Building Dreams

Since Jay Stein was named CEO of Dream Hotel Group in January 2016, the New York City-based hotel firm has undergone a complete transformation. The company launched its fourth brand with the opening of the Unscripted Durham in July and debuted the Dream Hollywood in Hollywood, California.

The openings bring the total number of existing hotels to 10 under its four brands—Chatwal, Dream Hotels, Time Hotels and Unscripted. Another 12 hotels are set to open in the U.S. and across the globe through 2020, representing an investment of $750 million and more than 200-percent growth for the company.

However, as the hotel group grows its global footprint under Stein’s stewardship, it’s also putting a renewed focus on working with the travel agent community.

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“Travel agents are important to our business because they represent better travelers, VIP travelers and travelers who are in the know—and that’s the type of business that we want in our hotels,” said Rob DelliBovi, the company’s vice president-global sales.

Among developments, a GDS chain code for Dream Hotel Group, DZ, was recently introduced, the company strengthened its relationships with consortia and DelliBovi and his team’s presence at industry tradeshows is now more pervasive, he said.

The result?

Dream Hotel Group’s consortia bookings are up 30-percent over 2016. “As one unified brand, we can now get in front of more agents, meeting with them one-on-one and presenting at more tradeshows,” DelliBovi said. “And travel professionals know their clients will get preferred access through us and better rates, and we win back loyalty in return.”

Dream Hotel Group properties attract not only business travelers and groups, but also guests from the entertainment industry. DelliBovi described the company’s guest demographic as comprising A- and B-List celebrities, including globally renowned musicians with penthouse tastes, up-and-coming bands playing New York City for the first time, movie actors who are in film production on location for months and TV stars on press junkets.

Providing celebrities with the service and discretion that they expect is nothing new for the company’s hotels, particularly at Dream and Time Hotels, which DelliBovi said are popular with the music industry and where “celebrities are a core part of the business.”

He added, “These aren’t people who are researching the newest hotel openings in Travel + Leisure or booking with an OTA, but individuals who go to their travel agents to find the right fit style-wise and the right location.”

Each of the company’s brands offers a different experience and speaks to a different type of traveler. Chatwal, with one location in New York City’s Times Square, a lodge in upstate New York and a resort in the Maldives underway, is the top-tier brand.

These hotels feature a high guest-to-staff ratio. Guests are greeted curbside and front-desk staff answers the phone on the first ring, DelliBovi said. The New York City hotel is also part of The Luxury Collection, so guests are able to earn points with the Starwood Preferred Guest Program.

The company’s flagship brand, Dream Hotels, features a portfolio of six properties, with two in Manhattan, one in South Beach, Florida, another in Hollywood, California and two in Thailand. Another six are in the works for Nashville; Dallas; Palm Springs, California; Delhi, India; Doha, Qatar and the Maldives. DelliBovi said this brand is “fun, vibrant and lively and heavy on restaurants and bars and, in some cases, nightclubs.”

Dream Hotels are tailored to independent, creative travelers who are interested in art and design and have high household incomes. The brand also has an established following within the tech industry, with Dream Downtown in New York receiving 40 to 80 nightly guestroom bookings from Google, DelliBovi said.

Time Hotels also cater to high-end travelers who enjoy stylish design and great hotel dining but want more traditional hotel experiences. DelliBovi defined these guests as “sophisticated and looking for great service and great food, but they want one classic restaurant and bar because they’re going to have dinner and be in bed at midnight.”

Time Hotels has properties in two New York locations, one in Manhattan and another in Nyack. A third property is planned for the Dominican Republic.

The new Unscripted Hotels brand is designed for travelers with a creative Millennial mindset looking for a colorful, casual hotel, often in secondary markets, which has a local flare. The new Durham hotel will soon be complemented by locations in Dallas, the Dominican Republic and Birmingham, England.

For more information on Dream Hotel Group, visit dreamhotelgroup.com.