Positive results for the year have given AX Hotels the confidence boost to chase its management aspirations locally and overseas, AX Holdings chairman Angelo Xuereb told The Sunday Times.
AX Hotels – the brand which brought together AX Holdings’ four properties earlier this year – has registered a 13 per cent increase in turnover over 2009, according to Mr Xuereb.
“It has been a very good year for our hospitality arm,” the chairman said. “Despite the slowdown, our profitability is up thanks to our strategy to strip costs down to the bare minimum without affecting our standards and our managers’ enthusiasm for their product.
“We have also seen an improvement in the room rate and bed nights are averaging five nights. We seek to improve on the figures again in 2011.”
Mr Xuereb said AX Hotels’ expansion will come about under a two-pronged strategy that will involve property acquisition and management under contract.
“Despite being in its infancy as a brand, AX Hotels is backed by a team of highly experienced, hands-on tourism professionals,” Mr Xuereb pointed out. “AX Hotels is able to implement very good management structures allowing proprietors to outsource the operation while retaining ownership.
“Our strategy is focused on small or boutique hotels which are difficult to market in isolation, and which will benefit from considerable leverage against the AX Hotels brand.”
Mr Xuereb said location will be an important factor as the brand identifies potential properties. The chairman said the sector had seen the establishment of only a handful of new hotels over the past couple of years and the market lacked good standard three-star properties which offered true value for money.
AX Hotel’s management division will be led by Mr Xuereb’s daughter Claire Zammit Xuereb, the group’s hospitality director.
Meanwhile, AX Hotels is to embark on a €400,000 revamp programme throughout the winter.
As in the past few years, Seashells Resort at Suncrest, Malta’s largest four-star hotel, will close between December and February. Mr Xuereb said a €175,000 revamp will be completed before the property opens for business again on March 3. The Qawra hotel, which adopted an all-inclusive resort model last year, registered an eight-year summer occupancy record by September.
The Sunny Coast, the brand’s other Qawra operation which enjoys considerable repeat business from the UK market, will embark on a €75,000 refurbishment programme in the lean months with no disruption to guests on occupied floors.
A further €100,000 will be channelled into the four-star The Victoria, the Sliema property now 12 years old.
The group’s five-star The Palace will see an investment of €50,000 which will primarily focus on the creation of additional designer suites as a way to boost the average room rate. The ‘city hotel’ in the heart of Sliema has seen increased online bookings over the past few months, Mr Xuereb said.
“We have the confidence to invest in our hotels as a way to keep our offering as fresh as possible,” he added. “We will continue with our strategy to offer the best possible value for money.”
AX Holdings celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.