Preferred Hotels & Resorts to add 10 hotels to South Asian portfolio
Preferred Hotels & Resorts – the world’s largest independent hotel brand with more than 650 unique member hotels, resorts, and residences across 85 countries, kicked off its Asia Pacific series of 50thAnniversary celebrations at The Leela Palace New Delhi, hosted by CEO, Lindsey Ueberroth and executive VP, Saurabh Rai.
“As we commemorate the Preferred brand’s 50-year legacy of inspiring travel, we are more committed than ever to providing travelers with even more opportunities to embrace the spirit of independence and to making our pineapple logo synonymous with the ultimate hallmark in world-class hospitality,” said Ms. Ueberroth. “It is so exciting and humbling to see how far we have come as a company, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate this major milestone with our associates, partners and friends from around the world.
“As the region’s largest independent hotel brand, Preferred Hotels & Resorts is entering its 16th year in India, and we are focused on continuing to build on the foundation of our company’s 50-year legacy of championing the independent hotel space. We are committed to forging ahead with more innovative and strategic consumer-focused initiatives to foster greater engagement in this market,” added Rai.
The company exceeded their hotel development goals in the South Asian region and welcomed 18 new hotel members since the rebranding in 2015, including seven in India last year. These include The Chedi Mumbai, Turyaa Chennai, WelcomeHotel Coimbatore, Shahpura House, Shahpura Haveli, Fortune Inn Promenade and Feathers-A Radha Hotel. Looking ahead, Preferred Hotels & Resorts is aiming to grow their portfolio in the South Asian region by 10, to make it 50 hotel members by the year 2020.
Preferred Hotels & Resorts will welcome 13 new independent hotel openings this year. From Asia Pacific, these include The Middle House and The Primus Hotel Shanghai Hongiao in Shanghai as well as Sherwood Suites in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
In light of ever-growing consumer appeal for residential-style vacation alternatives, the company will place a concerted focus on growing its Preferred Residences collection, which now stands at 70 members globally, with a goal of reaching 100 destinations by the year’s end. To support this, the company will re-launch the Preferred brand website (PreferredHotels.com), offering travelers a more intuitive way to book independent hotels and residences. The new website will feature a dedicated section on Preferred Residences to enhance engagement with family, corporate, and leisure travelers, and drive direct more direct bookings to the properties in the collection.
The I Prefer Hotel Rewards program is the other corporate priority for the year, and the company will introduce new enhancements to member benefits and exclusive offers that will leverage on the Golden Anniversary campaign and its social components to further strengthen engagement with their loyal guests. To date, I Prefer has more than 2.5 million members worldwide.
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