Today I report news of Advaya Hospitality, a new global company helmed by hotel vet John Russell in conjunction with India’s Auro Hospitality Group. Russell and company made the announcement bright and early Saturday to kick off the AH&LA Hospitality Leadership Forum in New York City.
The company sets out to form two new lifestyle brands that will be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and India, the former primarily through conversions and the latter primarily through new builds. Details are scarce at the moment, though Russell said he hopes to have most of the concept ironed out for the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in January.
These sorts of brand announcements have been met with rolled eyes and scoffs from industry insiders in recent years. The reason: They’re a dime a dozen. As Russell himself pointed out, there have been roughly 35 new brands launched during the past 35 months, including 18 lifestyle brands.
Russell’s own NYLO brand is one of them. The ill-fated chain, which has three properties in its portfolio, hit a number of snags to thwart an otherwise solid concept. The most daunting was the collapse of Lehman Brothers, NYLO’s chief financial partner. And then there was the recent flooding that closed the company’s Providence/Warwick, Rhode Island, location.
With Advaya, Russell gets a second chance in the lifestyle game. He’s stepped down as CEO at NYLO to focus on this new endeavor (although he’s still financially vested in the project).
His second chance is a good one. Unlike other half-baked new brands that have flooded the market in recent years, I think this one is viable. Here’s why:
1. It’s well-funded.
Though the global hotel industry is in the swing of recovery, debt financing for development remains scarce. The pipeline is slowing to a trickle in many major markets, and for the first time in years, there’s a near-vacuum for new openings.
Advaya enters the stage with the deep pockets of Auro Hospitality Group behind it. The group has already committed to develop 10 hotels in India during a two-year period. Domestically, Russell is overseeing the creation of a U.S. fund for strategic real estate acquisitions in the states.
2. It’s a global lifestyle brand.
Like I said, lifestyle brand concepts are a dime a dozen, but actual market penetration has barely made a dent. Yes, brands like Hotel Indigo and Aloft have seen some solid growth, but that’s primarily been a U.S.-focused affair by major hotel brand machines.
Advaya’s two yet-to-be-named brands are some of the first lifestyle brands to debut not only on the international market, but in an emerging market: India. There’s untapped market demand for hotels in general there, let alone for this lifestyle offering, so Advaya is really getting in on the ground floor.
3. It’s led by Russell et al.
Russell is a damned good marketer—and that’s often half the battle when you’re trying to get a new project rolling.
And it’s not just Russell. He’s brought along a number of his NYLO team, including the savvy Chris Jones to lead development. There’s more than a century of hotel-related experience among the core principals, and that should prove dividends as the group tries to ride the momentum of recovery.
