What is Asian hospitality? It is a term that became popular in the early years of this century to classify hotel chains from East Asia that were opening properties in the West and bringing higher and more respectable levels of service to their hotels.
When chains such as Mandarin Oriental and Peninsula (and, to a lesser extent, Shangri La) opened luxury hotels in the US and Europe, their arrival was regarded as a revolution because it mirrored the take-it-or-leave-it attitude of the larger American chains.
The proliferation of Asian chains has led guests to revise their expectations of luxury hotels. But there was a small irony at the heart of the Asian hospitality concept.
Within Asia there are countries such as Japan, Thailand and Indonesia (especially Bali) that were considered the epitome of grace and elegance in service. But almost all the Asian chains were Chinese: Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental were from Hong Kong. Shangri La was owned by overseas Chinese. Of the new luxury chains, Rosewood and Capella ended up in Chinese hands. (Typically the owners were either expatriate Chinese or Singapore or Hong Kong companies.)
Some of the chains in countries that were considered centers of grand hospitality once moved out of Asia. And while the Chinese are brilliant, they have no real reputation for being friendly (let alone hospitable) among their neighbors.
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Thailand, which has some of the best hotels in the world, never really succeeded outside Asia, although, for a brief, confusing moment, it looked like chains like Dusit would be successful globally.
Change has finally begun.
The Bangkok-based Minor Group now has 640 hotels in more than 60 countries and its luxury brand Anantara has a strong presence in Europe and the Middle East. And yet, despite the Thais’ reputation as Asia’s great hoteliers, Anantara has escaped inclusion in the Asian hospitality ranks.
It may have something to do with the person behind the group. Bill Heinecke is a legend in Thailand where his life story is the kind of saga that TV shows are made of.
Heinecke was born to American parents who lived throughout Asia (his father was a diplomat and his mother a journalist). The family moved to Thailand when Bill was 14, and he displayed an entrepreneurial streak, becoming successful in advertising before founding Minor Holdings. The name derives from his age: he was a legal minor (under 18) when he founded the company.
He proved to be a remarkable businessman, venturing into several businesses and displaying a sharp sense of style. Thailand is full of Heinecke stories, but the one that has contributed most to this legend is the one about his feud with Pizza Hut.
Heineke’s company was a Pizza Hut franchise in Thailand and created the brand. But when his agreement with the American corporation was about to expire he was surprised to learn that it would not be renewed. Pizza Hut thought it had the upper hand and Henneke seemed outwardly ready to leave the pizza business once the deal was finally struck down. In fact he was quietly creating a new brand called The Pizza Company, which broke free from Pizza Hut’s global menu and created pizzas that would work better with Thai customers. When his 45-day non-completion clause expired, Heineke suddenly converted all Pizza Hut restaurants into pizza company outlets. The shops continued to operate as before: only they were pizza company restaurants. Pizza Hut was ignored and the pizza company is now one of the biggest brands in Thailand.
Miner remains a major player in the restaurant sector but Heinecke’s real love were hotels. He started out as an owner and let Marriott and Four Seasons manage their hotels, but he demonstrated an innovative stake that surprised professional hoteliers. For example, when he built the impressive Four Seasons in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, he came up with the idea of ​​creating branded residences as part of the complex. The Four Seasons had never done this before but agreed to give Heinecke a chance. The concept was so successful that it has now become a standard practice throughout the industry and the Four Seasons itself generates huge revenues from branded residences at many of its properties.
Given his passion for business, it was inevitable that Heinecke would move from owning to managing hotels. He established Anantara as Minor’s luxury hotel brand and took it around the world.
Unusually it has managed to maintain relationships with the operators (Marriott, Four Seasons etc.) that run other hotels it owns as well as establish its own hotels as competitors to them. He took over the Four Seasons in Bangkok and now runs it himself as Anantara Siam, but remains the owner of Four Seasons in Koh Samui, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. Even more unusually, Anantara Siam competes directly with St. Regis (a Marriott brand), also owned by Heinecke.
No one has any objection to this unusual arrangement. And it works to everyone’s benefit. The Four Seasons Samui, which is owned by Henneke, benefited greatly from the success of The White Lotus TV show in which it appeared. But Henneke also owns the competition: Anantara on Koh Samui, and he says the hotel also benefited greatly from The White Lotus because the show put Koh Samui on the map. (Much of The White Lotus was also filmed on Samui Anantara and Anantara Phuket.)
Strangely for a man who knows India so well (he is best friends with VLCC’s Vandana and Mukesh Luthra and often stays with them when they are in Delhi) Heinecke has never opened a hotel in India. He now admits that they should not have left it so late, but argues that one reason for the delay was that the miner did not follow an asset-light model. It tended to own its properties or at least have a stake in them. It was difficult to do this with Indian laws and there were many opportunities in other countries where it was much easier to invest.
Over the past few years Miner has moved to what Heineke calls an asset-rights model, in which it is combining the hotels it owns with those it operates for other owners. Due to this change in strategy, pressure has now increased on a large scale in India.
Heneke was in Kolkata this week to sign the deal for Anantara at the new World Trade Center and meet owners who wanted Anantara to manage their hotels. An agreement was also signed for Anantara Resort in Coorg. And Anantara already operates a hotel in Jaipur.
It sounds absurdly ambitious but Henneke’s goal is 50 hotels in the next five years. Several new deals are already under negotiation.
So will Anantara bring Asian hospitality to India? This is an interesting question because no great Chinese/Asian brand has come to India. we don’t have
Mandarin Oriental, no peninsula, no banyan trees, no Capella and no rosewood. The only Chinese chain to come to India is Shangri La and none of its properties have made much of a splash.
As far as I can tell Henneke (who renounced his US citizenship years ago and now holds a Thai passport) doesn’t see Anantara as having much in common with the Chinese chains. The biggest influences on his idea of ​​hospitality have been the Four Seasons and I
Suspect he sees Anantara as a softer, more compassionate Thai version of the Canadian series. Their hotels aim to combine the efficiency and high quality of the Four Seasons with an elegant Thai edge.
Anantara is not their only brand, although it is the most luxurious. They bought the huge European NH chain a few years ago at least partly because they felt there were many undervalued assets in the NH Collection (the NH brand’s upmarket range). Some (for example in Amsterdam) have been overhauled and rebranded as Anantaras, but Henneke has great confidence in the future of regular NH properties, which he believes offer great value for money. I imagine NH will also come to India eventually. Elivana, which runs jungle lodges and hotels in Africa, will also do the same. As is Avani, Anantara’s other, more affordable lifestyle brand.
Like all self-made men who started with nothing, Henneke has learned to reverse his progress. The miner suffered losses in 1997 when Thailand was hit by a severe economic crisis. But Henneke saw the crisis as an opportunity because he was confident that Thailand would bounce back and buy new assets. The miner was badly affected by the tsunami, which caused heavy damage to its properties in Phuket and the Maldives. But Henneke once again came out strong and acquired more properties in the Maldives. (Miner now owns nine hotels in the island nation.)
It was Covid, he says, that really shook the group. Miners lost US$1 billion during that phase. But Henneke says now, “What impressed me most was that we could afford to lose a billion dollars and still move forward!”
This is the kind of spirit with which he handled bad publicity in England when Minor clashed with renowned London restaurateur Jeremy King, whose small group of restaurants included some of London’s trendiest venues. modest investment made
The King’s Group eventually owned over 70 percent, at least partly because it included famous restaurants such as The Wolseley that they believed could be replicated in other cities. King rejected every suggestion from Miner and refused to cooperate. King was eventually forced out of the company after a fight, during which the British press took King’s side.
But the restaurant group has thrived without King. A second Wolseley is opened in London and Heineke has converted restaurant brands into hotels. A Colbert Hotel (after the group’s Colbert restaurant in Sloane Square) is rumored to be in the works in London and the Wolseley has become a hotel brand itself: the first Wolseley hotel will soon open in New York.
So what will Henneke do in India? His attitude seems to be that the group has expertise in most areas of hospitality so he is open to all options. Anantara will be the most high-profile of the new ventures and says they will be efficient but luxurious city hotels with a resort feel.
And isn’t 50 hotels in five years a very ambitious target? Yes, he admits, it’s an ambitious goal. But that’s why he likes it. He performs at his best when the challenge is greatest.
