Christopher Cowdray - The leader of the main luxury hotels in the world

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Christopher Cowdray runs the celebrated luxury hotel company Dorchester Collection. A graduate of New York’s Columbia Business School Executive Programme, he became CEO of Dorchester Collection in 2007, after his previous role as general manager of The Dorchester since 2004. Raised in Zimbabwe, he has over 30 years of experience in international hotel management, on four continents, giving him an exceptional understanding of luxury hospitality and cultural understanding. He firmly believes that the success of any organization comes from its employees, with each team member playing a vital role in delivering exceptional services. He was fundamental in establishing the vision and values of Dorchester Collection and ensuring the engagement of all teams in the company’s hotels. This aligns with his vision and passion for excellence and creativity. In this exclusive interview for Golden Pages by The Winners he talks about the hotel sector and the company’s plans around the world and in Brazil.

The Winners – The history of Dorchester Collection hotels is marked by innovation and exclusivity. How are new enterprises planned to maintain this standard?

Christopher Cowdray – Dorchester Collection is fortunate to have nine iconic addresses, nine extraordinary hotels and one unique collection. Our hotels are treasured by guests, cherished by employees and celebrated worldwide. A key component of our mission is to protect our heritage whilst evolving into the future but also in a fastmoving world, we remain consistent and relevant. New innovations come about through our guest-centric strategy: our guests forge our legacy, so knowing and understanding them is our goal. Our standards are defined by our guests, not by mystery shoppers nor an outside agency. We focus on relentless customer research deploying various methods, from traditional surveys, artificial intelligence tools and social media conversations, to in person interviews and focus groups. Service standards change and customers are the ones who define them, hence our dedicated commitment to listen and take feedback seriously. In addition, we also listen closely to our employees and encourage their unique personalities and passions to help shape our company. We continue to focus our creativity on experiences and storytelling around purpose and values, heritage and authenticity, and we are delighted to see that many of our loyal guests are also expressing their desire to be part of our giving back initiatives. With regards to new properties, we have partnered with Omniyat on an iconic new 225-room hotel and serviced residences that will open at the end of 2022, with some of Dubai’s largest rooms. Omniyat is a strong player in the bespoke luxury lifestyle and hospitality development in the region, and is renowned globally for its stunning designs, hence the selection of Foster + Partners as the architect. The spectacular roof top pool and viewing platform will become new Dubai landmarks. In terms of consistency, the hotel will be aligned to the values of Dorchester Collection and our passion for guest centricity. Many of the new team will be recruited from our current hotels and all employees will undergo our rigorous training, coaching and development. However, we will always respect, understand and embrace local customs and practices, whilst creating an environment where legends belong.

TW – In high standard tourism, minimizing stress and offering the customer a personalized service is mandatory. However, the connection between your personal health and the planet is already being demanded, a service focused on sustainability. What are the actions that the Dorchester Collection makes to guarantee this union in its customer service?

CC – Dorchester Collection recognises the impact that we make o society, the economy and the planet, and we are committed to making a positive difference in the places where we operate. We are dedicated to supporting our local communities and upholding our responsibilities as environmentally conscious individuals. An example of sustainability and our focus on health is the Spa at Coworth Park near Ascot, which was designed with the environment specifically in mind. We developed an exemplar green and sustainable building, which provided an exclusive eco-luxury spa environment with low energy requirements. Sustainability measures ensure hot air produced is reused to heat the water, organic waste is turned into compost and the spa is oriented to the sun’s morning to dusk path, featuring large windows to maximise the amount of natural sunlight thus reducing electricity usage.

TW – There is a tendency to seek transformative travel and exotic destinations, valuing services that promote well-being, health and self-knowledge. Does the group’s expansion process take these trends into account for the coming years? How to synchronize well-being, exclusivity and technology?

CC – Technology is extremely important and we have heavily invested in this area recently including artificial intelligence to help ensure greater personalisation than ever before and to help share guest preferences across all our hotels. Our new hotel in Dubai, which will open at the end of next year, will also benefit from this single-view platform technology. However, we should never neglect the emotional significance of the human touch. The pandemic has shown us that our guests enjoyed the deeper connections we forged with them through increased personalisation and heartfelt handwritten notes and calls. It was a time to prioritise connection over conversation and solidify meaningful relationships with the local communities, and we have certainly become more innovative with regards to the repurposing of space, room service and in-room exercise programmes.

TW – Dorchester Collection stands for corporate responsibility. In practice, what are the company’s actions when a new enterprise is established?

CC – Dorchester Collection has defined a CR model that outlines our approach in relation to how we look after our people and the successful integration in the communities within which we work; our role in charitable efforts; the importance of regularly monitoring of our natural environment and how we can reduce our footprint; as well as our relationship with our suppliers. In summary, we recognise that we must be a fully conscious organisation in all aspects of our work. As consumers undoubtedly buy into timeless brand values, we have reinforced ours more than ever. This is a time for graciousness and kindness. As we’ve protected all our employees’ jobs during COVID-19 – indeed, a third have been with us for over 25 years – it will be the same faces greeting our guests – when you’re ready, we’ll be waiting. Each hotel has a CR committee and champion who has the authority to implement key initiatives. The champion represents the executive team, de monstrating our commitment to CR from the very top of the organisation. These individuals meet monthly in order to review progress and develop new initiatives. CR committees are made up of self-nominated individuals from across a variety of departments and at every level of the business. They are required to report on their success in an effort to share best practice amongst all our hotels (and identify innovations which would work as a global CR initiative) as well as ensure activities are achieving the benchmark.

TW – Tourism is one of the sectors that most acts with diversity. How does the company avoid discrimination and act to guarantee diversity and equal opportunities?

CC – We have built an exceptionally strong culture over many years, which has stood us in good stead in the event of any crisis including COVID-19. Dorchester Collection teams represent 67 nationalities with an exceptional employee satisfaction rate of over 90%. Our We Care culture is at the heart of what we do and this is backed up by our Dorchester Collection Code of Conduct, which sets out our commitment to non-discrimination, diversity and equal opportunities. We’re proud to be a Stonewall Champion and that half of our senior executives are women.

TW – International chains are already investing in new processes focused on social distance, extreme appreciation of outdoor spaces, adoption of new technologies and minimizing the need for physical contact in all spheres of service. As in a group like the Dorchester Collection, where hotels are managed autonomously, are these new processes made?

CC – Although we’ve all become used to the benefits of technology and virtual meetings, it may take some time for people to realise once more that real connections can only be done face to face. We are fortunate that all our hotels are either in landscaped gardens or near parks, so this is a huge advantage. When you arrive at one of our hotels, our employees will act as your guide, sensitively communicating all the new hygiene, health and safety measures so you can move seamlessly around our hotels, knowing that you’re being looked after with the greatest care. Restaurants, bars, spas, pool areas, fitness studios and all other outlets will also observe social distancing and comply with local or country mandated occupancy limits. These areas will be deep cleaned and sanitised once per hour and after each use, including tables, seating, menus and payment machines. In-room dining will also continue to operate under new strict measures to ensure safety.

TW – Dorchester Collection claims that the exclusivity of hotels reflects the local culture. But, how to maintain the standard of quality of labor, training of suppliers, etc?

CC – We reflect our local cultures by creating purpose in our people to ‘live’ our local cultures, ensuring our employees and guests experience them fully. Each of our locations reflect diverse staffing needs that are met by the multi-cultural cities we operate in. This means respecting inclusivity in our recruitment, diversity in our local partnerships and a wide breadth of suppliers that meet the needs of our international guests. Reflecting the cities and countries we operate in is part of our DNA, and ensuring all our employees and guests belong to our culture is part of our continuing story. In addition, we engage with other companies through our Dorchester Collection Academy, which is the first of its kind in the UK luxury hospitality market. It offers bespoke learning programmes focused on leadership and customer service for other luxury businesses and aspirational brands, as well as our own. Based in the heart of London’s Mayfair, our courses give people a taste of Dorchester Collection and an insight into our well-earned reputation for exceptional service. Our state-of-the-art training venue offers a mix of open programmes, sound-bite sessions and bespoke training courses. The academy is tailored to suit the individual needs and requirements of business through an immersive experience. Our expertise has been carefully crafted from the models and techniques used to develop the incredible teams at our Dorchester Collection hotels. It’s this in-depth understanding of luxury service in a luxury market that sets us apart. Dorchester Collection Academy offers CPD accreditedtraining courses, which are identified as offering a high level of positive learning opportunities to raise skills, knowledge and education.

TW – In late 2019 and early 2020, surveys pointed to the growth of luxury tourism in the world. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the indexes were compromised, but the segment is seen as a great promise for 2021 and 2022. In your view, what should be expected of the segment?

CC – I am very optimisitic about the future of hospitality providing that flexibility and business agility remain strategically centre stage. Technology, sustainability and buying local have become increasinly important in how we do business going forward. At Dorchester Collection we are now more innovative to the repurposing of space, room service and in-room exercise programmes.

TW – In March 2021, 32% of global international tourism destinations are closed, especially Asia and Europe. What will be the actions of the Dorchester Collection regarding this scenario?

CC – We continue to follow government guidelines and look after our people. Companies that look after their people during this crisis will be remembered, while helping those most in need will become a greater part of a company’s purpose.

TW – The appreciation of domestic tourism is one of the trends identified in tourist behavior in the postpandemic scenario of Covid-19. Based on this, Brazil has been moving to attract tourists with high purchasing power who will not be able to go abroad in the next months of 2021. How do you see this movement? Do you believe that it can open space for international investment in Brazil with an eye on this type of client?

CC – Although most of our business is domestic at present at each of our nine hotels, we are seeing plenty of pent-up demand in the latter half of the year from overseas, especially for celebrations including weddings. As space is a premium, our overseas guests are already looking to book the top suites and stand alone bungalows in LA, for example, which provide a sense of comfort with a degree of separation. With all our hotels being either set in acres of landscaped gardens or adjacent to parks, there is plenty of green space and privacy for our guests to enjoy.

TW – Is there an expansion plan for the group to Latin America and Brazil?

CC – We follow a very selective growth strategy and will continue to grow both via management agreements and acquisitions. Our target markets are key international gateway cities such as New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Moscow, to name but a few. This highly focussed strategy covers key cities in Latin America inclu ding the vibrant city of Sao Paolo.