London hotel marks start of Corinthia's Western expansion

When Corinthia Hotels opens its London property on April 16, it will mark a much more important milestone for the Malta-based hotel company than just introducing the luxury brand’s ninth property.

The London hotel also marks the entrance of Corinthia into a Western gateway city and its planting of a flag in the global luxury market.

The hotel will certainly rival some of London’s finest.

The company's website bills the property as "a graceful and historic luxury hotel that sets new standards in opulence and comfort. Perfectly positioned just moments from Trafalgar Square, Westminster and Covent Garden, yet close to Mayfair and the city’s Square Mile, our new flagship provides state-of-the-art facilities in an eminent building dating back to 1885 and the Empire days of Queen Victoria." (Click on photo to see the location of the hotel). 

Corinthia founder Alfred Pisani said that from a luxurious spa to a black marble swimming pool to a Harrod’s delicacy shop and three- and four-bedroom, two-story suites, the property will be the grandest yet for his company.

More importantly, perhaps, Pisani expects that it will also be a precursor to the company's entrance into Paris, New York and other key markets.

"We have moved from a small island to doing resort hotels overseas, then going to city center hotels, which were not necessarily in prime capitals," he said during an interview on a recent trip to New York to promote the London property. "Now, our third phase is to go and expand the five-star product that is Corinthia to the major capitals of the world."

Corinthia was founded in 1968, when Pisani opened Malta’s first deluxe hotel on family land. From there, he built three more on the island and took over management of another.

"So we had our flag on five properties on Malta," he said. "Then we needed to move out. Initially, we moved out to resort destinations. We went to Turkey. But there is a problem with destinations like the coast of Turkey. They are seasonal ... so ultimately we said we needed to move away from resort destinations.

"So after 1990, when the Iron Curtain, the wall in Berlin fell," he said, "we moved into Prague, we moved into Budapest."

But as the portfolio of owned and managed properties grew, Pisani said, Corinthia ended up with a mix of luxury and four- and three-and-a-half-star properties.

So 12 years ago, he said, “We took a very serious decision ... to say Corinthia is only five-star and all the other properties had to drop the name Corinthia."

"Now this was very painful to do, but I think the principle of sending the right message was even more important," he said. "So our properties today only carry the brand Corinthia if they qualify as a five-star."

The London hotel will be the ninth Corinthia property. Others are in St. Petersburg, Russia; Budapest; Tripoli, Libya; Prague, Czech Republic; Lisbon; Khartoum, Sudan; and two in Malta.

But the portfolio of Corinthia’s management company, CHI Hotels & Resorts, also includes two independent hotels plus several Ramada and Wyndham properties.

The company has an agreement with Wyndham, which is a 30% investor, to be the exclusive operator and developer for the Wyndham and Ramada brands throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Pisani's focus on global gateways, he said, is not just about becoming a global luxury leader; it is also about becoming a global management powerhouse.

"In order to give full exposure to our brand, we need to do this, to go to Paris, to Rome, to New York," he said.

Indeed, while Corinthia has built a name for itself over the years in emerging markets, the brand is not well known in Western circles. CHI CEO Tony Potter has for the past few years been talking about his desire to plant flags in New York and other major gateways, but those efforts have been slowed by the global recession.

Pisani said he hopes the opening of the London property will help the company continue with its global mission.

"The fact is that we are moving forward," he said. "We would like to reach a stage where our brand is recognized and third-party owners will call us to purely manage their hotels, like Four Seasons does, like JW Marriott."

In addition to key gateways, Pisani said the company is looking for expansion opportunities globally, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and South America.