Skift Take
By owning its 60 properties, Omni Hotels feels it has more quality and consistency control over the meeting planner sales experience, and more impact on delivering local experiences for meeting attendees.
Omni Hotels owns and operates its 60-plus properties in North America, unlike most other major hospitality brands with a pure marketing and management business model based on an asset-light strategy.
According to Peter Strebel, the new CMO and senior VP of sales at Omni Hotels since January, the value of direct ownership is proven by the fact that the brand ranks highest in the upper upscale category in the J.D. Power 2016 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.
"Our competition is very fragmented," Strebel told Skift. "You've got REITs that own some hotels, and banks that own some hotels, and then there's third-party ownership and third-party management, and franchise. There's a hodgepodge of cultures going on in those hotel companies, so we feel that this model is a smart model, and we're glad that our owner likes it."
Omni has traditionally excelled in the U.S. meetings and conventions market, but it's pivoted in recent years toward developing more experiential meeting opportunities. As Skift reported earlier this year, the brand's growth strategy includes building more hotels integrated into cultural landmarks and sports stadiums to deliver turnkey group experiences and creative venue options for meeting planners.
The newest Omni developments are attached to the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Braves stadiums. The company is also in various bidding and development stages for new convention center hotels in Boston, Fort Lauderdale, and Oklahoma City.
We spoke to Strebel last week about Omni's internal strategy behind the brand's development pipeline. As well, the CMO is adamant to increase exposure around hunger in America. He stressed that Omni's partnership with Feed America to support food banks in 42 communities is a significant brand differentiator, which he says is aligned with Omni's direct investment in its assets and the communities where the company conducts business.
Skift: How does Omni Hotels' development strategy combining convention center hotels with cultural and sporting venues resonate with meeting planners?
Peter Strebel: We try to really bring in something special in every market. Each hotel is different and unique to help position the property as a local experience. Planners love it. So we're looking at instead of throwing in a complimentary cocktail reception, maybe we'll throw in a local experience. Everybody is into
