IF THERE is one thing you can say about Simon Wan, the CEO and founder of the StayWell Hospitality Group, it’s the fact that he is a very lucky man. Wan has been at the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. This ever smiling CEO, who also knows his numbers, got into the hotel profession because he thought it was a great way to meet girls and make some money on the side (I kid you not). Decades later, he’s been at the helm of more than two global hospitality businesses, but this time, he insists it’s different. 

Wan, who did his hospitality management course from Cornell in the US, left his position as CEO of Northern Asia for Accor--based out of China and looking China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines--in 1997, to move with his family to Australia.  Here he managed to successively buy two lucrative businesses. First he bought the franchise for Park Plaza and Park Inn for Asia Pacific (except India) which he sold for an undisclosed amount in 2000 and then a hotel group called Pacific International in Australia along with a 51 percent stake in the Dutch hotel chain Golden Tulip, which he took to a public listing and sold his shares in 2006. 

“I thought great, I am retiring now! I booked a nine week holiday in Hawaii and played golf. The first three weeks were great, the family was there and everyone was having fun. After that the kids and wife left to go back because of school. After five weeks I got a bit bored. Playing golf every day doing nothing, not getting mails. I decided to go home,” he said. His wife soon got on his case saying she wanted him out of her hair, so began the story of StayWell in 2007 because “my wife said get a job, you’re bothering me!”

StayWell, says Wan, is a lot more international than his earlier ventures. “Australia is the starting base of StayWell and when I opened up the map, it was logical to only go north. We have 15 hotels in Australia. I looked at the two biggest markets, China and India and decided to enter both,” he said. They started in China, India and Singapore and spread to the Middle East and the UK. 

The new business is a lot different from his earlier two, Wan confessed, “I am doing a lot of new things,” This includes launching a lifestyle brand in London, targeted at the millennials. 

“We have done a lot of consumer market research to find out what the millennials like. This segment is very savvy, they know what they want, they hang out on social media, they are happy to pay for the service as long as they get the value and it’s a one of a kind experience. They are independent travellers, they chose their own hotels, their own mode of transport. They want to be fun. They want to be independent,” he told us.

“My target bracket is the 28 to 42-year-olds. We now spend more than 50 per cent of our marketing expenses on social media, OTA and Google,” he said adding that this is where you get instant recognition and immediate results.  

About India Wan said, “this is a unique country, deep and rich culture. Indians are a very proud people, especially hotel owners, they want respect and are very aware of their public persona. Both the Chinese hotel owner and the Indian hotel owner are good negotiators. But the Indian owners always want to have the last say. They have bigger egos. The Chinese are easier to deal with because they are more commercial in their outlook. Indian owners do expect a lot, but they don’t want to pay,” he said, adding quickly there are some better owners too these days, those who have travelled widely and understand when you explain to them the need to do something which may cost more. 

“They do understand the importance of value and the need to spend money to get a better product,” he added. 

The group has signed 11 contracts with 3 already operating and five opening this year. When asked why the group took its time before this sudden expansion plan, Wan said, “we started after understanding the market. You need to learn. Signing is not the thing. You need to run the hotel successfully. We needed time to build the team. We now have a strong management support team”. 

“I hope to sign four more existing hotels. I have another four openings slated for next year which will take me up to 16. I think the target is to have 30 (hotels) by 2018-19,” he said explaining the expansion plans in India. 

Eventually, 20 per cent of StayWell properties would be in India, which works out to around 15 per cent of total number of rooms, he concluded.