“The hospitality industry has evolved significantly over the past decade, evidenced by new customer segments, expectations and lifestyle habits, along with an industry-wide trend towards a greater emphasis on the overall well-being, enrichment and experience of travellers,” said Nessmann.
Pan Pacific Hotels Group CEO Lothar Nessmann has been in Australia for the official launch of Pan Pacific Melbourne, taking time to unveil the group’s refreshed brands’ positioning.
“The hospitality industry has evolved significantly over the past decade, evidenced by new customer segments, expectations and lifestyle habits, along with an industry-wide trend towards a greater emphasis on the overall well-being, enrichment and experience of travellers,” said Nessmann.
“Today’s travellers place greater value than ever on authenticity, customisation and flexibility ahead of décor and facilities; genuine service over cookie-cutter; and increasingly – convenience.
“More to the point, they prefer brands that listen to them and offer unique values, perhaps not always so immediately apparent in some of the bigger hotel chains.”
Nessmann said with PPHG’s tenth anniversary approaching next year, the group decided it was timely to take a fresh look at its brand positioning and customer offering – “with a long term view to better serving and anticipating guests’ needs, now and into the future”.
This process saw PPHG consult extensively with its guests, partners and other frequent travellers, before developing its new brand positioning.
“With an emphasis on the importance of trust forming a recurrent theme of stakeholder feedback, the group took great care to incorporate this philosophy into its marketing taglines,” Nessmann said.
The result is three distinct, but interconnected, messages for its master brand, Pan Pacific Hotels Group – Sincerely Yours, as well as its two hotel brands, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts – Find your Balance, and PARKROYAL Hotels & Resorts – The Best of You, By Us, all underpinned by PPHG’s brand DNA to be sincere in everything it does.
The changes have not just been confined to the refreshed brand re-positioning, with critical changes implemented across the group’s business operations.
These have included streamlining its website to panpacific.com, and optimising the user experience across different platforms and devices.
PPHG has also revamped its loyalty programmes. Its existing consumer loyalty programme has been rebranded as Pan Pacific DISCOVERY, incorporating a number of changes intended to provide more meaningful benefits to members.
These include exclusive room rates, late checkouts, and room upgrades for direct bookings, with PPHG’s Serviced Suites guests also eligible to participate in the programme from August this year.
Additionally, the group has recently launched its exclusive, invitation-only Pan Pacific Connections to reward its valuable B2B market, with corporate clients awarded points for booking rooms, meetings and events at PPHG properties, redeemable on a variety of benefits including hotel stays, shopping, wellness and dining vouchers.
Most importantly of all, according to Nessmann, the group is investing significantly in its people.
“For us it’s about getting the basics right, and encouraging staff to go beyond the minimum to do a little more, and we have charged senior leadership with responsibility for driving this philosophy through the organisation to ensure that everyone “walks the talk”.
“Secondly, we’re hiring people who are a good fit with our vision, purpose and values. To attract the best talent, we’ve now introduced a Graduate Management Development programme to accelerate high potential graduates with the goal of preparing them for a general manager position in 8 to 10 years.”
With just 40 properties around the world, Nessmann believes that its size allows PPHG to be more nimble and responsive to changes in the markets where it operates, and better equipped to focus on quality over quantity.
A strong ownership under the Singaporean-based UOL Group Ltd, also gives the group a competitive advantage in both owner-managed and management-only growth strategy.
“We’re now well-established in the Asia Pacific region, with a unique heritage which sets us apart – a combination of Japanese and Australian brand history coupled with Singaporean values,” Nessmann said.
“Plus, we’re excited to roll out a handful of stunning new-builds over the next three years which will complement and enhance our existing portfolio, including Pan Pacific London (2020), Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Jakarta (2020), Pan Pacific Orchard, Singapore (2021), and Pan Pacific Nha Trang Resort (2021).
“And following the success of our flagship PARKROYAL Penang Resort in Malaysia, we’re building two more resorts in Malacca and Langkawi.”