NSW: Hotel group fights slump with big-spending program

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NSW: Hotel group fights slump with big-spending program

By James Shrimpton

SYDNEY, Feb 19 AAP - Luxury hotel group Le Meridien has mounted a positive campaignto beat the current tourism slump with a $A2.35 billion global investment plan for its144 properties in 57 countries.

CEO Juergen Bartels, known throughout the industry as "JB", outlined the program todayduring a visit to Sydney as part of a world tour.

His gift of a yellow rose to female journalists at his news conference was indicativeof the group's aim for a classy upgrade of facilities to become top of the world hotelrankings by 2004.

Key factor is the introduction of what Mr Bartels called a "dramatically different"

style of hotel bedroom, the Art-Tech room, with beds electronically controlled to suitall postures, a free-standing shower tower with three water jets and a 42-inch plasma-screenTV.

Mr Bartels said Le Meridien's business was on a downward curve even before the slumpthat followed the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In October it had been down by 28 per cent in all 57 countries, which had improvedto a 12 per cent fall by January; by the fourth quarter of 2002, the CEO said, it washoped to equal the record fourth quarter of 2000.

Like other hotel groups, Mr Bartels said, the London-based Le Meridien group had cutcosts last year, by STG27 million ($A75 million) - "something we never want to do again."

The worldwide Stg850 million ($A2.35 billion) investment program was designed to takeon the increasingly-popular boutique hotels "by combining individual style and servicewith a global portfolio of luxury properties."

Items such as smarter staff uniforms, croissants instead of "soggy white bread" andthe size of cakes of soap in the bathrooms were important to a hotel's image, he said.

He held up a small 14-gram packet of soap as offered in many hotels and said that afterone use an astonishing total of 45 billion such pieces were thrown away each year worldwide.

Le Meridien preferred to supply high-quality soaps that cost STG11.50 ($A31.90) apieceat Harrod's and which customers were welcome to souvenir when they left.

Mr Bartels also said the group was holding discussions on adding to its two hotelsin Australia, in Sydney and Melbourne, but declined to elaborate for fear that publicitymight "sabotage" negotiations.

Brisbane is believed to be one of his target cities.

A huge fan of Australia ("the value destination in world travel today"), he was impressedby the national economy and described Sydney as possibly the world's greatest conventioncity - although it needed sit-down space for more than the present 2,000 maximum.

Le Meridien opened 19 new hotels in 2000, four in 2001 with another dozen planned inthe next few years.

Mr Bartels, 51, has held executive positions with hotel groups in Europe, Canada andthe United States during his 40-year career in the industry.

AAP js/ph/br

KEYWORD: HOTELS (PIC AVAILABLE)