Le Meridien plans global family initiative

George Fleck, vice president of Le Meridien and Westin Hotels & Resorts, two of the upper-end brands of the global hotel chain Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, said out of 6 million guests who stayed at one of 104 Le Meridien hotels last year, only 20,000 were children.

Yet, Le Meridien foresees a good opportunity to grow the leisure segment by introducing its Le Meridien family campaign, in addition to the corporate and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segments in which the hotel group already has a strong foothold. This is because no other 5-star global hotel brand has introduced a similar campaign at this scale to serve the family segment, he said.

"We want to lift occupancy in the segment that we had never targeted specifically," Fleck said.

Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa was chosen as the venue to kick-off the group’s global family campaign on November 28. The family campaign will be rolled out at 100 Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts globally. A similar campaign was also launched for the Westin brand at one of its New York hotels early this month. As a result, more than 300 hotels globally will launch the family campaign, he said.

Catering to the growing global demand for family travel and the evolving needs of travellers with children, Le Meridien Family will comprise three key elements: Next Gen Kids Clubs; Destination Unlocked; and a Lego toy complimentary welcome amenity.

Fleck said the 20,000 young customers registered last year could be lower than the real number of children at the hotels since many families might not have registered their toddlers or other children. Orders for Lego, which supplies toys to the hotel chain, confirm his belief that many younger child guests are not recorded.

He said orders for Lego Duplo, which is for children aged from 18 months to 5 years, have exceeded orders for Lego toys for older children, whereas the hotel records show that the number of older children registered exceeds the number of younger children.

Le Meridien considers Thailand a good place to pioneer the campaign since it has more diversity of hotel types. The company has three city hotels and four resort hotels, including two on Phuket and Samui islands, and another two in the mountainous Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. The group has two Westin brand hotels in Thailand, one in Bangkok and the other in Phuket.

The biggest customer groups for Le Meridien will continue to be the corporate and MICE sectors, he said, but it hopes the family campaign can work as a "deal breaker" when family customers choose between Le Meridien and other hotels.

Thailand has proved itself to be a very "reliable" market, as the country has witnessed a steady increase in tourism arrivals every year, he said. "It’s still safe, with strong hospitality and affordable pricing [of the hotels here]," Fleck said.

He said the Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) customer loyalty programme could aid Thailand’s tourism industry because more than 53 per cent of Le Meridien’s guests at its 11 hotels in China are SPG members who could choose to redeem their points to stay at one of the brands’ hotels in Thailand.

The family programme will be customised at each hotel. Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi, for instance, will offer Thai-language courses for its younger guests.

Martin Wuethrich, general manager of Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi, said the family campaign would be beneficial to Thailand, which is lesser known as a destination for family travellers.