MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — From mild-mannered hotel executive to globe-trotting adventurer: When Kevin Froemming retook the stage at the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall here, he had ditched his suit and tie from earlier in the evening for a Panama hat, sunglasses and Bermuda shorts.
Froemming, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Playa Hotels and Resorts, was announcing his company's collaboration with beach-lifestyle brand Panama Jack on an all-inclusive venture, Panama Jack Resorts, and his wardrobe change proved to be an apt metaphor: Playa is promising that properties bearing the Panama Jack name will evoke that brand, which produces sun- care products and beach apparel as well as home furnishings, from top to bottom.
"The entire experience has to fit within the umbrella of what that brand represents," he said. "To me, doing a top-to-bottom branding is the only way to do it."
For Playa and Panama Jack, that means dining, entertainment and decor that will reflect Panama Jack's "retro tropical aesthetic," according to a Playa statement.
But the properties will also strive to preserve a sense of place, said Panama Jack CEO Kim Manna.
"Panama Jack is a traveler, not a tourist," Manna said of her company's monocled mascot.
The target client for Panama Jack Resorts, she added, is "not somebody who goes on vacation to the same spot over and over again. They want to try to experience different things, and they can do that with this brand."
Two Mexico resorts will be the first to bear the Panama Jack name: the 470-room Gran Caribe in Cancun and the 287-room Gran Porto in Playa del Carmen. From May to September, the properties are scheduled to undergo a refit and to officially debut as Panama Jack resorts in October.
At the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall, top-producing agents and tour operators attending Playa's Spotlight Awards ceremony Jan. 7 saw a slideshow of preliminary design concepts that illustrated how the rebranding might change the look of the Gran Caribe.
Gone were the sofa- and bench-style seats in the lobby. In their place: individual hanging rattan chairs. The open-air Gaviotas restaurant's glossy, nondescript dining tables would give way to weathered-looking, pale wood surfaces.
"There are so many all-inclusive resorts, and a lot of them started looking the same," Mandy Delve of Travel Network in Toronto commented after the presentation. "This is something different, funky and cool."
Hidar Elmais of Travel Gurus in Edmonton, Alberta, said, "Seeing all the updates and renovations they're going to do, it fits perfectly. It's going to be an easy sell."
That was an important consideration in taking on the partnership, Froemming said, particularly in the four-star resort space where Panama Jack will compete.
He said that whereas four-star resorts have relied heavily on OTA sales, since they generally lack the brand cachet offered by five-star properties, Panama Jack presents a new opportunity for agents to sell at the four-star price point.
"It's very easy for a travel agent in three minutes to describe this," he said.