August 22nd, 2007
Affinia helps launch international sales group
New York — Affinia Hospitality and four international lodging chains plan to combine sales efforts to increase business.
Affinia, a group of nine mid-Manhattan properties formerly called Manhattan East Suite Hotels, helped initiate the linkage via an agreement with United Kingdom-based Thistle Hotels. The NH Hotels Group, First Hotels and Meritus Hotels also are members of this yet-to-be-named group.
Thistle has 56 properties located in England, Scotland and Wales. NH is a Spanish company with 240 hotels in 16 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Sweden-based First Hotels has 60 properties in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Singapore-based Meritus has 13 properties in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China.
Other regional or national hotel groups might join later, according to John Moser, Affinia’s chief marketing officer.
“This is a chain concept without making a chain,” Moser said. “Since each company knows its territories best, alliance members can help each other generate more business.”
The original idea was for only Affinia and Thistle to work together, according to Rose Genovese, Affinia’s sales manager. Each company soon will have a representative in each other’s sales-office headquarters.
“We are certain that having an Affinia representative working out of Thistle’s London headquarters, and Thistle maintaining a salesperson in our Manhattan offices, will help each company generate more international, particularly corporate, business,” she said.
The same logic extends to contacts with First and Meritus, but no exchange of salespeople is scheduled yet. NH already has a New York sales office.
Moser said each chain will benefit by being able to recommend a quality property in other cities. Each partner is expected to help guide and improve the other partners’ sales efforts by sharing market knowledge. A joint marketing and booking engine might evolve from these relationships.
Affinia’s general managers said they like the alliance.
“We all have expertise in our respective backyards,” said Holly Waterbor, g.m. of the 209-room Benjamin, Affinia’s flagship property. “But our clients have indicated they want recommendations about counterpart properties overseas, and we know our partner groups’ customers want the same in New York.”
Cross-corporate linkages should drive business. For example, Goldman Sachs, an Affinia client, could add Thistle to its recommended U.K. property list. U.K. corporations that have dealt with Thistle for a long time are expected to recommend Affinia hotels.
“We all want quality assurances,” Waterbor said. “And there’s nothing better than a recommendation from someone you already trust.”
This is even more pertinent in countries such as Norway or Spain where Affinia wouldn’t otherwise undertake a major sales thrust on its own, she said. But now with the linkage to First and NH, Affinia might get more business from Oslo or Barcelona, and hotels in those cities might get more bookings from Affinia’s New York customers.
Victor Freeman, g.m. of the 208-room Affinia Plaza 50, also is optimistic about the deal.
“This alliance will give travelers a chance to experience smaller, locally based properties rather than having to just rely on the internationally known brands,” Freeman said. “Right now, we primarily see European bookings coming from those with business at the United Nations. I expect we’ll see much more traffic coming from European and Asian corporate sources.”