SINGAPORE, Dec 15 — Anyone passing by the Raffles City area will be hard pressed not to notice the dramatic facade of the South Beach Hotel piercing through the skyline.
A luxury hotel that is part of a mixed-use development consisting of office space, residences, a hotel, as well as retail outlets, the South Beach Hotel is now operated by JW Marriott and will be known as JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach. This marks the first foray into Singapore for JW Marriott, one of the luxury brands within the Marriott International portfolio.
From today, the 634-room hotel boasting design elements by French designer Philippe Starck will open with a soft launch with five food and beverage concepts, including a restaurant by Korean American celebrity chef Akira Back. In time, the number of bars and restaurants will be increased to nine. Guests can check into the hotel from January 1, but the official grand opening of the hotel will only take place in March.
The hotel will also feature a ladies-only floor, which is out of the ordinary for the brand. “The fact that we have an entire dedicated floor is really unique to this property,” said Christy Donato, vice-president, Global Brand Management, JW Marriott Hotels and Resorts, adding that the feature was added with Asia travel trends in mind.
It is just one of the ways in which the brand is reinforcing its strong position in the growing luxury hotels market.
Why has it taken this long for JW Marriott to come to Singapore?
When we look globally for the right opportunity for us, it is really important that not only is it the right hotel, but the right location within a certain city. So, of course Singapore has been on the top of our list for quite some time, and when this opportunity came up, we thought, ‘This is a perfect fit’, because it has such an amazing design story... and it allows us to come into the market very quickly, because it was an existing hotel. What we’ll bring to life is the sense of the spirit of the hotel — of course, with our focus on training our associates and bringing that exceptional luxury service.
Did you have to make any changes to the pre-existing hotel?
There have been touch-ups here and there, but because it is a relatively new property, it was not as enormous an undertaking as it may be when we take historic assets. Some of the restaurants are still under construction. The spa is under development right now and that will open in the March timeframe. Six individual spa rooms are a part of that; in addition, the Spa By JW, which has express pods and express treatments. There was quite a bit of investment in the heart of house, which is where we are focusing on making sure that our associates are prepared to serve our guests and take their stage.
How competitive is the business of hotels at the moment?
We look at the luxury category a lot and we are actually seeing that it’s grown over 50 per cent over the last five years. That’s two times any other type of travel, so the luxury segment is quite healthy and growing. With Marriott International now having over 30 brands, I think we have certainly asserted our leadership position in the tier, but it continues — there are always new, independent brands popping up and we have to keep our eyes on that. And then, of course, different parts of the travel experience, whether it’s Airbnb or what have you, that we continue to keep our eye on.
What does it take to maintain and grow such a successful brand?
When you think about the luxury tier, there are many, many beautiful hotels in the world, but the service experience is one of the most memorable opportunities that we have to make an impact on our guests. So, we are continuing to invest in the training and service so that our associates can best serve our guests. And, I would say, really keeping up with trends and making sure that we’re trying to be a step ahead, whether that’s the rise of well-being or the rise of culinary excursions.
When you travel, what’s the first thing you look for as an indicator of quality in a hotel room?
One of the things I’ll probably do on the way in — it’s subconscious — is run my hand over the bed sheet, just to get a sense of the type of environment that I’m in. For me, the bed sheet is very important, especially when you are spending many nights in a hotel — the quality and thread count, to me, is very important. I do think it really helps you get a good night’s rest. So I’ll certainly take my hand and take a nice swipe to make sure it is of high quality. — TODAY
