Millennium Hotels & Resorts is making a hard charge in the lifestyle hotel segment.
On Wednesday, Saurabh Prakash, interim COO & chief commericial officer for the Singapore-based global hospitality company, was in New York for the opening of the 569-room M Social Hotel New York Downtown, a $60-million refashioning and rebranding of the prior Millennium Downtown New York, which the company, under Chairman Kwek Leng Beng, has owned since 1992. The new hotel, operated by Highgate Hotels, went through hard- and soft-good improvements, including a new food and beverage concept called Beast & Butterflies, which promises a modern take on Spanish tapas.
The renovation was spearheaded by BHDM Design, with hotel interiors reinterpreting the Financial District’s modern energy and iconic landmarks, including the Wall Street icon “Charging Bull.” Murals of it adorn guestrooms and pay homage to the district’s ambition and resilience. As Chairman Leng put it, “This new addition reflects our confidence in the future of travel and our long-term commitment to building distinctive experiences in the world’s most dynamic cities.”
M Social sits within Millennium’s lifestyle vertical and includes properties in Singapore, Paris, Muscat, Dubai and Auckland, not to mention M Social Hotel New York Times Square, a quick subway ride north. In fact, M Social has even played in the metaverse, when Millennium launched M Social Decentraland in May 2022, making it the world’s first hospitality group to operate a hotel in the metaverse virtual world. It’s no surprise, then, that in 2026 it will open a M Social in Sunnyvale, Calif., close to Meta headquarters.
Prakash says the DNA of the M Social brand revolves around “social connections,” of freedom and boldness, and that choosing the M Social brand to append to the hotel, which is located in the Financial District and close to the 9/11 Memorial and The Oculus, made sense after deep research. “We found that this area is not only about corporate business, but also as an up-and-coming leisure destination,” he said. “We thought that this resonated well with the M Social brand, because today’s corporate traveler has moved away from the traditional business corporate mindset. They’re looking for a place where they can have their individuality. M social is for the young at heart.”
Success at M Social Times Square, formerly a Novotel, was also motivation. Almost immediately, the hotel saw gains in RevPAR. “The brand was resonating with our customers,” Prakash said. Expectations are that M Social Hotel New York Downtown will see a similar bump; in. fact, it already is, according to Prakash. “It is already trading at a 20% higher ADR than when it was as a Millennium,” he said, citing numbers following the hotel’s soft opening. Midweek rates start at $500 per night. “We believe there is more to be had.”
Tying It Together
Millennium Hotels’ guiding principles spring from its chairman, Leng, who controls Millennium through City Developments Limited, a Singaporean multinational real estate company. They are based in growth, entrepreneurship and transformation. “We what we love in our people is the concept of blue-ocean thinking,” Prakash said. “Blue Ocean Strategy” is a seminal business book published in 2005 that at its core is about focusing on creating new, uncontested market spaces rather than competing in existing, overcrowded ones, so-called “red oceans.” It involves making the competition irrelevant by pursuing value innovation instead. It’s also part of Millennium’s ethos.
“Our teams are guided by it,” Prakash said. “It is the difference between an owner/operator and a management brand.” The latter, he said, are focused on process and procedure. An owner/operator is guided by “transformation thinking,” he said.
Millennium is an owner and operator and currently has a portfolio of 150 hotels worldwide, 70 of them Millennium owns outright, the others mostly through franchise agreements, predominantly in the Middle East. Much of its growth is predicated on acquisitions rather than ground-up development. “Our growth will not be hundreds of hotels every year. It may be five or 10,” Prakash said.
Millennium currently operates 12 brands, from the luxury Biltmore to a soft brand called Leng’s Collection, paying homage to its chairman and similar to a Marriott Autograph Collection, Prakash said. The Bostonian Hotel in Boston, The Knickerbocker in Chicago and The Bailey’s Hotel London are examples. “These are recognized by our customers as independent hotels,” he said.
There are five current Biltmore properties, highlighted by a property in London’s Mayfair and also The Biltmore Los Angeles, a storied property that dates back to 1923. Its lifestyle bucket consists of M Social, Studio M, M Socialite and Millennium Place. Other verticals include Premium, Comfort and Long Stay.
Prakash likes to say that Millennium has hotels from Anchorage to Auckland, which, beyond its cute alliteration, illustrates its breadth of product. “Millennium is a nimble, solution-oriented operator, poised for growth,” Prakash said.
Its loyalty program, My Millennium, currently totals four million members with its largest bloc consisting of Middle Eastern members. Prakash noted that 80% of all Millennium bookings come through its loyalty members. “The program really resonates with members,” he said.
