26 January 2012

Trump Hotels goes international

31 January 2011 8:23 AM By Harvey Chipkin HotelNewsNow.com contributor

Story Highlights
Trump Hotels will open hotels in the tallest building south of Miami and in the second tallest building in Canada. One veteran GM and another in his first job at the top will helm the new Trump properties. All Trump hotelsdomestic and international share back and front office systems.

TrumpInternationalHotel&Tower,Toronto

NEW YORKThe Trump Hotel Collection is going international. The collection will open its first properties outside the United States with a hotel in Toronto in March and then another in Punta Pacifica, Panama, in June. The general managers of the nascent Trump international divisionare Mickael Damelincourt, most recently executive assistant manager of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, who takes the top spot at the 261-room Trump International Hotel & Tower, Toronto; and Mark Stevenson, a 34-year hotel veteran who previously served as GM of The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas and the Ritz-Carlton San Juan. He takes over the 364-room Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower, Panama. Damelincourt and Stevenson spoke to HotelNewsNow.com about what they share operationally as they open in vastly different markets. One similarity: In true Trump style, they will be running hotels in very large buildings. The 70-story Panama hotel is the tallest building south of Miami; and the 65-story hotel in Toronto is the second tallest building in Canada. Both hotels will offer residences for sale. In Toronto, hotel rooms are on the lower floors and Mickael Damelincourt, GM, residences on the upper floors. In Panama, the International Hotel first 15 floors feature a casino, restaurants, spas, Trump Tower, Toronto & shops and Bay Loft apartments; hotel rooms and residences both start on the 16th floor. The Trump Collection is maintaining consistent operational standards throughout the globe as it grows. As a result, both properties will use the Micros OPERA system for front office operations, which includes the Trump Attachguesthistorysystem.BoththeTorontoandPanamahotelsalso will use Dataplus in the back office. For sales and marketing, the collection has turned to Newmarkets Delphi. Both hotels will be members of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts marketing group, which follows a switch by Trump several months ago from Leading Hotels of the World. We just liked their approach and booking platform, and the transition has gone very well,Damelincourt said.

On the service side, there is no separation of guests on separate floors,Damelincourt said. Everybody is treated equally. And our approach to training and recruiting is to let the associates personality show. I recently hired someone who joined Hertz out of college and worked there for four months. But her personality was very special and we will have her at the front desk. Our staff has no name tags to maintain the residential feel. Despite so many similarities, there will be differences in how the hotels operate. For instance, Damelincourt said he expects substantial business through GDS sources, including online travel agencies such as Expedia. However, Stevenson said, GDS use is still not significant in Panama. Amazingly, a lot of bookings are made by secretaries and assistants, so we have started a new Trump Privilege program for them. They will receive a point for each dollar of rate. Points will be distributed in a gift card usable in a hotel or with our partners. Toronto: Going downtown We are making a statement with our size and our location,said Damelincourt, referring both to the height of the building and that we are in downtown Toronto (in the Financial District at Bay and Adelaide streets), which were not a desirable neighborhood until recently. It is now home to the Toronto Film Festival, the second largest after Cannes, and other attractions. Most of the new hotels coming to the city are in this neighborhood. Trump will be competing against many other luxury hotels. Toronto is, after all, the home base for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Damelincourt said Trump will distinguish itself by its striking architecture, residential dcorandTrumpAttach. If a guest likes Veuve Clicquot champagne, it will be waiting for him or her on their next visit. We have the back room technology so a guest doesnt have to worry about these things, he said. Unlike the environment in Trumps early casino hotels (which operate separately), Trump Hotel Collection properties are not flashy. Our colors tend toward caviar and champagne, Damelincourt said. Panama: Booming economy Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower, According to Stevenson, Panama Panama is undergoing a huge boom with the widening of the canal, the construction of a subway and regular expansions of the airport. He said corporate business would fill the hotel during the week and believes Trump is the right brand in the right place. I like Trumps entrepreneurial visions,Stevenson said. (Trump is differentiated) by creating a true residential feel and design elements that come directly from Ivanka Trump,the Trump daughter who has been a model herself and has her own jewelry line. The three eldest Trump children, including Ivanka, run the Trump Hotel Collection. The Panama property is located 26 miles from private Viveros Island, from which guests can travel via high-speed catamaran. Hotel guests also will have exclusive use of a beach club on the island. (The club opens shortly after the hotel.) While there are no plans to add more international locations at this point, Stevenson said, Things can happen quickly. There is a lot of potential for growthespecially in Asia and Latin America.
Copyright 2004 -2011 Smith Travel Research /DBA HotelNewsNow.com (HNN). All Rights Reserved. Mark Stevenson, GM, Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower, Panama