Skift Take
As strong as the luxury travel market has been for the past few years, can that success continue? One&Only's COO Philippe Zuber thinks it can, as long as brands don't forget about the essentials of service.
One&Only Resorts, which is owned by Dubai-based Kerzner International, is growing quite a bit in 2017. The brand, which got its start 15 years ago, has built an acclaimed reputation for itself as a luxury brand favored by celebrities and affluent travelers, and in that time, its portfolio has grown to nine.
This year, it's adding two new resorts — One & Only Seef in Bahrain, and One&Only Sanya in Hainan, China — as well as reopening two others — One&Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius and One&Only Ocean Club in The Bahamas, which just reopened last month. And over the next few years, it's also planning to open properties in Montenegro and two others in Mexico, with additional resorts in the works.
Overseeing the expansion of the One&Only brand is Philippe Zuber, One&Only's president and chief operating officer, who joined the company in December 2015.
Skift had an opportunity to meet with Zuber in early February to discuss One&Only's growth plans, as well as the continuous challenges and opportunities of operating as a luxury hotel brand today.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Skift: Are there specific regions or destinations that you're focused on growing in particular going forward?
Zuber: We're very opportunistic, you know? We believe our choice will always be made with the location. We just want to make sure that each site, each location we're going, has something different to offer. But that being said, we have selected a few number of countries which we believe our clientele is desired to travel to. We would like, as well, to develop as a company, areas where we have different hotels in order to work as a cluster.
For example, we have another hotel in Mexico, the Mandarina [which broke ground in 2016]. We have One&Only Palmilla, which is an acclaimed resort and having received so much awards, and specifically from this market. They are two different offerings. Palmilla is a very mature destination, offering standing beachfront locations, and you have the mountain, you have the desert, you have the food and beverage. You have a 27-hole golf course. Mandarina, which is coming to 2018 in the middle of the jungle, is an absolutely a breathtaking setting. It's Rick Joy designed. That's our wish, and then in the future we'll try to have those kinds of developments to make sure that we can have one or two within a destination, or not too far away from each other.
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