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Boutique Hotel News held its latest Feed Your Mind event in partnership with Clyde & Co on the topic of branded residences, hosted at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair.
Feed Your Mind events are co-hosted, content-driven roundtable discussions over breakfast, lunch or dinner. Each event is designed to provide hotel service providers with the opportunity to inform and shape the market.
In partnership with Clyde & Co, the latest Feed Your Mind event focussed on the opportunities within branded residences and the convergence of hospitality and living.
Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- Brands managing residences must comply with all relevant residential regulations and housing standards. In management agreements, a brand must accept reference to legislation eg. Housing Act (UK).
- Individual countries have specific controls around residential and planning – what you can do in one country may not necessarily be the case in others.
- Excessively high service charges can deter buyers. Careful consideration must be given to the mix of amenities offered, balancing the aspirational with buyer expectations.
- Brand selection must be conducted as early as possible. Retrospective brand alignment can lead to unexpected premium increases for existing homeowners and potential brand abandonment due to a mismatch in expectations and service charge realities.
- Tight lease agreements prior to any residence sales will help mitigate risks of owner disputes.
- Co-located hotels with residences are often preferred, allowing for shared amenities and a more streamlined service charge model. The ‘cost’ of standalone branded resi with all amenities and services are being carried by the residences alone.
- While a brand can command a price premium (the global average is 30 per cent), value is delivered by genuine collaboration between the developer and brand. Rather than focussing on premiums, the conversation should focus on the quality of offer and service standards.
- What is the value of a brand? It’s more than stamping a name on a project. Real estate represents a shift in the way non-hospitality brands can engage with new customers.
Companies represented included: Aston Martin, Belmond, Cheval Collection, Chris Graham Associates, City Apartments, Clivedale, EQ Group, Hyatt, Lore Group, Pro-Invest, Regal, Rhodium, Savills, Six Senses, The Ascott Limited, The Other House, WATG and more.
For further information about our Feed Your Mind events, click here or contact Katie Houghton at katie@internationalhospitality.media / +34 711 02 42 31.
