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US: Hard Rock Hotels & Resorts plans to add five hotels per year and develop a new management function.
Owned since 2007 by the Native American Seminole Tribe of Florida, Hard Rock Hotels currently owns two hotels and licenses 14, eight of which are also casinos.
The existing hotels are managed by a variety of management groups but the company plans to manage all new properties itself. Executive vice president Michael Shindler said: “We were not ready to be managers two years ago when I came on board. I’ve spent much of the past two years building corporate structure to enable the company to take on property management. Boosting infrastructure has helped us be ready for the growth we hope the development guys can bring us.”
The company is planning serious expansion in the number of properties it owns. “We have 50 to 60 deals on the table at any time. Of those, there are 30 at any given time that we know to have real potential,” said Shindler.
Potential locations include China, Atlantic City, Massachusetts, Korea, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Istanbul and central Europe.
Two Mexican properties, Cancun and Vallarta, are set to open this month, with a third, in Riviera Maya, due to launch in early 2014. Other confirmed projects include Abu Dhabi (2014) Aruba, Hungary and Northfield Park, OH.
The 378-room, 38-story Abu Dhabi hotel will be the first announced property to be under company management and the first in the Middle East.
Not all the properties will be of this size however. Shindler said: “We’ll start to see hotels that are 150 rooms in some cities. Rooms will be smaller in new builds in China. Our standards have to be somewhat flexible.”
www.hardrockhotels.com
