Managing director, Prakaeaw Na-Ranong, said that this year, the resort would be more targeted in the customers it went for.
“I think we can afford to be more focused to go in the direction we want to be in terms of positioning,” said Moo, as she is called by friends. “We feel ecommerce and social media is a good way to go. Of course, we have a lot to learn but we will put more resources into this channel.”
During the week of April 7, Indigo Pearl was ranked number 1 of seven hotels in the Nai Yang area and number 1 for business in Phuket.
Moo noted that in the beginning, they offered “Indigo Pearl as a unique resort in terms of design and experience and value for money”.
“Now we need to work on the rates and find more of the right customers.”
Indigo Pearl is a reincarnation of the old Pearl Village Resort which was heavily reliant on groups from tour operators, mainly from Europe. Up to 80% of its customers came from this market, a channel that Moo’s father, Wichit Na-Ranong, had steadily built up over the resort’s 20-year-history.
Recognising that the product had come to the end of its life cycle, the family closed the resort in April 2006, gave it a one billion baht transformation and it re-opened as the current Indigo Pearl in December that year.
Since its re-opening, its design, inspired by Phuket’s tin mining and local history and brought to life by architect and designer Bill Bensley, has won rave reviews and the resort is consistently ranked high on Trip Advisor rankings.
Its transformation, based on the vision of Moo, has enabled it to differentiate itself from the sea of sameness in Phuket’s resort inventory and to seek out new customers willing to pay more for an experience that is unique and different.
In repositioning the resort, it lost almost all of its old customers – elderly Europeans looking for a beach-and-flop holiday in the sun.
Said Wichit, “We knew we would lose them when we decided to go in this direction. But either you do it all the way or not.”
And indeed, they went all the way and Wichit watched the budget balloon to more than twice the initial amount he had set aside..
He admits it was a painful exercise, watching the budget bloat. “I didn’t expect the budget to go so high but up to a point, we couldn’t compromise,” he said. “We had to stay true to the concept.”
And the concept was everything had to be customised – from the over-size chairs with metal rivets to the cutlery.
It’s a risk that is paying off, said Wichit. “It’s allowed us to differentiate and go after new customers. Otherwise, we’d be just another resort in Phuket. Now we have a story to tell.”
And they’ve also discovered that “the market for the resort was wider than we had thought,” said Wichit.
Occupancies are healthy relative to competitors and the average room rate is now at US$250, more than double the previous rate.
They found a new match with different tour operators who had a younger clientele – today 60% of its business comes from this traditional channel – and new customers have come from channels such as ecommerce and publicity in travel and lifestyle magazines.
“The Internet has definitely helped – it helped us to position our hotel globally,” said Moo, whose vision was behind the transformation.
As a young generation traveller herself, Moo said she had seen traveller needs change – from when she was growing up and watching her father manage their two hotels. “Today’s travellers want something different – they want an experience, more than a bed and beach.
“I guess you could say I have created a product for my generation – the 30s-50s. We have young couples and families from Europe, and young executives Singapore and Hong Kong.”
She said, “Consumers are smarter now because of the Internet. They do a lot of research before they book, so we have to focus more on ecommerce to get more of these Internet savvy travellers.”
Personally, she said she does not use a travel agent for her own travels. “I go online, go through websites and get a good deal where I can.”
Featured image credit (social media concept) : iStock
