IRVING, TX— After keeping a low industry profile, Omni Hotels is putting a push behind its strengths as a brand in the luxury/upscale segment with new resources in development. The 40-property chain has installed Omni veteran James Kuthy as vp/development and business analysis, along with Scott Johnson, vp/development. Both were brought to their positions in late fourth-quarter 2001. “We’ve always wanted to grow— sensibly and in the right places,” said Kuthy. “More than anything else we’ve come to the realization that we’ve reached a critical mass in our distribution and our operational abilities… We’ve pushed our brand to a national presence. Now we think we have the ability to offer our strengths to other people.” He also will be reaching out to institutional investors, asset managers and REITs. “That’s going to be my primary focus. Scott’s strengths are sourcing business and developing relationships, my strengths are on the financial aspects of it. So, we’re going to tag team that.” According to Omni president James Caldwell, the chain has spent some $300 million over the past four years in upgrading its North American portfolio. “Virtually every property in our portfolio has been redone and we’ve shed properties we were either managing or franchising that didn’t really fit what we were trying to do with the brand. We now think we have something to sell to the industry.” “What we’re selling,” said James Kuthy, “is what a tremendous value to the hotel owner the Omni brand and management company brings. That’s our primary strategy.” Omni’s initial growth strategy was to create “an excellent brand, both financially and operationally,” said Kuthy, noting the company won the 2000 J.D. Power and Associates’ award for guest satisfaction in the upscale segment. “We feel we’ve really arrived as a brand and we can take that to other hotel owners and offer our brand as an alternative in our segment.” Omni places itself at the 4.5-star level, right below Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, and in front of the upscale brands of the major hotel companies. “What we’ve done really well as a company is we’ve reinvented what our fee and cost burden is to most hotel owners in order for them to compete in the luxury segment,” said Kuthy, citing lower fees. Expansion plans target cities such as Phoenix, Minneapolis, San Diego, Seattle and Toronto, and more broadly Florida, California and Hawaii. Kuthy said as a first-tier city Phoenix would complement Omni’s assets in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where on Feb. 11 it opens a 17-story, 362-room property, a $100 million restoration of the 1926 Financial Center Building. Likewise, with a property in Montreal, Caldwell would like an Omni in Toronto, as well as Vancouver and Calgary The initiative is part of the company mission to ultimately go global. Caldwell said he’d like five new branded Omni hotels by year’s end and continues to have sights set on Europe and Asia. “We’re looking to start out either through the acquisition of a portfolio or a management company that has some existing distribution. That would give us an immediate presence rather than trying to start one at a time.” “We’ve got a good story to tell and we’re going to get out there and tell it,” said Kuthy, who expected to be at next week’s Lodging Conference in Phoenix spreading the news.
Jim Kuthy