History in the making
Seated beside the wood-panelled walls and lead-framed windows of Kensington's Milestone Hotel, William Burruss says he feels "strangely at home" in London. It's just as well because he has to cross the Atlantic twice a month and clocks up 200,000 air miles a year shuttling between his home base in Annapolis, Maryland, and a range of European destinations.
With an impressive track record of turning loss into profit during his career, he and his partner, John Cullen, believe they have found a formula that works.
With sales of $40m over the past year and a third more UK hotels in the Grand Heritage Hotels brochure than US properties, it would seem that the international hotel management, marketing and representation company is a business from over there doing well over here.
It was 1989 when Burruss and Cullen took control of Historic Inns of Annapolis under the Grand Heritage Hotels banner. "After one pint too many, John and I came up with the idea of starting a company that specialises in independently owned, historic hotels," recalls Burruss.
It may have been a dreadful time to launch a company, but the duo quickly built a thriving business from a recipe of recession-hit properties at bargain prices, technology and good salesmanship.
Sporting a "straight hotel background" with Ritz-Carlton and the lesser known Potomac Hotel Group in the US, Burruss channelled his experience into Grand Heritage.
"When we started the company, I noticed a common thread early on. When we applied an independent sales process, there wasn't such a need for blanket marketing. The point is to focus on direct sales and good value advertising. We now train our sales team to sell the hotel experience. Our people are well-versed in the independent sales process."
This means sales staff are heavily incentivised, working from a low basic income. Each person is assigned specific properties which they promote with fervour.
As Burruss says: "The independent sales technique has to be a motivated hunger. You have to make the phone ring and, if you're small, that means you have to get out on the streets. It's very targeted. We're more than a consortium, we're a sales team."
Today, Burruss spends his time scouring Europe for future additions to the Grand Heritage family. From his existing 18 UK affiliates, properties such as Pennyhill Park in Surrey and Linden Hall near Newcastle-upon-Tyne are typical examples of what Grand Heritage wants to attract.
Bath, York and London are locations where Burruss would like more presence, but he has put a ceiling of 30 on his British collection.
Ireland and a cluster of European cities such as Lisbon, Milan and Rome are also high on Burruss's list. With some confidence, he predicts: "By the end of 1996, we hope to have a known hotel in every major western European country."
Fees start at about £700 and rise according to numbers of rooms and marketing help required. Commission rates vary between 6% and 15% of achieved sales and that, admits Burruss, "is where we make our real money".
Burruss thinks the main difference between UK and US hotels is not the service or food offered but technology - and the British are lagging behind.
"Many UK hoteliers lack an understanding of central reservations systems. They think that if they hook up to it, it will spit out bookings. They don't see that they have to work behind the machine. In the US, hoteliers constantly update the data and understand the power of travel agents - which isn't the case in the UK."
