Omni Hotels Is Investing Heavily to Become a Luxury Brand
Skift Take
The Omni brand may have a stodgy reputation in some quarters. But the U.S. owner-operator is an interesting contrarian in how it's asset-heavy and unafraid of building ballrooms.
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.Omni Hotels & Resorts isn't your father's hospitality group — literally and figuratively speaking.
Robert Rowling recently passed the day-to-day oversight to his youngest son Blake Rowling via their Texas holding company TRT. The younger Rowling (rhymes with "bowling") aims to move the Omni brand further upscale into the luxury category. Last year, Kurt Alexander became president of Omni, replacing Peter Strebel, who moved to the role of chairman. The company, with a portfolio of more than 50 properties, ended 2022 at the top end of "upper upscale," meaning that its average rate as a brand was "very close to $300 a night." It will launch a brand refresh this year along with roughly $250 million in renovations to justify even higher nightly rates.Omni represents a contrarian play.
Omni owns and operates the majority of its hotels and resorts. That's in contrast with names, such as Marriott, Accor, and Hilton, which have disposed of their properties to become "asset light." (For context, see my earlier column "Hotel Group Faith in Asset Light Model Opens Gap for Upstarts.") Omni is heavily invested in convention hotels. That's in contrast with how many hotel companies aren't building new large complexes with ballrooms. It keeps its debt low, which is unusual in the sector. Omni claims to hold its own against the bigger names in hotels with much bigger loyalty programs. A heavy tech investment this year may help it further.Omni has been crawling up the chain scale in quality and reputation for a few decades.
The Rowling family bought the brand at an auction in early 1996. The reported $500 million deal included nine hotels and management contracts for 26 others. Mo