classic, a lot of money has been spent on artworks to ensure the ‘wow’ factor upon entering the hotel. The next phase of the project, to be completed in 2009, will include the restored Palm Court, Ballroom and all private function rooms, a brand new lobby and reception as well. In addition, Duncan is adding 500 square meters to the hotel by buying the building next door, which completes the master plan.

Duncan and his managers have made recommendations on everything and everyone involved, from the interior designer to all of the consultants -- mechanical, acoustic, landscape included -- structural engineers, and project management teams. All are like-minded people who understand what the hotel is trying to achieve, the way the company works, and how it wants to achieve its vision.

‘This is going to be an impressive hotel, and an expressive one,’ Duncan says, ‘Impressive because of its scale and the size of its public areas. They’re all double heighted. Expressive is about all the attention to detail; it could be the Bill Amberg bespoke leather cloakroom tags in the Landau, and the specially designed, unique and glamorous glasses in the Artesian Bar.’

Repositioning

The next important stage after the recreation of the property is definitely its repositioning. Duncan admits this will take time. ‘You only get the reputation after you’ve had thousands and thousands of people come through and leave by the front door. Imagine if someone were to say, “You know I’ve been there five times and it’s now my hotel residence in London.” So we will bring people to this hotel from other hotels, inquisitive at first, with a degree of reserve but with a degree of expectation. Then they go in and find this wonderful bar and say, “That’s different!” There will also be grand public spaces that they will simply be entertained in. But it’s getting the whole operation together.’

The hotel is repositioning its standards to attract the right clientele. Thirty-percent of its market has always been from the United States, 30% from the UK, 20% from Europe (a third from Russia), 5% from the Middle East, and the rest from Australia, Japan and Asia.

‘We have a good balanced number,’ says Duncan, ‘but going forward we’re going to attract a higher number of Americans, which will be a big market for us. They enjoy history, historic buildings and grand hotels. What they may not realise is that The Langham, London is the original grand hotel of Europe. And what we’re looking to do is to put the jewels back in the crown, if you like. Also, Americans want things to work, and to use a hotel in many, varied ways – we can help them to realise this.’
There’s no question that The Langham, London is trying to attract the luxury end of the market, along with top business executives. To do so, Duncan and his team are counting on a more luxurious, flamboyant style of approach, encapsulated in a theatrical Alice in Wonderland theme. ‘We’re appealing to people’s aspirations,’ he says. ‘If you’re going on a business or leisure trip, regardless of where you’re going or why, you still have in-built feelings for an experience.’

Connectivity

Clearly, training plays a huge role. Langham staff – their associates – have always been trained to ‘connect’ with guests, to be able to offer the personalised, tailored service required. But with what is tantamount to a relaunch of The Langham, London, considerable onus will be placed on all the front of house staff.

Duncan offers an example of how it should work. ‘If you’re on holiday, and have got an interest in blue and white china and your husband likes walking first thing in the morning, we’ve got to go out of our way to find out the wonderful walks from this hotel, how long these will take him, and at the same time advise you about this incredible blue and white china exhibition. It’s about going out of your unique way to help.’

Duncan believes in the importance of cultivating a culture within a hotel, and cites Dr Lo as a wonderful leader in terms of imparting his aspirations to the team, making them appreciate where the company and hotel are going and what they want to achieve. These days, members of staff are taken on tours of the development to show them what the journey is about. The principle is: the more they see, the more they’ll buy into, and create ownership of what their day to day job is.

It’s all a question of motivating and empowering colleagues to make a difference, to enable The Langham, London to reach the pinnacle of the market, and reclaim its spot in the premier division. Duncan and his senior management team, all of whom have track records in some of the world’s best hotels, are seeking to create their own brand of excellence and a corporate identity with a difference. (One of their tools is the colour pink in all their new stationery and marketing materials. They are beautiful, and certainly stand out.) The operational managers and teams have a crucial role, as indeed do the supervisory and line colleagues.

Regardless of their positions, Duncan is adamant that everyone should know what’s going on. Business review meetings are conducted twice a year and quarterly meetings are held with all staff. Whilst the management team is small, communication is all.

‘Langham Logic’

For sales and marketing, a key determinant of the success of the programme including the repositioning of the hotel, it’s helpful that all Langham Hotels participate in regular video conference calls to remain in touch with everything happening in the different properties around the world.

‘We say, if this is a good idea in one hotel, why not cross-fertilise it in another? We’re driving a degree of change process. All the other hotels are doing things that we tend to share so it’s a good set-up within the company. That’s Langham Logic,’ says Duncan.

The project will also benefit from Langham Hotel International’s regional sales offices in New York, San Francisco, London, HK, Sydney, Shanghai and Singapore.

‘We’re a very PR-orientated company. We’re a small group but we have a lot of resources to call upon. And despite the geographical locations, there is, as always, a high degree of communication between us. There’s a lot more knowledge about marketing and branding these days, but you still have to have intuitive, professional people in each discipline, whether it’s sales or PR, traditional or e-marketing. We have those disciplines in place. Here in London, I want business from Los Angeles or Australia. Our set-up can help with this. We are on the way to developing a very strong brand.’

Discipline and disciplines

To do something as complex as The Langham, London’s development, Duncan has made sure that the overall plan can be realistically delivered and executed. He’s confident that all of the necessary ingredients are in place, including a very experienced and disciplined senior operational team.

‘I have people in my team who have worked internationally for The Peninsula Group, Shangri-La, Regent, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. They bring together disciplines that I think together are really powerful. You ought to have some strong challenging members, although the character and the way of working are set down very clearly by me. It’s important to have a framework of how to work together, a degree of understanding of how ideas are brought together and how you move forward. I do passionately try to drive people to do things as quickly as they can.’

He also cites discipline as an invaluable characteristic of how he and the hotel work. ‘I’m quite disciplined about spending time with operations on a weekly basis, spending time with HR, a few hours in finance, a few hours in PR, in sales and marketing, food and beverage. I spend that with the 5 or 6 key disciplines every week. When I travel, it gives people a break from me!’
The project is beyond the half-way period, and we are in the process of employing sales people, and filling other key positions such as the banqueting team and Palm Court management.

Leader of the pack

Duncan is convinced that the leader of the pack determines its pace, and excitement and energy are infectious. But there’s a lot at stake. ‘In three to four years’ time, they’ll be part of something special that they created and I want them to feel part of the process. So I ask them their opinions, never cross an idea off, adopt the best ones...but there’s always an idea there. Bringing people along with you is key.’

Attitude is everything, and self-motivation an imperative. Duncan wants people who are excited and want to work for the hotel and the company. For that reason, he expects managers to be careful when they hire staff, and take care that those they recruit will fit into the culture of the hotel.

And that phrase, ‘bringing people along’ is, in turn, the key that drives Duncan Palmer.

‘They come join me because they know what’s expected of them and what we’re working to achieve. We’re going to try to remain open -- that would be the real challenge. They’re excited about the challenge that they can all put their name to. It’s something not many people have done in their lives. Do people realise when they come into the hotel that there are actually 400 people working here?’

It’s a sizeable project, but one that Duncan is convinced that he and his team, with their combined experience and attitude – and the trust of Dr Lo – can wholeheartedly do and deliver.

‘It’s tough, working on a big investment programme and delivering under budget, on time and to the right quality. But to get all the disciplines right and together is a very positive thing, as is making an impact, not just on the local market but internationally. And we’re about to do that!’