Kerzner Launches Luxury Brand

PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS— Despite the decline in travel, both corporate and leisure alike, Kerzner International Limited has decided that this is the right time to launch the new luxury One & Only brand designed to cater to the leisure traveler. “We’re in this for the long term,” Howard Karawan, executive vp of Kerzner, based here, told HOTEL BUSINESS®. “We’re not in it for the next quarter or even the next two quarters. “Certainly we are concerned about the state of the hospitality market, but everything is cyclical and it will come back,” he continued. “If anything, we’re accelerating our developments because they take anywhere from 18 months to three years to complete. So, now is the time we’re looking to expand and grow the company and the brand.” The One & Only brand officially launched in Europe in December 2002 with the opening of the One & Only Le Touessrok in Mauritius. The brand will launch in the United States in the middle of this year. At present, the brand consists of five resorts—the One & Only Le Touessrok in Mauritius, the One & Only Le Saint Géran also in Mauritius, the One & Only Kanuhura in Maldives, the One & Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, and the One & Only Ocean Club in Bahamas. Going forward the company is in the process of investing $60 million to redevelop what will be dubbed the One & Only Palmilla in Mexico and is in talks to develop two new resorts—one in Havana, Cuba and the other in Morocco. As far as mainland U.S. is concerned, the company has no immediate plans to hit the states. “However, in the long term we would be interested in Hawaii, Coastal California, Florida and other like tropical areas of the U.S.,” Karawan said. “Our main areas of geographic expansion will be the Caribbean, Mexico and the South Pacific. “Within the next five years we’d like to have 20 properties under the brand,” he said. “Within the next 10 years we’d like to have in excess 30 resorts.” The genesis of the brand began recently, Karawan said, but the development strategy had been in place since the company’s creation over 20 years ago. “Creating unique luxury projects that take on the characteristics of their geographical and cultural environment is something that Kerzner has always focused on,” he said. “The ultimate decision to put all of these properties under a brand however, has been something that we’ve been working toward for only the last two years. Going forward the company has about $500 million behind this effort in development dollars and marketing as we launch the One & Only name officially.” But why brand at all? “From a consumer standpoint it makes it a lot easier for them to find us,” said Karawan. “Also, when someone is traveling for business they want to know what to expect so they automatically look for a brand that they know and trust. As a result, our strategy in creating the One & Only name was to create a brand for the leisure customer. “Unlike the business traveler, when people vacation they want a unique experience,” he said. “To that end, each property under this brand will offer a unique experience that ties into its geographic location, but still provide the same quality and attention to detail that the customer will experience throughout the entire portfolio.” The three markers that bring the branded properties together under the One & Only name will be their attention to detail, sense of place and activity base, Karawan said. “All of our resorts offer a real sense of place. For example, when the customer is in the Palmilla they’ll know they’re in Mexico,” Karawan said. “Also, we try to take on the local culture as well as the local design so that the customer can get a sense of the country they’re visiting right inside their hotel. Lastly, we try to provide a lot of life and livelihood in our resorts by putting together several activities that the customer can enjoy like very animated spas, golf courses and water activities,” he said. In other words, what Kerzner is trying t