Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts was established in 1994 by a group of Singaporean entrepreneurs. Within a short period of five years, Banyan Tree became a well-known luxury chain of hotels in Asia. In 1999, encouraged by its remarkable success, Banyan Tree began to explore the possibilities of offering branded resort and spa services at some resorts. While the top management of the company was confident about Banyan Tree’s skills and resources, the decision was not at all easy to reach because the competitive environment in 1999 was very intensive. Besides, to establish branded resort and spa services, much like the company’s previous efforts at brand building, all details would need to be carefully planned and managed. 悦榕酒店及度假村由一群新加坡企业家于 1994 年创立。在短短五年内,悦榕庄成为亚洲知名的豪华连锁酒店。1999 年,受到巨大成功的鼓舞,悦榕庄开始探索在一些度假村提供品牌度假村和水疗服务的可能性。虽然公司高层对悦榕庄的技能和资源充满信心,但由于 1999 年的竞争环境非常激烈,因此做出这个决定并不容易。此外,要建立品牌化的度假村和水疗服务,就像公司之前在品牌建设方面的努力一样,所有细节都需要仔细规划和管理。
Ivey-Nanyang Case Writer Tom Gleave prepared this case under the supervision of Associate Professor Xia Yang. The case is based on public sources, internal company sources and interviews with key personnel from Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information for confidentiality. As the case is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective practices or policies, the information presented reflects the authors’ interpretation of events and serves merely to provide opportunities for class discussion. Ivey-Nanyang 案例作者 Tom Gleave 在 Xia Yang 副教授的监督下准备了这个案例。该案例基于公共来源、公司内部消息来源以及对悦榕酒店及度假村关键人员的采访。作者衷心感谢悦榕酒店及度假村的支持。作者可能为了保密而掩盖了某些姓名和其他身份信息。由于本案例并非旨在说明有效或无效的做法或政策,因此所提供的信息反映了作者对事件的解释,仅用于提供课堂讨论的机会。
In 1994, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts opened its first location in Phuket, Thailand. Within one year, the luxury resort and spa operator had opened two other locations - one in Indonesia, the other in the Maldives. The motivation for developing the new branded resort concept came after Chairman and CEO Ho Kwon Ping and his wife, Claire Chiang, identified a gap in the market between Asia’s luxury class hotels and the ultra-high-end position held by Amanresorts. Over the next four years, the company was able to generate high awareness and a positive image of the brand among the wealthy Asian and European clientele that it targeted. This was in large part due to the company’s ability to develop a holistic, integrated and consistent marketing programme that was designed to build and reinforce the brand. 1994 年,悦榕酒店及度假村在泰国普吉岛开设了第一家分店。在一年内,这家豪华度假村和水疗中心运营商又开设了另外两家分店——一家在印度尼西亚,另一家在马尔代夫。安缦度假村主席兼首席执行官何权平先生和他的妻子蒋嘉丽(Claire Chiang)发现亚洲豪华酒店与安缦度假村的超高端酒店之间存在市场差距,因此促使他们开发新的品牌度假村概念。在接下来的四年里,该公司能够在其目标的富裕的亚洲和欧洲客户中产生很高的知名度和积极的品牌形象。这在很大程度上是由于公司能够制定一个整体、综合和一致的营销计划,旨在建立和加强品牌。
In 1999, Ho and his executive team identified another apparent gap in the market and therefore began thinking about developing a different branded resort and spa concept to fill the gap. Buoyed by the success of the Banyan Tree concept, Ho was confident that the company had the skills and resources to exploit this opportunity. At the same time, however, he recognised that the task would be more difficult than before because the competitive environment was much more intense than it was in 1994. Moreover, the existing market gap was not as wide as the one previously identified and exploited by Banyan Tree. This meant that Ho and his team would need to be both disciplined and creative in developing any new resort and spa concept if the venture was to be successful. Therefore, much like the company’s previous efforts at brand building, all details concerning the new brand would need to be carefully selected and managed. 1999 年,Ho 和他的管理团队发现了市场上的另一个明显空白,因此开始考虑开发一个不同的品牌度假村和水疗中心概念来填补空白。在悦榕理念成功的鼓舞下,Ho 相信公司拥有利用这一机会的技能和资源。然而,与此同时,他认识到这项任务将比以前更加困难,因为竞争环境比 1994 年要激烈得多。此外,现有的市场缺口并不像悦榕庄之前发现和利用的那么大。这意味着 Ho 和他的团队在开发任何新的度假村和水疗概念时都需要既有纪律又有创造力,才能成功。因此,就像公司之前在品牌建设方面的努力一样,有关新品牌的所有细节都需要仔细选择和管理。
THE TOURISM INDUSTRY IN ASIA 亚洲的旅游业
From 1985 to 1996, Asia was the fastest growing tourism region in the world with the number of travellers increasing by an average of 10 percent per year. As a result, Asia’s share of the worldwide tourism market steadily increased at the expense of traditional leaders like Europe and America. Many Asian governments capitalised on this trend and began to treat tourism as an integral part of their industrial development strategies. This led to an easing of travel restrictions and active tourist promotion, which in turn helped to draw in more travellers. (See Exhibit 1A - World Tourism Arrivals by Regions: 1985-1996 and Exhibit 1B - Trends in International Tourism: Selected Asia Pacific Countries.) 从 1985 年到 1996 年,亚洲是世界上增长最快的旅游地区,游客人数平均每年增长 10%。因此,亚洲在全球旅游市场的份额稳步增长,而欧洲和美国等传统领导者则受到了损害。许多亚洲政府利用这一趋势,开始将旅游业视为其工业发展战略不可或缺的一部分。这导致了旅行限制的放松和积极的旅游推广,这反过来又有助于吸引更多的旅行者。(见图表 1A - 按地区划分的世界旅游人数:1985-1996 年和图表 1B - 国际旅游趋势:选定的亚太国家。
In terms of international tourist traffic, Asia surpassed North America for the first time in 1996, when the region’s outbound travellers hit 94 million, compared to the 92 million outbound travellers originating from North America. Among Asia’s international travellers, 74 percent remained within the region, 14 percent headed to Europe and 10 percent went to America. Intraregional travel within Asia grew considerably during the 1990s because of the increased availability of flights that were shorter and cheaper than those destined for Europe or America. Japan was traditionally the largest tourist generating market in the region; however, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand contributed most to the region’s new international travellers in recent years. 在国际旅游流量方面,亚洲在 1996 年首次超过北美,当时该地区的出境旅客达到 9400 万,而来自北美的出境旅客为 9200 万。在亚洲的国际旅客中,74% 留在该地区,14% 前往欧洲,10% 前往美国。在 1990 年代,亚洲的区域内旅行大幅增长,因为比飞往欧洲或美洲的航班更短、更便宜的航班越来越多。日本传统上是该地区最大的旅游市场;然而,近年来,中国、香港、新加坡、韩国和泰国对该地区新国际游客的贡献最大。
In July 1997, the region was hit by a severe financial crisis, bringing with it an end to the so-called ‘Asian Miracle’ that was often used to characterise the heady growth rates many countries had witnessed over the previous 10 to 15 years. The downturn lasted through most of 1998, as the affected economies struggled to overcome severe economic contractions. Not surprisingly, the hotel industry encountered a substantial decrease in demand. (See Exhibit 2A - Visitor Arrivals by Country 1998 v. 1997 and Exhibit 2B - Performance Indicators 1998 v. 1997) 1997 年 7 月,该地区遭受了一场严重的金融危机,结束了所谓的“亚洲奇迹”,该奇迹经常被用来描述许多国家在过去 10 到 15 年中见证的令人振奋的增长速度。经济衰退持续了 1998 年的大部分时间,因为受影响的经济体努力克服严重的经济收缩。毫不奇怪,酒店业的需求大幅下降。(见图表 2A - 1998 年与 1997 年按国家/地区划分的游客人数和图表 2B - 1998 年与 1997 年绩效指标)
By 1999, financial stability started to return to the region, although several economies were still undergoing painful restructuring processes that were expected to last for several years. Overall, growth in the region was forecasted to reach three to four percent for the year, with South Korea and Thailand showing the most robust recoveries. Mainland China, which went relatively unscathed during the crisis due to the insulated nature of its currency, the renminbi, was expected to maintain strong steady growth of between six and eight percent. By contrast, the country’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong continued to struggle with a deep recession associated with devaluation of its property and financial markets. Malaysia also continued to experience significant economic pressures, although these were alleviated to some extent by a set of currency controls imposed by the government after the crisis took hold. The adverse effects of the crisis on Singapore had been comparatively moderate, as the “Lion City” never actually fell into recession, although GDP growth did drop to 0.1 percent in 1998. Based on the recovery’s momentum, Singapore was expected to achieve three to four percent GDP growth in 1999. 到 1999 年,该地区开始恢复金融稳定,尽管一些经济体仍在经历预计将持续数年的痛苦重组过程。总体而言,预计该地区今年的增长率将达到 3% 至 4%,其中韩国和泰国的复苏最为强劲。由于人民币的绝缘性,中国大陆在危机期间相对没有受到影响,预计它将保持 6% 至 8% 的强劲稳定增长。相比之下,该国的香港特别行政区继续与房地产和金融市场贬值相关的深度衰退作斗争。马来西亚也继续承受着巨大的经济压力,尽管这些压力在危机发生后政府实施的一系列货币管制在一定程度上得到了缓解。危机对新加坡的不利影响相对较小,因为“狮城”实际上从未陷入衰退,尽管 1998 年的 GDP 增长确实下降到 0.1%。基于复苏的势头,预计新加坡在 1999 年的 GDP 增长率将达到 3% 到 4%。
As the crisis waned, different hotel markets in the region found themselves in different phases of the business cycle. For example, in 1999, the hotel markets in Malaysia and Indonesia were in the midst of a significant slump, the former due to overcapacity and the latter due to political instability brought about by the overthrow of long time leader, President Suharto. ^(1){ }^{1} By contrast, Australia, Japan and South Korea were nearing their peaks given the robust development they had been experiencing in recent years. (See Exhibit 3 - Market Cycle Early 1999.) 随着危机的消退,该地区的不同酒店市场发现自己处于商业周期的不同阶段。例如,在 1999 年,马来西亚和印度尼西亚的酒店市场正处于严重低迷之中,前者是由于产能过剩,后者是由于推翻长期领导人苏哈托总统带来的政治不稳定。 ^(1){ }^{1} 相比之下,澳大利亚、日本和韩国近年来发展势头强劲,已接近峰值。(见图 3 - 1999 年初的市场周期。
THE LUXURY MARKET PLAYERS IN ASIA 亚洲奢侈品市场参与者
Asia was home to several indigenous luxury hotel chains and resorts that enjoyed a high profile in the region. These included the Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Raffles, Regent and Shangri-La hotel groups. International players such as the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton hotel groups had also successfully penetrated several markets in the region. By the late 1990s, these latter two players had also moved into the resorts segment by establishing locations in popular tourist destinations such as Bali. In contrast, many Asian-based hotel groups had attempted to extend their success to other parts of the world. There were possibly two reasons for such an extension. One was the reduced growth opportunities as more players developed more properties in the region. Another reason was that these Asian hotel groups hoped to be able to develop global brand recognition, which they could leverage by cross-selling their products in different markets. 亚洲是几家本土豪华连锁酒店和度假村的所在地,它们在该地区享有很高的知名度。其中包括文华东方酒店、半岛酒店、莱佛士酒店、丽晶酒店和香格里拉酒店集团。四季酒店集团和丽思卡尔顿酒店集团等国际参与者也已成功渗透到该地区的多个市场。到 1990 年代后期,后两者参与者也通过在巴厘岛等热门旅游目的地建立地点,进入度假村领域。相比之下,许多亚洲酒店集团试图将其成功扩展到世界其他地区。这种延期可能有两个原因。一个是随着越来越多的参与者在该地区开发更多房地产,增长机会减少。另一个原因是,这些亚洲酒店集团希望能够建立全球品牌知名度,他们可以通过在不同的市场交叉销售他们的产品来利用这一点。
In the luxury resort segment, Amanresorts was the longest established operator in Asia. The company began in 1988, when it opened the Amanpuri (or “place of peace”) in Phuket, Thailand. Since then, it had developed 10 additional properties while at the same time establishing itself as the most expensive small multi-resort operator in the world. Each property was designed to provide an environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere while incorporating local cultural themes. A high degree of personalised service, coupled with privacy and discretion, was expected 在豪华度假村领域,安缦度假村是亚洲历史最悠久的运营商。该公司成立于 1988 年,当时它在泰国普吉岛开设了安缦璞瑞(或“和平之地”)。从那时起,它又开发了 10 家酒店,同时将自己确立为世界上最昂贵的小型综合度假村运营商。每家酒店的设计都旨在提供环保和美观的氛围,同时融入当地文化主题。期望提供高度的个性化服务,以及隐私和自由裁量权
to provide guests with an unparalleled resort holiday experience. 为宾客提供无与伦比的度假度假体验。
ENTER BANYAN TREE RESORTS 进入 BANYAN TREE RESORTS
Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts was a subsidiary of Singapore-based Tropical Resorts Pte. Ltd. (Tropical Resorts), an investment company dedicated to hotel and resort developments. The investment company was owned by several investors, including a Japanese investment fund, NatSteel - Singapore’s national steel manufacturer, and the Wah Chang Group, a holding company with diversified interests in the agro-industry, engineering, trading and property development. ^(2){ }^{2} The day-to-day activities of Tropical Resorts were managed by the Wah Chang Group, which was headed by Ho Kwon Ping. Ho, along with his wife, Claire Chiang, were considered two of Singapore’s most enterprising people. Ho was the Chairman of Singapore Power Corporation (the country’s national electrical utility) and is presently the Chairman of Singapore Management University. He also serves as the Co-Chairman of the Singapore-Thailand Business Council, and as a director on the boards of several high profile local companies, including Singapore Airlines. 悦榕酒店及度假村是总部位于新加坡的 Tropical Resorts Pte.Ltd. (Tropical Resorts) 是一家致力于酒店和度假村开发的投资公司。该投资公司由多家投资者拥有,包括一家日本投资基金、新加坡国家钢铁制造商 NatSteel 和华昌集团,一家在农工、工程、贸易和房地产开发方面拥有多元化利益的控股公司。 ^(2){ }^{2} 热带度假村的日常活动由何权平领导的华昌集团管理。Ho 和他的妻子 Claire Chiang 被认为是新加坡最有进取心的两个人。Ho 曾任新加坡电力公司(该国的国家电力公司)主席,现任新加坡管理大学主席。他还担任新加坡-泰国商业委员会的联合主席,以及包括新加坡航空公司在内的几家知名当地公司的董事会董事。
Ho’s corporate exposure, combined with his experiences in the US, had taught him about the value of Western management techniques. In particular, he believed in the need to address management problems and processes in a disciplined, systematic and often decentralised manner. This contrasted with many Chinese familyrun enterprises, which were characterised by a high concentration of power held by key family members who often took a much more free-wheeling approach to managing their operations. Ho felt that the best approach to business development involved the blending and balancing of Western-style management techniques with the legendary entrepreneurial spirit associated with the overseas Chinese communities. Ho 的企业经验,加上他在美国的经历,让他明白了西方管理技术的价值。特别是,他认为需要以规范、系统且通常分散的方式解决管理问题和流程。这与许多中国家族企业形成鲜明对比,这些企业的特点是权力高度集中,由关键家族成员掌握,他们通常采取更加随心所欲的方式来管理自己的运营。Ho 认为,企业发展的最佳方法是将西式管理技术与海外华人社区的传奇创业精神相融合和平衡。
Chiang rose to prominence in Singapore largely because of her efforts to champion various social causes. She was particularly concerned about the Chiang 在新加坡声名鹊起,主要是因为她努力支持各种社会事业。她特别关心
1 In some countries, certain micro-markets existed. For example, in Indonesia, the island destinations of Bali and Bintan were not as affected by political instability as tourist operators on the main island of Java, although demand in these locations had still dropped noticeably. 1 在一些国家,存在某些微型市场。例如,在印度尼西亚,巴厘岛和民丹岛的岛屿目的地受政治不稳定的影响不如爪哇岛主岛的旅游经营者,尽管这些地方的需求仍然明显下降。
2 The various partners collectively pooled enough funds to ensure that Tropical Resorts was able to develop several resort and hotel projects simultaneously. 2 各个合作伙伴共同筹集了足够的资金,以确保 Tropical Resorts 能够同时开发多个度假村和酒店项目。