Great Eagle soars with Langham Place brand (hktdc.com)


	Helmut Knipp says Langham Hotels International will leverage its Hong Kong experience to roll out the Langham Place brand worldwide

The original Langham Hotel opened in London in 1865 as Europe's first grand hotel. Now managed by Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels International – a division of Great Eagle Holdings - the company chose Hong Kong for the launch of its new luxury brand, Langham Place. German-born Helmut Knipp, Senior Vice-President, Development, Langham Hotels International, explains the brand's global growth strategy, and why Hong Kong makes the perfect platform.

'Like many, I'd come to Hong Kong (in 1996) on a two year contract, and kept extending. It's a very exciting, fast-moving city that gets down to business, allowing a company to grow and an individual to grow both personally and professionally.

I was recruited here to manage CCA International Ltd, which at its peak had 35 golf, country, city clubs and hotels in 14 different countries, all but two of which were in Asia. Hong Kong is an ideal place if you have to travel a lot. Bangkok and Jakarta are one and a half hours behind us, and Tokyo and Seoul one hour ahead, so you don't have a big time difference. And Hong Kong has an excellent airport – one of the world's few truly efficient airports. When people ask me where I live, I'll tell them 3B on Cathay Pacific – so air travel efficiency is vital for me.

The original Langham Hotel in London was a pace-setter. It was the first hotel to have air conditioning, the first to offer hot and cold running water in guest rooms, the first to have flushing toilets, and the first with a "moving room" (the elevator). One hundred and forty years later (in 2005), the Langham Place brand was launched in Hong Kong heralding a new era of firsts. We are, to my knowledge, still the only hotel with a sophisticated, internet protocol in-room phone system that allows us to input personal data our guests have provided.

Ability to bounce back

The past 10 years have been a decade of remarkable ups and downs. I have never seen the hotel industry in such a depression as occurred during Sars – but then, with typical Hong Kong resilience, it adjusted. Now we are a world away from those times: the hotel industry is booming, and I believe there's not a better place to be for this industry than in Hong Kong right now.

Demand continues to grow, through our expanding convention and trade fair business – which Hong Kong does so well – from international travellers using Hong Kong as their hub, to outbound tourists from the Chinese mainland, for whom Hong Kong is their logical first step.

Our 665-room Langham Place hotel in Mongkok has, since opening, consistently run at 80 per cent occupancy. It is part of a mixed-use development owned by our parent company, Great Eagle Holdings, which also consists of a 15-storey vertical mall and a 60-storey office building. All three components have exceeded everybody's wildest expectations. The shopping mall is almost fully leased and is one of the busiest malls in Hong Kong. The office tower is over 90 per cent leased to Hong Kong, mainland and overseas companies, with a major US department store chain taking up seven floors of space for its global sourcing operations.

Lifeblood of Hong Kong

This vibrancy is the life of Hong Kong – and the reason so many, like myself, are drawn to stay here. It is a great city to live in and make a living, where you don't get bored easily, and where one works hard, but also makes lasting friendships. My wife (she is from the Philippines) and I enjoy a strong support network within the expatriate community, and in addition to the restaurants, bars and entertainment, we can find everything we need at Hong Kong's excellent international grocery stores.

Having launched Langham Place in Hong Kong in 2005, our company's major focus is on expansion in China. Three new Langham Place hotels are scheduled to open in China, with two in Beijing and one in Changchun. Langham Place's first eco-resort in Krabi, Thailand will also be opening on January 1, 2008. We are working on projects in Bali, India, US, Europe and the Middle East. (The group already has hotels in London, Boston, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Auckland managed under another brand – The Langham).

This year 30 million Chinese will travel overseas, and the Central Government predicts that by 2015, outbound tourist numbers will reach 100 million. By introducing the Langham Place brand in China, we hope mainland travellers will look for it overseas. Hong Kong makes the ideal base for this growth, and we are committed to rolling out the same quality product that has proven so successful here.'