Honolulu-based Outrigger Resorts, primarily known for leisure resorts in Hawaii, is developing its approach toward corporate business, particularly as it seeks global expansion and a revamping of its brand structure.
Now operating about 40 resorts systemwide, Outrigger has been acquiring properties around the world, including properties in Thailand, Fiji, Mauritius and a resort in the Maldives that will open this summer, Outrigger president and CEO David Carey said. The company aims to continue growing at a rate of about one to three properties per year "for the foreseeable future, though if a larger M&A opportunity came up, we might look at it," he said.
That expansion also has brought Outrigger some new business on the corporate side. While its Hawaiian properties have significantly less meeting space compared with the big-box hotels operating on the islands, some of its new properties elsewhere—its resort in Phuket, for example, which has a ballroom—have been attracting corporate group customers, especially from Asian companies, Carey said.
Outrigger's Hawaiian properties always have done a good share of corporate business, and such business from Asian markets also has been gaining momentum in Hawaii, he added.
"If there's a big event and one doesn't want to get lost in 1,600 rooms, we have a lot of small meeting rooms," Carey said. "Or, if an executive committee wants to stay with us, they can get a little more high-touch experience than being in a big convention hotel."
At the same time, Outrigger has been clarifying some of its brands, consolidating all of its beachfront resorts under Outrigger Resorts and its condominium collection under Hawaii Vacation Condos by Outrigger "so there's less confusion," Carey said. During the next few months, the company also plans to "probably sunset or replace" its lower-tier Ohana Hotels and Resorts brand, he said.