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Pioneering Boutique Group Makes Expansion Move
by Stefani C. O'Connor
SAN FRANCISCO - Personality Hotels - a small, eclectic group of properties that has flourished in this city by the Bay for more than two decades - is set to add its first new construction hotel here, while its president/CEO, Yvonne Lembi-Detert is eyeing first-time expansion beyond its home base.
Formerly known as Hotel Group of America, the five-hotel, family-owned hotel collection has been a fixture on the San Francisco hotel scene since the word boutique began being employed by the industry to describe the funky, non-cookie cutter properties that marched to their own beat. While Personality Hotels - the name was changed in 1996 to better reflect the portfolio - is a pioneering segment contemporary of now nationally-known Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, the company started by Lembi-Detert's father, Frank, in the late 1970s has not grown far from its roots in the Union Square area.
"There were - and are - so many hotels changing ownership and flipping really quickly, especially after the dot-com crash and 9/11. I've held onto my properties and kept them going steady. I've rode the wave and I've crashed where it was expected because there wasn't a lot of occupancy, but I've held on to my properties. Now I'm accelerating," said Lembi-Detert.
That acceleration includes "closing on some big loans" and getting a permit to build a nine-floor, 157-room hotel on top of a parking lot that the company owns downtown here. The property will be known as the M31 Hotel - the reference is to the Andromeda galaxy. "We just though that would be so perfect for Personality Hotels. Since it's our new build and it's our big challenge, it'll be our largest star," said the executive.
There had been some thought of the project being mixed-use, with condominiums on the upper floors; however, having already secured the permit in a city that keeps a tight rein on change in its environment, Lembi-Detert decided she did not want to go back to the planning process.
In the downtown district, Personality hotels offers the Hotel Union Square; the Kensington Park Hotel; Hotel Metropolis (formerly the Oxford-Cambridge Hotel); Steinhart Hotel, and extended-stay property; and the Hotel Diva, a property considered cutting edge in terms of marketing, decor and amenities - largely Lembi-Detert's vision - since it opened its doors on Geary St. in the early 1980s.
For example, the property offered complimentary use of IBM personal computers for guests - a real wow factor for the time - and multiple television monitors played programs behind the curved silvered registration desk at the Diva, where much of the room design then could stand up today.
The hotels are a mix of guest types: The Diva and Kensington get a 60:40 ratio of corporate to leisure; Metropolis and Union Square get 60 percent FIT, international, and tour and travel and 40 percent corporate. At the Steinhart, much of the business is from theatrical productions, as well as corporate personnel who are relocating to San Francisco.
As part of revving up the portfolio, three of the hotels - Diva, Union Square, and Metropolis - are undergoing renovations.
As for moving out of the area, Lembi-Detert considers Los Angeles the logical leap for her expansion.
"[The property] wouldn't be what we are here in San Francisco. It would be a step up," she said, noting she would look to offer new ideas, amenities, and trendsetting experiences in a property that could range anywhere from a Hotel Diva to a four- to five-star hotel.
How much "personality" will be brought to the new hotels will depend on the property selection strategy. "It all starts from the building. If we go and buy a hotel and it has a certain charm to it, that's what I look at first; then, the footprint. That helps me with my design vision," said Lembi-Detert. "Location also is very important."
While Lembi-Detert is taking the plunge with a new build and possible expansion, she's comfortable in what the company has done and continues to do vis-a-vis competition.
"As fast as Kimpton is growing and selling, and as fast as Joie de Vivre is growing, I still have a real, true handle on my guest-service level," she said, citing guest e-mails that praise her staff and their above-and-beyond attitudes to the point that she herself congratulates the staff on their efforts. "That's what I love about not being so apart from my hotels, that I have the passion to be able to 'touch' my guests and my employees, and have the service level that is what hospitality is all about, added Lembi-Detert.
Building on that, the hands-on executive created a loyalty program called Personality Perks and is doing a guerilla marketing" with her travel agents. She keeps a blog on the company's website and also writes her own newsletter on the site to a database of some 20,000 guests.
"My guests love it. I can watch what they click on, if any unsubscribe, how many open it up. It's been very successful," she said. Lembi-Detert also handles the firm's marketing efforts, even crafting the pitches that go into the package promotions.
"I don't have to go through several layers to get approval; I just do it. if I find it's not popular or not working, I pull it," she said.
The CEO also is working on an in-room program wherein guests may pick the products they want to use during their stay. "It's like a spa honor bar," she said, noting the hotels' existing amenities would remain in place.
Picking up on the no-liquids dilemma of travelers Personality Hotels also is offering a welcome bag in all its guestrooms.
"We partnered with a company that's trying to push the products," said Lembi-Detert. Guests get toothpaste, mouthwash, Nivea cream, a shaver, drink crystals and a bottle of water. "Our guests are really welcoming this. It's just one stop. They can arrive in the hotel and not have liquids they might be needing. It may not be the liquids of their choice, but it's free and they love it."
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