It has been quite a while since Marco Polo embarked on his epic sojourn following the Silk Road to China. The eponymous hotel group that bears his name has also had its share of adventures since it opened the doors to the Hong Kong Hotel in the 1960s.

Marco Polo Hotels may have won and lost some iconic properties over the last few decades but they are carving out a new strategy and returning their focus on the region that they know best. 

Like it’s famous namesake, the brand is looking to China as the mainstay of their projected growth as well as repositioning and returning to strategic Asian gateway cites.  The wholly-owned hotel division of Wharf Holdings has been under the helm of Steve Kleinschmidt as president since he came on board in 2007, from previously managing the hospitality and leisure consulting practice for pricewaterhouse Coopers in Canada.

Area general manager for China, Henk Meyknecht has been with the group for eight years and has pioneered their push into China. Prior to joining Marco Polo, he has worked for several major international brands in Europe, USA and Asia.

What kind of look are you aiming for in the Marco Polo hotels?

SK: The Marco Polo prototype going forward is really going to be based on the project: contemporary European styling with subtle touches of Asia which we have adopted here in the Marco Polo Wuhan in China. And as new projects come online, particularly the Wharf developed ones, this will be the look and feel that we’ll strive for. We’re not going to completely replicate what we’ve done here in Wuhan, but the look and feel generally, such as the standardisation of room size, ranges, provision of food and beverage facilities, how we deal with guest amenities, will be similar.

HM: There will obviously have to be some differences in design from project to project. Our hotel being built in Wuxi is one example. Because of the nature of the building – a super tower development with the hotel part of a single point tower – presented some differences in approach to the design, but the general look and feel will be quite similar to our new brand standard.

People will know they are in a Marco Polo hotel but they will also know that they are in that particular location. For instance, in the Wuhan property all of the artwork has been procured from local, contemporary Chinese artists. Every location has a distinct identity, a very different style in terms of contemporary Chinese art and we want to capitalise on that.

What expansion plans does the company have for the growth in Asia?

SK: Two years ago, there was a conscious decision that Marco Polo as a brand had tremendous potential to grow within this region. The goodwill established with some of our longer-established hotels needed to be leveraged more significantly, and we had the new hotels coming on-stream that were being developed by Wharf.

We have nine operating hotels currently and our tenth will be opening in February 2010. Our eleventh will be opening probably in May 2010, and we also have several current projects that are under development.  We took a decision to look at Marco Polo strategically, and how we can leverage the critical mass of hotels and what we’ve achieved here in Wuhan in terms of our prototype, and then begin to grow the brand in markets that make sense for us. And of course, China is a focus.

 

You have some very traditional properties. How are you targeting new owners with the new concept?

SK: Well, most of the owners, with the new management contracts that we’ve signed, if they’ve had an opportunity to see this hotel [Wuhan], it gives them a sense as to what can be achieved, and what is consistent with our design objectives. This is not to constrain them, because all of these owners have their own vision and we don’t want to stifle that, but we want them to see what we’re trying to achieve. We want them to know what is distinctly Marco Polo. And for the most part that has been very well received.

 

Now on the flip side of that, most of these owners and developers know our Hong Kong properties, and in particular they’re very familiar with the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, which is a very traditional design, and they appreciate the success of that property.

It’a fine balance. You can’t make radical changes in some of our more established properties, but you also want them to be modern and contemporary, and not too far off what we’re doing with the new properties coming on stream.

 

How do you choose the design firms for your projects?

SK: We run through a tendering process, and the selection or the grouping of designers will typically be quite consistent. In other words, if we’re going for mainstream, international, branded designers, it’s unlikely that we’d inject smaller or local or independent designers within that grouping. It very much depends upon the hotel and what we’re trying to achieve.

 

HM: There will obviously have to be some differences in design from project to project. Our hotel being built in Wuxi is one example. Because of the nature of the building–a super tower development with the hotel part of a single point tower–presented some differences approach to the design, but the general look and feel will be quite similar to our new brand standard.

 

SK: LTW Design Works based in Singapore was awarded the Wuhan project. Each project will have its own tendering process and we’ll invite the companies based on their track record. Some design firms have expertise in particular areas. So we tend to take that evaluation process very seriously and evaluate each firm’s credentials and their submissions on the basis of what is best for the project.

 

What made you decide to give the contract to LTW?

SK: They understood and their design was very reflective of our objective: to create a hotel that would have longevity. A hotel that was contemporary, with European touches with the subtle references to Asia and also the subtle references to the local market. That was really what we were trying to achieve. They understood the economies and the economic objectives.

We wanted something that was innovative and that would strike people as different. They really achieved that.

 

At what stage did the hotel design feature in the multi-use development planning process?

SK: The hotel component came later in the process. This particular building was originally designed as an office tower. Wharf later made a decision a signature hotel, would add value to the mixed-use real estate development in a significant way.

 

What design challenge did that change in direction bring?

SK: It presents both challenges and opportunities. Some of the challenges really come when you’re fitting in large areas–things like ballrooms–into a space that may have originally been designed for another use. Ceiling heights can sometimes become an issue when you do a conversion this extreme, although in this hotel it certainly hasn’t proven to be a negative issue. Back-of-house is always an issue—creating enough space for supporting facilities for the staff - but really it has come together quite nicely.

 

How much focus are you putting on growth in China?

SK: It will be the market where we will see the most rapid growth in the number of properties branded as Marco Polo. However, we have a very strong desire to re-establish Marco Polo in Southeast Asian gateway markets. Marco Polo Singapore was an icon, and we have tremendous brand recognition in that marketplace and in Southeast Asia generally. We need to capitalise on that, so our focus will be to re-establish in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Jakarta. So while our current momentum is more heavily focused in the China market, we are turning our attention to Southeast Asia.

 

Southeast Asia is important for us. Regional growth is the cornerstone of our approach. We want to deal with where we are known before we start thinking about leaping into other markets in other continents.

 

How do you incorporate standards for environmental awareness?

SK: Most of the efforts that we have made have been within the context of our overall corporate social responsibility and guidelines. They’re principally focused at this point in time on energy efficiency.  We’ve got older properties where we have challenges in implementing new systems that would meet leading edge energy efficiency and environmental responsibility. With new projects, we have a much greater opportunity to look at systems, procedures, and supply of FF&E that meet particular tests that we have established.

 

Like many companies we are at the beginning stages of rolling out these kinds of programmes, but it is certainly an objective. The whole sustainable movement is something that we take very seriously.