Jumeirah chairman explains decision to shelve lifestyle brand Venu Hotels
21 September 2011
The turbulent financial environment was in part what motivated the decision not to proceed with the launch of its anticipated new lifestyle brand Venu, Jumeirah Group chairman Gerald Lawless has revealed.
In an interview with Hotel Management Asia’s sister publication Hotel Management, Lawless said that the ongoing financial turmoil contributed to the UAE-based group’s decision to focus on luxury.
“We came to the conclusion that because of the financial environment and the risks out there that the best thing to do would be to stick to luxury—that is what we’re good at, this is what we want to do in the future. Maybe some day in the future we can reopen thinking about a second brand,” Lawless said.
The Dubai-hotel operator announced in April last year the launch of a new brand to be called Venu. It later identified Shanghai as a likely location for its first property under the brand and announced it had signed a management agreement with Shanghai Zendai Himalayas Real Estate Co to manage VENU Himalayas Hotel Shanghai.
In April 2011, the group opened a hotel in Shanghai, the Jumeriah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai, one of five planned resorts and hotels for China, as well as later in the year a property in the Maldives.
It plans to open a second property in the Maldives as part of its overall aim to grow its portfolio to 60 hotels and resorts by 2013.
“We have been ready for this for quite some time now. We have a well-structured organization in place to be able to cope with international expansion, but most importantly, through our hotels in New York, London and Dubai, we have a huge international base. We have said we want to be recognized as one of the top luxury hotel operators worldwide, and to do that we have to have more of a global spread,” Lawless said.
