Thai Business Excellence Awards 2018

8 APAC INSIDER / Thai Business Excellence 2018 These key differentiators are vital to the group’s success, as it operates in a vast industry filled with exceptional competitors. GCP Hospitality gathers over 30 years’ experience in hotel and asset management in Asia and USA. Its team is composed of more senior, experienced members on one hand, handling operations and financial teams with a strong know-how, and on the other hand young and dynamic management teams focusing their attention on creativity, high-tech and design. (This mixed team is led by Christophe Vielle a hospitality passionate and real foodie, whom has over 30 years’ experience in Asia with a proven track record.) GCP Hospitality has strong investment support as it is the hospitality platform of Hong Kong based Gaw Capital Group. As such, Christophe and his team have vast experience in the market and are able to stay one step ahead of emerging trends, as he is keen to highlight. “In today market, big hospitality management groups are looking for big operations that will generate high fees. Therefore, very often, small or independent owners are left apart. International brands arrive with their concepts and impose their brand guidelines and conditions to owners, making it difficult to them to interact and adapt their needs to the ones of international groups i.e. cash flow issues, investments and bank loans. International groups are fees- driven, they make partnerships with other international sales groups such as On-line Travel Agents which consequently increase the amount of fees for owners, who very often have to partner with booking channels not adapted to local needs. “Furthermore, international brands often have multiple operations in the same city and need to prioritize performance according to brand levels, which in some cases hinders a property’s opportunity to perform up to its potential. For example, a 4-star brand cannot sell higher rates than a 5-star brand of the same group in the same city, even if it could due to location, business trends etc. This makes it very difficult to run more than 1 to 2 properties in the same city without penalizing one of them. We believe that trend will be reversed in the coming years including in Thailand. Owners will want to be heard and will want to partner with smaller yet professional hospitality management companies who will work closely with them to market and run a successful operation. “After all, Thailand is the main focus market for all major hospitality groups, who have been heavily rolling out their brands and standardised concepts in this market for the past decade. We are targeting a gap in the market for travellers and guests keen on design and looking for cutting-edge experiences. There are many standardised international hotel brands and local brands, but nothing like us in between. We believe that we can fill this gap with lifestyle products such as Hotel G – a brand that offer a certain sense of lifestyle through unique design, friendly yet professional service, in-vogue restaurants and trendy bars.” As the market continues to develop in line with changing consumer tastes and requirements, GCP will be working to adapt around these developments to ensure its continued growth and success. In his concluding comments Christophe discusses the group’s plans for the future and the opportunities these will offer it. “With regards to the future, GCP Hospitality will strive at developing a strong hotel management portfolio by being creative in its product development and building a strong portfolio. We currently have an active pipeline for the coming few years with scheduled openings in Australia, China, Korea and Europe. We are definitely aiming at continuing on our successful path while creating genuine relations with owners and investors alike by developing our portfolio in APAC, Europe and USA and rolling-out our highly awarded lifestyle brand Hotel G, as well as our innovative student co-living hubs Campus” Company: GCP Hospitality Contact: Marc Bichet Address: 946 Thanon Rama IV, Khwaeng Silom, Khet Bang Rak, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, 10500, Thailand Phone: 0066 2 636 3650 Website: www.gcphospitality.com