Nascent B Hotels & Resorts is courting corporate
customers with the recent introduction of a select-service brand as it plans
rapid expansion.
The upper-upscale B Hotels brand last year opened its first property,
the B Ocean Fort Lauderdale, and plans to open in 2013 full-service properties
in Miami and Orlando. In the meantime, the company has developed a
select-service brand, B2, which has many of the same amenities as a B Hotel but
replaces a full-service restaurant with scaled-down grab-and-go dining options,
making it easier to develop, said Christopher Tompkins, the company's senior
vice president of marketing and brand programs.
The first B2 select-service hotel is slated to open in
downtown Miami in December, and Tompkins said future development would be
swifter than for the full-service brand.
"From a growth standpoint, this sister brand will offer
us a lot more flexibility," Tompkins said. "We anticipate that we
will be announcing anywhere from two to four more hotels in the pipeline,
opening in 2013, by the end of the year."
The brands also aim for a presence in more corporate
programs, both through travel management company consortia rates and by
participating in the requests-for-proposals process via such third-party
providers as Lanyon, Tompkins said. He touted free wireless Internet throughout
the hotels as a key selling point to corporate buyers. B Hotels also plans to
launch a loyalty program by year-end.
While all announced hotels thus far are in Florida, the
company is aiming for a wider geographical stretch and is having discussions
for projects in Boston, Chicago, San Antonio and Washington, D.C., Tompkins
said.
"It was not ever meant to be solely a Florida-based
hotel brand," he said.