The Set Hotels is now an established name within the luxury hotel industry worldwide. Since its inception in 2011, when the Conservatorium hotel in Amsterdam first opened its doors, with the opening of Hotel Café Royal in 2012 and Hotel Lutetia in Paris in 2018, the group has now grown into a dynamic collection of three iconic hotels in Europe. Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the hotel industry, the hotel group is now striking out in a new direction; with the launch of The Set Collection.
With a distinctive and flexible business model, The Set Collection offers a customized selection of sales, marketing and distribution services that seamlessly match the business needs of individual hotel partners, as well as ever-changing market conditions. In addition, the business model is set up to use a flexible fee structure per booking, rather than purely a fixed amount per year. This is financially attractive to hotel owners, especially during periods of economic hardship, as is currently the case.
The first hotels to be added to The Set Collection are the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam, Hotel Café Royal in London, Hotel Lutetia in Paris and the Mamilla Hotel in Jerusalem. The David Citadel hotel in Jerusalem will be added to the collection this summer. Discussions are currently underway with several other parties interested in joining The Set Collection. Official announcements of this expansion are expected to follow later this year.
“The Set Collection is a portfolio of the world’s most renowned, independent luxury hotels, run by hoteliers with an entrepreneurial spirit. Our business model is designed to allow hotel owners to keep the leadership and identity of their hotel in their own hands, rather than outsourcing it to a hotel chain. These independent hotels have often been owned by the same family for generations and play a very important role not only as a magnet for international tourism but therefore also as a leading employer and meeting place in the local community. The fact that our hotels are self-managed also adds to the guest experience, which is often a reflection of the particular destination where our guests are at the time.”, said Ruurd Hooijer, Senior Director of Sales & Marketing of The Set Collection and also Amsterdam based.
With an innovative alternative to the ‘one size fits all’-approach to traditional hotel representation companies, The Set Collection, with a highly dynamic and customized business model, will focus on building a portfolio of non-competitive hotels while providing a platform that will encourage hotel partners to work together to achieve their business goals. “Given the challenges the travel industry has faced over the past 12 months, we believe hoteliers are looking for something new that better meets their business needs. For example, access to essential distribution channels does not have to go hand in hand with full sales support if a hotel does not need it. In addition, when necessary, we will offer knowledge and services that independent hotels do not always have in-house, such as digital marketing services.”, said Brian Gore, VP of Marketing, Brand & Digital.
The Set Collection has partnered with Sabre to provide hotel partners with market leading distribution services. For example, they benefit from GDS representation, allowing hotels within the collection to be booked globally via the ‘TS’ code, as well as a 24/7 reservation service, plus a wide range of optional advanced technology and services to meet the individual needs and requirements of member hotels. In addition, hotel partners can benefit from global sales and marketing support as much or as little as needed through The Set Collection’s comprehensive commercial services.
“We don’t want to be seen simply as a machine that hotels plug into for their distribution and marketing needs. As part of The Set Collection, hotels benefit as much from our expertise, as our commercial infrastructure. For example, some independent hotels do not have the necessary knowledge and resources to optimize their results and thus can benefit from our ecosystem, where we work with our hotels to tangibly improve efficiency and results, which is often a mutual objective.”, said Robin Stangroom, VP Revenue, Reservations & Distribution.
Headquartered in London, a core team of experienced hoteliers with decades of international experience in the luxury hotel industry will lead The Set Collection. The leadership team includes Brian Gore – VP Marketing, Brand & Digital; Robin Stangroom – VP Revenue, Reservations & Distribution and Ruurd Hooijer – Senior Director Sales & Marketing.
