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Industry: Hospitality
Location: Dubai, UAE -
Manager - Entertainment Administration
Industry: Hospitality
Location: Dubai, UAE
Rock ’n roll stars
by Claire Ferris-Lay on Friday, 07 December 2007
They may not be your Ralph Lauren shirt or your classic Lacoste, but Hard Rock Café t-shirts are the first thing you think of when you think Hard Rock Café - that and American tourists and tacky music memorabilia. Think Hard Rock Hotels and you may immediately think the same thing, but Trevor Hornwell, CEO of Hard Rock Hotels Worldwide, explains to Arabian Business this couldn't be farther from the truth.
In fact Hornwell talks exclusive Japanese restaurants, chic celebrity-designed décor, Randy Gerber (Cindy Crawford's entrepreneurial husband) bars and attracting a high-end business fraternity as well as A-list celebrities as both guests and diners. "Hard Rock Hotels are still under the umbrella of Hard Rock Café but the hotels in America really are five-star destinations - slightly different in terms of the position of the cafés. The café definitely looks at attracting tourists, while we want locals," he explains enthusiastically.
We certainly want to be in Europe, Paris, Prague and Istanbul. In the Middle East we want to go to Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Morocco. We also see Asia as a huge area of growth.
Hornwell is in Dubai to talk about the brand's latest business venture, and its first Middle Eastern project. While it might not be common knowledge in this region, Hard Rock has a number of well-established hotels, namely Orlando and Las Vegas, across America. Now after 10 years of US ventures the brand has decided to go international. Hornwell tells Arabian Business that Dubai will be the first city in the Middle East to have a Hard Rock Hotel, the first of a number of international hotels on the cards. In partnership with local investment holding company, Tasameem Group, Hard Rock International will develop a five-star hotel at the Trade Centre Second, an investment of around US$275m.
The three-year project will comprise a 91-storey skyscraper which is expected to be completed in 2010. The tower, specifically built in the financial centre of the city to attract appropriate clientele, will include 350 hotel rooms and suites, 100 serviced apartments, and commercial offices as well as retail stores. Restaurants and dining areas will include Nobu, the celebrity world's favourite Japanese restaurant, as well as other dining rooms and bars.
"The intention is that we don't just want to do this in Dubai, we want to do projects across the Gulf as well as elsewhere. This is our first project and we are very excited about going forward. We now have eight hotels in total, five currently under construction, and the plan its to do a further five a year. We don't want to have 150 hotels or five hotels in Dubai, like Hyatt, but we potentially want 80 - all of which will be destination hotels."
He adds that the company's natural growth aspirations include 5% of its growth internationally: "We certainly want to be in Europe, Paris, Prague and Istanbul. In the Middle East we want to go to Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Morocco. We also see Asia as a huge area of growth."
Once completed the Dubai hotel will be the chain's 13th hotel, following completions in other parts of the world including Macau and Palm Springs, and three other destinations already under construction.
It might be investing heavily in the international market now but the brand itself was actually established 10 years ago by Peter Morton in Las Vegas. The US$80m hotel was an overnight sensation and the other half of the Hard Rock duo spent another US$100m expanding it in 1999. Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel was sold to New York-based Morgan's Hotel Group for US$770m, including the rights to the Hard Rock Hotel brand west of the Mississippi River, including Texas, California, Australia and Vancouver. A Morgan executive described the 11-storey hotel, 650-room in Las Vegas as "a trophy property" that will never be replicated in Las Vegas because of its land value. The hotel's pool alone, named one of the top 10 pools by a leading travel magazine, occupies land that is valued at US$50m.
In 2006 the other partner in the brand, Isaac Tigrett, sold his Hard Rock business to the Seminale Tribe of Florida for US$965m, which includes 124 Hard Rock Cafés, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues and stakes in three unbranded hotels. The deal didn't include the famous Las Vegas Hotel.
Hard Rock Hotels wanted to make sure they got it right before they diversified abroad, a sentiment Horwell also shares. "In the US we introduced four prototypes including a casino in Las Vegas. In San Diego we have a corporate city hotel and in Orlando, a leisure destination hotel."
"Each of the four is successful in its own right (although the hotel in Orlando is the most popular destination hotel in the resort area with US$65m in annual profits.) Because each of the prototypes has been so successful and we decided to take the brand internationally - and where better to do that than in Dubai?"
Dubai, however, is teaming with hotels and already has its own Hard Rock Café and customary t-shirt, so how will this hotel differ from its competitors? Like its contemporaries across America, Hornwell says it will have music and having fun in common. "The music and entertainment angle will be key. Like our other hotels we will also be drawing a huge number of celebrities to the destination. With all of our hotels we try to attract the locals because that's where people want to stay - it becomes the place to be seen in. We also include fun pack facilities so it becomes a destination for all."
The rise of Hard Rock Café
While it may look to attract a different type of clientele, Hard Rock Hotel still has the same music and fun-loving attitude of its big brother, the Hard Rock Café. Established in London in 1971 by two music-loving Americans, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, the brand is now a global sensation with cafes all over the world. So much so that its food, reasonably priced classic American dishes, comes almost second to the café's atmosphere and décor.
Originally intended with an eye towards American fare, it has ultimately become the world's leading collector and exhibitor of rock ‘n' roll memorabilia, which started off with a certain customer offering his guitar as a gift. That customer was in fact rock legend Eric Clapton.
As legend has it, Peter Townsend from The Who got wind of the generous gift and donated his unsigned guitar along with a note saying, "Mine's as good as his! Love Pete." The chain now has more than 70,000 items in its archive, from Jimi Hendrix's Flying V guitar to John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "Help" (his favorite Beatles' tune) to one of Madonna's now-classic bustiers. The brand is now legendary for its collection with all items on display on location for seven years before being returned to its archive.
Its global expansion began in 1982 when the music loving duo agreed to develop a global brand. Morton opened in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston and Tigrett in New York, Dallas, Boston, Washington, DC, Orlando, Paris and Berlin. Today the brand boasts truly international status with cafes from the UK to Paris, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai, totalling 138 venues in 42 countries.
Eventually Tigrett sold his interest to Robert Earl and Mecca Leisure. In 1990 The Rank Organisation acquired Mecca Leisure and continued expanding cafes, also acquiring the cafes owned by Morton in 1995.
Its other popular asset is its successful inclusion of its own branded merchandise, including the now famous t-shirt, which at the height of its fame in the 1980's was collected by thousands of café visitors. Besides the t-shirt, Hard Rock fans can also collect pins, glassware and other memorabilia which is not only specific to the location but many of which are highly considered collectable items.
While it may look to attract a different type of clientele, Hard Rock Hotel still has the same music and fun-loving attitude of its big brother, the Hard Rock Café. Established in London in 1971 by two music-loving Americans, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, the brand is now a global sensation with cafes all over the world. So much so that its food, reasonably priced classic American dishes, comes almost second to the café's atmosphere and décor.
Originally intended with an eye towards American fare, it has ultimately become the world's leading collector and exhibitor of rock ‘n' roll memorabilia, which started off with a certain customer offering his guitar as a gift. That customer was in fact rock legend Eric Clapton.
As legend has it, Peter Townsend from The Who got wind of the generous gift and donated his unsigned guitar along with a note saying, "Mine's as good as his! Love Pete." The chain now has more than 70,000 items in its archive, from Jimi Hendrix's Flying V guitar to John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "Help" (his favorite Beatles' tune) to one of Madonna's now-classic bustiers. The brand is now legendary for its collection with all items on display on location for seven years before being returned to its archive.
Its global expansion began in 1982 when the music loving duo agreed to develop a global brand. Morton opened in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston and Tigrett in New York, Dallas, Boston, Washington, DC, Orlando, Paris and Berlin. Today the brand boasts truly international status with cafes from the UK to Paris, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai, totalling 138 venues in 42 countries.
Eventually Tigrett sold his interest to Robert Earl and Mecca Leisure. In 1990 The Rank Organisation acquired Mecca Leisure and continued expanding cafes, also acquiring the cafes owned by Morton in 1995.
Its other popular asset is its successful inclusion of its own branded merchandise, including the now famous t-shirt, which at the height of its fame in the 1980's was collected by thousands of café visitors. Besides the t-shirt, Hard Rock fans can also collect pins, glassware and other memorabilia which is not only specific to the location but many of which are highly considered collectable items.
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