Robert Boulogne
Twenty-eight years
ago, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts was a young start-up
with just one property, the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas.
Today, with 21 luxury properties worldwide in its portfolio and
several more in the negotiation pipeline, the Dallas-based hotel
management company is betting its carefully grown brand is ready to
flex its name and luxury reputation.
In October, as part of an official
branding strategy, Rosewood’s chief operating officer, Robert
Boulogne, announced that, moving forward, each of the company’s
properties would carry the Rosewood name. “When you have only six
or seven hotels, branding isn’t that relevant,” said Boulogne.
“This effort is aimed at making it clear in the consumer’s mind
that they are buying Rosewood’s promise of exquisite service,
excellent food and beverage, and a sense of place.”
Currently, meeting and incentive
business represents roughly 10 percent of the company’s revenue
base and includes group buyouts at its Caribbean hotels, such as
Caneel Bay, Jumby Bay and Little Dix Bay.
The company also is eyeing expansion.
“Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Singapore are the obvious
places where we feel we need a presence,” said Boulogne. On the
resort end, access and exclusivity are the driving equation.
Rosewood Telluride is set to open in Colorado in 2009, followed by
Rosewood Costa Carmel in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, in 2010.
As the company grows -- it now has a
sales team of 25 in regional offices -- so too will the size of its
product. The current Rosewood property averages 90 rooms. “We would
like to see that at 125-150 rooms, with more meeting space,”
Boulogne noted.