Just when you think Regent is a spent force in the luxury-hotel sector, it comes up fighting with a coup that signals to the industry: �We�re very much alive and kicking!�
Many in the industry believed the writing was on the wall when the Asian-born brand lost the world-renowned Regent Hong Kong to global giant Six Continents. 

Overnight, the Regent flag was lowered from the magnificent property that had given birth to the brand in the late �70s and upon which it had built its reputation as one of the world�s most admired hotel companies. 

US-based, privately-owned Carlson Hotels Worldwide � which also owns the Radisson and Country Inns & Suites brands � acquired the rights to the Regent name in 1997 from Canada�s Four Seasons, and quickly unveiled a strategy to embark on a �selective global growth programme�. 

Its plan was to �enter new markets and offer expanded, worldwide presence in the luxury- hotel category�.

But growth has been slow, with most of the properties in its portfolio having been developed in the pre-Carlson days. 

At present, Regent hotels and resorts are located in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taipei, Almaty (Kazak-h-stan), Beverly Hills and New York. 

It debuted in Europe earlier this year with the Regent Schlosshotel, Berlin, and has a property on France�s Cote D�Azur under development, as well as two more in the US (Boston and Orlando).

But, with its swift exit from the crucial Hong Kong market where it was born, and the likely rebranding of its Chiang Mai property as a Four Seasons, you could be excused for thinking that the once-mighty Regent brand has lost its way a little in Asia Pacific.
Indeed, when a group of industry leaders at the recent Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in Hong Kong were asked: �Which brand to you believe will have disappeared over the next five years?�, one hotel CEO answered, without hesitation: �Regent�.
 

Ouch!  But sitting in the audience and smiling to himself was Paul Kirwin, MD of the newly created Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific. During a press conference a couple of hours later, he and his boss, Carlson Hotels Worldwide president Jay Witzel, announced an impressive new property that had many at the conference eating their words � the Regent Beijing at Junefield Plaza, near Tiananmen Square.

Paul Kirwin

The announcement of the Beijing property sent a clear message to the industry that the Regent brand is not only alive in Asia Pacific � but kicking. With a whole roster of other brands to choose from, why did the owners, the Hong Kong-based Junefield group, go with Regent at a time when it appeared to many to be undergoing something of an identity crisis?

The Regent Beijing at Junefield Plaza

�Choosing the right hotel company for this project was critical, and Regent brings the right level of prestige, personalised service and uncompromising commitment to quality.�

So there you have it � as far as this particular owner is concerned, the 30-year-old brand can still deliver the goods in the luxury-hotel market.

The reorganisation of Carlson Hotels puts Asia Pacific, for the first time, on a par with the Americas and Europe in terms of importance and future development.

When asked what percentage of future growth will come from the region, Witzel answers: �If North America accounts for 33%, and Europe 33%, then Asia Pacific will also account for 33%.�

He pauses for a second, then corrects himself: �No, Asia Pacific will account for more than that, perhaps up to 35%.

New vision

�Although several of our brands have had operations in Asia Pacific for many years, we recognise the potential that can be achieved by developing a new structure and vision for the region.�

Expanding Regent and the company�s other brands in the region is now a key priority for the company. 

�The restructure moves the organisation to operate as one company with complementary and well-defined brands,� says Kirwin. 

�It represents an  evolution from the past structure where we operated many areas of our business independently within each brand. 

�It will allow us to provide the most effective and efficient levels of support for our brands so we can focus on delivering world-class customer service.

�We will build upon our existing infrastructure of support systems to provide powerful resources to our hotels in the areas of business delivery, reservations, marketing, sales and operational support.� 

An important element of the restructuring is to maintain a major regional-office presence in Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Carlson plans to �aggressively pursue� developments across all its brands in North Asia, particularly in China, through strategic partnerships, and to increase the number of properties from the current 37 locations to 100 over the next five years.

Specific development plans for the region include adding Regent hotels in major gateways where it is absent, particularly Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

And, of course, Hong Kong.

Returning to the city of its birth remains a top priority for the Regent brand, and Kirwin is in negotiations with a number of owners to re-establish the Regent brand there. 
�There is huge brand equity in the Regent name in Hong Kong, and several developers have expressed an interest in being a part of its return to the city,� says Kirwin.
Kirwin also has his sights set on leisure destinations for Regent (and Radisson), including: Indonesia (Bali, Bintan Island and Lombok); Thailand (Chiang Mai and Phuket); Malaysia (Langkawi); and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Dalat, Ha Long Bay and Hoi An).

�Asian-ness�

Although Regent was born in Asia and emphasises its �Asian-ness� as an integral aspect of its character and values, it is now very much a US company � the last of its head-office functions, including global marketing and PR, were moved from Hong Kong to Minneapolis two years ago.

Has it lost the edge compared with other Asian-based brands, including Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Raffles International and the Peninsula Group, which remain truly Asian brands with global aspirations, rather than one of the multitude of US and Europe homogenised chains? 

In short, can a brand that is based in mid-America, that is owned by a company that has only just decided to open up a regional HQ in Asia and is managed by American hoteliers, really justify clinging to its Asian heritage as a marketing advantage? Some cynics might argue that Regent has lost touch with its Asian roots and is now, in fact, just another US-based hotel company with ambitious aspirations in Asia. 

The Regent history is one still in the making. It�s kind of like an �Amer-Asian� returning from the US to rediscover her roots. 

But, as many a returnee has found, things are never quite the same when they return. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Regent to find a new home in its old home town.

HOTEL Asia Pacific has been named a recipient of the 2003 PATA Gold Award for a recent cover story on hotel security, "Safe, Not Sorry."