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Take a shift
Can a company based in India build a thriving luxury boutique brand in Britain? maybe. Bird Group’s Rosette aspires to be the first brand to truly pull off the trick.
Leslie Berry
Earlier this month, Rosette Hotels and Resorts said it was buying another luxury hotel in the United Kingdom — this time, a five-star boutique called The Dunstan House, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. As with the other three UK properties acquired by Rosette, the brand will try to keep decor and service practices local.
India-based Bird Group owns Rosette, which it launched five years ago. With the Edinburgh deal, the company hopes to complete the circle on its portfolio of British properties located in locations popular with locals and tourists alike.
“The missing piece was Edinburgh,” said Ravi Birdie, executive director of Rosette Hotels & Resorts. “We’ve been looking at the city for some time now.”
Picking up The Dunstan Houses in the UK’s second most visited city after London was a no-brainer for Rosette, who already has properties in London, Reading and Bath along with three other sites in India. (On Monday, Rosette announced it would develop a fourth Indian property, the Airport Hotel at Noida International Airport near Delhi.)
Scotland’s 170-year-old Dunstan Houses, set in Edinburgh’s old-world landscape, sweetened the deal. One of Rosette’s central principles is emphasizing hotel features that capture its hometown atmosphere.
According to Birdie, that is increasingly becoming a selling point with guests. In Bath, for example, the company’s hotel is built of Bath stone, and has a traditional bar that serves local Bath gin.
In London, his hotel was built within three Georgian townhouses, with Victorian furniture and oil paintings from the mid-19th century – when the hotel was built – and a traditional whiskey bar.
“People want more local experiences,” Birdie said of his latest property, which attracts vacationers. “You want to feel like you’re in Scotland, and not in a hotel room that could be in any city in the world. People want to make memories with their families at that particular location.”
However, Rosette likes to offer guests a dollop of Indian hospitality that sets it apart from most competitors. When guests arrive and depart, for instance, they are given a small fudge at the reception desk.
“It’s an Indian tradition that you give guests something sweet as a gesture, and that’s common in all our lobbies,” said Birdie.
The company is also looking to add its branded Aheli Spa – Aheli means “pure” in Sanskrit – For Edinburgh property. The Reading and London locations already have one.
Tech influence
According to Birdy, the company’s owners, the Bhatia family from India, entered the hotel industry after first building a travel technology business. In Tech that background is evident in the properties, even though the bones of the buildings are more than a century old.
A case in point: Rosette retrofits guest rooms with the latest technology, taking into account the growing trend of working in hybrid fashion on mixed business and leisure trips, a trend shift dubbed The Great Merging.
“The concept of working from home has spread to travel, so the design should have great work stations, good food and beverage products, and large spaces,” said Birdy.
For example, some Rosette guests will stay for a week, work at the hotel Monday through Friday, and then spend the weekend sightseeing with their family, Birdie said. To attract those guests, Rosette also offers a “Work from Rosette” program in London. The program offers perks like an antique mahogany writing desk, working lunches and cocktails at the end of the work day, for about $102, or £85, per day.
Over the coming months, Rosette will be working on a rebranding at The Dunstan Houses – changing the name to Rosette Edinburgh, of course. But the hotel’s bar, stocked with plenty of Scottish whiskey, will likely remain the same.
The service will also be tailored to the Rosette brand in both the UK and India-based properties.
“Across all of our properties, when you come to any of our hotels, it’s not just a check-in experience, it’s like a private members’ club,” Birdy said.
With the Edinburgh purchase, the company could come “full circle” in the regions its executives want to cover in the UK. But that doesn’t mean the circle can’t expand. Birdy said the company is open to further opportunities in both the UK and India.
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