A new luxury hotel brand is hoping to bring the glamour and escapism of Hollywood to the hospitality industry.
The company, Paramount Hotels and Resorts, was launched last week at the Arabian Travel Market event in Dubai. Based in emirate, the fledgling company emerged from a long-term agreement with the licensing division of Paramount Pictures.
As one of the oldest and highest-grossing movie studios, films in Paramount's extensive portfolio include classic hit movies such as The Godfather and Saturday Night Fever to more recent blockbusters such as Transformers.
"There will be a combination of the entertainment, the technology and the creativity that comes from Paramount," says Thomas van Vliet, the chief executive of Paramount Hotels and Resorts. "They have a 100-year history in the film industry. We are going to bring elements of the Paramount theme into our hotels and resorts.
"We add to that elements of California lifestyle and of course the glamour of Hollywood. Some people ask me if we're looking to develop hotels like Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock hotels. The answer is 'no'. This is not the direction that we're going in. It's more subtle. It's more about luxury lifestyle," he adds. The hotel management company now has the challenge of finding investors and developers to build the hotels.
"We are talking to investors and developers at this moment in Brazil, in the Caribbean, in the UK, in Russia, in Oman, in Qatar, in Dubai and in South Africa and Indonesia," says Mr van Vliet.
The hotel group hopes to sign its first agreement within the next few months. "The environment of hotels is competitive. But I'm convinced that the ones with the unique elements and a lot of unique selling points will be successful," he says. "It's like in any business. If you can't differentiate yourselves from the other ones, it's hard. Yes, we will need to prove ourselves as a hotel company, but I have no problem with that."
Rates at the hotels are likely to range between US$250 (Dh918.30) an $350 a night, Mr van Vliet says.
