Travelers are becoming wiser. For many, it’s no longer about simply booking a hotel room at a well-known chain in your chosen destination. These days, travelers want more than a bed and eggs in the morning from a hotel.
This is the idea shared by Sidd Ketkar, co-founder of HotelierIQ, a Bangkok-based consulting firm that handles PR, sales, marketing, and partnerships for a small and unusual group of 3-5 star hotels in Asia.
Including names like Luang Prabang’s Apsara, Siem Reap’s Rambutan, and Phuket’s BYD Lofts, the two-year-old company focuses on those cities, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Jaipur, Varanasi, in India, with plans to expand into Vientiane, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia next.
Ketkar told Coco Travel, “You can book rooms on Instagram now, that’s how important visual imagery is to the business.”
Access to insider travel info from Youtube, Instagram, and bloggers galore means travelers can learn about — and actually see the inside of — rooms and hotels that they never would have known about otherwise.
He and his business partner, Nicholas Wright, who previously worked for luxury curated hotel collection Mr. and Mrs. Smith, focus on 5-30 room boutique stays that may not get the attention they deserve because they of their size.
And they are getting results for these hip, homey clients. In the two years they’ve been working with Luang Prabang’s Satri House, a boutique hotel housed in a former Laotian royal residence, the small resort has risen from 14 to 4 on TripAdvisor’s top rated stays in the city.
Chatting about his hand-picked clients — who he often visits anonymously before signing with to decide where and if they fit into the HotelierIQ curated family — Ketkar got us curious about Siem Reap’s colonial gem Heritage Suites, a 26-room hotel that was just refurbished and reopened on August 1 with swoon-worthy new pool and lounge features inside the rooms.
He also sent us searching for into about Lao Poet, a funky, high-service hotel by the owners of Satri House, scheduled to open in Vientiane in September.
Both were added to our “to visit” list.
But, for Ketkar, a seasoned hotelier that has worked for Accor Group and Holiday Inn, there is a larger light that shines beyond the blackout curtains and branded toiletries of nice hotels.
“At the end of a day, a room is a room. The tea and coffee facilities, the bed sheets…but what you remember is that one staff member that brings something extra.”
He also appreciates local and cultural touches. “If you bring in an item, like a cushion, made by local artisans or that supports orphan kids, that brings a different energy and that’s important to me. The energy changes everything.
“I also focus on the destination as well as the property. I love when hotels incorporate the place into the stay. Apsara offers guests a chance to do the Luang Prabang alms-giving ceremony with monks (something a few hotels offer in the city) but they also offer a list of do’s and don’ts so that guests feel secure in how they should act. That’s a unique touch, that education aspect, that thinking through of the guest experience,” he said.
One of the themes that runs through their properties is history. “Apsara is one of the oldest hotels in Luang Prabang, so there is some kind of history related to that. Satri House was an old government building, it’s 100 years old. I feel connected to these old properties. I believe that if you don’t believe in a place, it’s hard to promote,” he said.
