A certain brand of humour
In the ladies' lavatory of Hotel Kandinsky in Cheltenham, dresses circa 1950 adorn the walls. When the hotel's co-founder and designer Nigel Chapman put them in "as a bit of fun" he didn't expect that women would actually wear them.
But that is exactly what has happened half a dozen times since the 48-bedroom hotel opened in March. After a quick trip to powder their noses, women emerge dressed in the vintage dresses. At the end of the evening they dutifully return them to their hangers and leave, having had their bit of fun.
Fun is what Hotel Kandinsky is all about. The hotel aims to offer an alternative to the traditional three-star for weekday corporate guests. It is the first of a new brand, Alias, created by Chapman and his businesspartner, Nicholas Dickinson.
"Staying in a hotel for business is a bit of a bore," says Chapman. "What we are trying to offer here is a bit more tongue-in- cheek - it is supposed to be fun."
The decor reflects this. Twelve puppets from an authentic Chinese theatre hang above the table that serves as a reception desk, while the stairs leading down to the toilets are adorned with ceramic flying ducks. The woven rugs on the floor, the oversized plants, the comfy leather sofas, all give the impression the guest has just walked into the house of a slightly eccentric, well-travelled uncle rather than a hotel for business people.
Disliking the term "three-star", Dickinson prefers to classify the Kandinsky as a town- house hotel. Located in the Montpellier district of Cheltenham, Kandinsky offers the corporate traveller the kind of comfort that Chapman and Dickinson have become known for at their Luxury Family Hotel (LFH) properties. Woolley Grange in Bradford-on-Avon was the original, and four others have followed, including former Caterer Adopted Business Fowey Hall in Cornwall. At LFH the concept is to provide four-star luxury to families in a child-friendly environment. Leisure is what the pair know well, and Dickinson describes Alias as "providing for the corporate market with leisure top-up at the weekend".
Alias aims to fit the budget of most corporate travellers - usually around the £75 mark. The best corporate rate at Kandinsky is £60 for a single room, while top rate for a large double room is £140. Dickinson forecasts that from Mondays to Thursdays the hotel should achieve 100% occupancy, while the weekends will need marketing to fill.
Already he is confident of getting business from those who must come to Cheltenham for the weekend. Parents visiting their daughters at Cheltenham Ladies' College, for example. "What we do not have yet are those people who choose to have a weekend break in Cheltenham. That is the bit we need to work on," says Dickinson.
After four months, occupancy at the weekend is about 35%, while during the week it is 75%. Dickinson forecasts that average occupancy for the year will be 80-85%. In year one Dickinson expects the hotel to have revenue of £1.1m, growing to £1.75m in 2001, and £2m the following year.
To entice the weekend guests, Kandinsky offers a package for two nights' accommodation with breakfast and dinner for two on one evening for £189 per couple.
A nightclub may sound like an unlikely pull for guests but Dickinson and Chapman are unperturbed. U-bahn (German for underground) is not a head-banging disco music nightclub, however. The 1950s decor provides the clue. There are yellow leather chairs in reception, a red padded bar with leather bar stools, German black-and-white nude photographs from 1938 and blue ceramic cat statues. Chapman describes it as somewhere one might have met Christine Keeler.
The key is that it is exclusive to hotel guests and invited members only. "The intention is that it will be the hook that attracts people to come and stay at the weekend. We have created a reason for them to come here because they can see it only as hotel guests," explains Dickinson.
The hotel's 50-seat restaurant is also trying to be different. Café Paradiso's selling point is an "authentic wood-burning oven imported from Naples, built by a Neopolitan, serving pizzas cooked by Tomasso, our Neopolitan pizzaiolo."
Head chef Sarah Payton offers light bites, entrées and daily specials. Cheddar soufflé with garlic cream sauce (£5.75) as a starter, seared tuna niçoise (£14) a main course, and pizzas, served for two, start at £10.90 for a margherita.
Not seen just as a hotel restaurant, Café Paradiso has its own entrance and Dickinson is already pleased with the revenues. His initial projection of £8,000 per week in sales has been surpassed and in late June the restaurant was taking £12,000.
But having already built one successful brand, why go back to the drawing board and create another? The answer may well be familiar to other small business owners. "To really grow this business - in terms of staff and turnover - we needed to have substantial expansion plans," says Dickinson.
The LFH brand will continue to grow. Dickinson has just announced that LFH will develop 32 bedrooms in the east wing of the National Trust Ickworth Estate, in addition to 11 apartments in the nearby lodge, as the Ickworth hotel in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It will open in autumn 2001.
But Dickinson and Chapman know expansion in such a niche market will be limited. Alias, on the other hand, can grow more rapidly - the plan is to open four new hotels per year over the next two to three years.
"Alias is as much a niche product as Luxury Family Hotels but is a niche in a much bigger market," explains Dickinson.
Growth means that Dickinson and Chapman are no longer just a two-man band with a couple of head office back-up staff, such as Ruth Gallop, director of sales. Alias and LFH are now run under the parent company LHM Plc, with Paul Dukes as chairman of the board. In addition, finance director Tony Nares, marketing director Rupert Kenyon and managing director of the Alias brand Peter St Lawrence, have joined the group.
In the early days, there will be no cross-marketing between LFH and Alias as Dickinson does not want to send mixed messages to the existing clientele. Instead, Kenyon is building likely databases for Alias clientele and preparing to target them with specific mail campaigns and advertising.
Two more Alias hotels are under way and while service and operational standards will apply across the brand, each will have its individuality. On the site of the West of England Eye Infirmary in Exeter, Hotel Barcelona will open in December.
A total of £3.5m has been spent buying and renovating the 46-bedroom hotel which will have a Mediterranean feel. The restaurant will also be a Café Paradiso although the nightclub, with a cinematic theme, will be named Kino.
Next on the list will be an as yet unnamed Alias hotel in Manchester, which will open in spring or early summer next year. The 60-bedroom hotel will stand opposite the existing Malmaison hotel.
Ultimately, Dickinson acknowledges the idea would be to build the brand to 20 hotels and hope a big player finds the group an attractive option to buy.
