In a market now dominated by mega-hotel-casinos, the Westin Resort Macau is trying to reassert itself in the niche market for small or medium-size hotels without gaming facilities. The task is now in the hands of Stephan Winkler, the man appointed in January as its general manager.

The Westin Resort is in Coloane, near the beachfront. For more than a decade after it opened in 1993, its name was synonymous with top accommodation and service. But with the gaming boom and subsequent mushrooming of new luxury hotel-casinos, the Westin Resort’s lustre has gradually been outshone.

Mr Winkler, a specialist in opening hotels, now has the job of putting the Westin Resort back among the most prestigious hotels in the city. “With my experience of opening hotels, I think we can do a very good job bringing this property back to the level that the Macau market has seen recently,” he told Macau Business in an exclusive interview.

Mr Winkler says he wants the Westin Resort to be the “preferred resort of choice for the Pearl River Delta region”. To achieve this, he needs to rejuvenate the ageing property, create new food and beverage outlets and educate the market, the new general manager says.

The Westin Resort is now conferring with its managers, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, and its owners, Sociedade de Turismo e Desenvolvimento Insular (part of Stanley Ho Hung Sun’s business empire) about several options for a revamp. Mr Winkler is hoping a plan can be unveiled soon.

The renovated hotel will concentrate more on health and wellness, he says. The Westin Resort brand’s attributes, coupled with the hotel’s location and the fact that all its rooms overlook the ocean and have a terrace is a “unique selling proposition, which distinguishes us greatly from the downtown bigger casinos hotels,” Mr Winkler says.

This sporting life

Another important attraction is the hotel’s proximity to the Macau Golf and Country Club, and the two businesses send customers each other’s way. “Golf is important when we think about offering tailor-made solutions for our customers,” says Mr Winkler.

Although golf in Macau is no longer automatically associated with the Westin Resort, now that Cotai has Caesars Golf, Mr Winkler believes that the Coloane course will remain a greater draw because of its mature landscape and distinctive layout.

Sport and the associated lifestyle can also help the Westin Resort grab a bigger slice of the growing meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market, he says. MICE business accounted for around 20 percent of room occupancy last year.

Mr Winkler believes he can increase this percentage, even though the hotel ballroom can accommodate only about 200 people. “The capacity is not too big, but there is enough space to further expand,” he says. “This is an option we are looking at right now”.

He also expects to improve the food. The hotel now has one award-winning Chinese restaurant, Kwun Hoi Heen. The new boss wants to build on this and bring other Starwood food and beverage concepts to town.

“The world of food is extremely important” in the creation of a different atmosphere and a world-class destination, he says.

Starwood’s international portfolio includes branded restaurants and other outlets offering food ranging in style from Asian to Western, as well as a nightclub concept called “Qba”.

“We can look into this library of concepts and introduce them here in Macau,” says Mr Winkler.

Striking a balance

Mr Winkler believes Westin Resort patrons are different from most visitors to Macau. “Guests that come to Westin have made a very clear and specific choice,” he says, referring to the absence of casinos in the hotel or its vicinity. “They deliberately choose to come to Westin. They don’t just arrive at the ferry terminal and make a choice there.”

The Westin Resort tells its patrons that it is a pure resort hotel without “the stress” associated with hotels downtown, Mr Winkler says. It is different because it is on Coloane, near the sea, hiking trails and the golf course.

Mr Winkler says Macau needs to strike a balance between gambling and lifestyle.

The Westin Resort prides itself on not having queues to check in or check out. It has only 208 rooms or suites, meaning each guest can be treated individually and not as part of a large group, he says.

“Not everybody coming to Macau looks for the glitz, the hustle and bustle of the casinos – especially families – and some MICE business looks for a quieter, contained, environment where everybody is more focused.”

One of the problems the local hospitality industry has been facing is high staff turnover. Mr Winkler believes that with the right measures and its specialised training programmes, the Westin Resort will be able to retain its employees.

Starwood is international, so staff have “tremendous opportunities” to move elsewhere in the group, he says. The Westin Resort is also working with the Institute for Tourism Studies to improve the training and grooming of prospective employees.

Aftershock

The earthquake in Japan last month and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear accident are expected to hamper the Westin Resort Macau’s performance this year. One week after the quake, around 250 room nights were cancelled, of which 190 were bookings from Japan.

Last year the Westin Resort had about 1,200 room nights booked by Japanese travellers.

General manager Stephan Winkler says this year’s target is to reach a 62 percent occupancy rate. He says the hotel had “a good February” and that March was “shaping up very nicely”.

Hotelier to the world

German native Stephan Winkler, was born in 1962, and became general manager of the Westin Resort Macau in January this year. He has been in the hospitality industry since 1982, starting his career at Munich’s Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski.

Prior to coming to Macau, he was entrusted with the opening of the Westin Pune Koregaon Park, from 2008 to 2011, which marked the entry of the Westin brand into the Indian market.

Mr Winkler has worked in France, Indonesia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Thailand and India.

Before entering the hotel industry, Mr Winkler studied languages. He is fluent in German, English, French, Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.