Opportunity for new boutique hotel brand, says Robert Cook

17 October 2013 by
Opportunity for new boutique hotel brand, says Robert Cook

There is the opportunity to be seized for the development of a major new boutique hotel brand in the UK, according to Robert Cook, chief executive of De Vere Hotels and Village Urban Resorts, speaking this morning at the Annual Hotel Conference.

"The hotel world is moving so fast at present that it is not just about seizing the day, it is about seizing the moment," he said in his keynote speech at the Hilton Deansgate hotel in Manchester.

Cook outlined to the conference the numerous occasions throughout his career when he had "seized" the moment - as part of the pre-opening team at the Balmoral hotel in Edinburgh, two stints with Malmaison, and in his current role with De Vere, where he is overseeing the redevelopment of the Belfry, near Birmingham, to return it to its former glory.

"Success in this industry is all about seizing the moment, as the major groups have done with launching a boutique brand as IHG has done with Indigo, Starwood with W and Marriott with Edition.

"You have only got to look at the success of the newly opened Idle Rocks in St Mawes by David Richards, the various properties operated by Rick Stein in Padstow and the Pig by Robin Hutson," he said.

"These are all people who have seized the moment. While investors may be considering putting money into some of the big brands, I think there is a major opportunity to seize the moment and put their money behind some of the smaller businesses which have the potential to do very well."

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