Langham Hospitality Group CEO Bob van den Oord talks approachable luxury

At The Langham, Sydney, where this interview takes place, the hotel is fully booked, and the restaurant is packed with people – an indication that luxury demand remains strong in this market.

“The Pacific is posting some really strong numbers for us and looking at the forecast for the next three to six months, the teams in our hotels are quietly confident that will continue.”

Originally from Holland, van den Oord began his hospitality career as a chef after discovering a passion for cooking at a young age.

“I love cooking. My friend and I had a little outside catering company. On weekends, we would go and cook for doctors and lawyers and wealthy people. That’s how we made a bit of extra money. I enjoyed that so much that I wanted to do more and so I went to hotel school.”

His early hospitality career took him to Belgium, Paris, London and Boston.

Since joining LHG, he has held numerous roles including head of hotel operations, head of brands, head of sales and marketing and regional leadership roles, before taking on the top job as CEO, based in Hong Kong, in August 2023.

Growth and expansion

Van den Oord’s trip to the Pacific is focused on people, performance and growth, with discussions underway to bring new hotels and brands to the market.

“We’re pitching for hotels here in Australia and in New Zealand. Hopefully we can get some agreements here, and I can announce some new projects later in the year. We’d love to have a resort in Fiji too.”

Van den Oord is eyeing Sydney and Perth as possible locations for the group’s Eaton brand.

“Eaton is very much targeted at the younger – or young-at-heart – generation. It’s a mission-driven brand that was started by our Chairman’s daughter, who really wanted to do good in the world through great hospitality – standing up for women’s rights, gay rights, the environment – through different programming in the hotels.”

Asia continues to be important for LHG with the company eyeing opportunities in resorts in Southeast Asia, and further expansion in China.

“China’s economy is not as strong at the moment, but we’re very confident that’s going to come back. We feel that, at some point, China will be the number one economy in the world. We want to be there.”

LHG has five hotels in Hong Kong alone, as well as a presence in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

“I think we’ll grow to a good 50 hotels in China,” van den Oord says.

“We’re opening two additional Cordis hotels in September – one in Xian and the other one in Kunshan – and we have a Langham opening later in the year in China, in Nanjing.

“The more hotels we open, the better for our overall brand awareness and our positioning. And of course, when these 1.4 billion, start traveling abroad to other destinations, we want to make sure that they want to stay with us.”

As the business grows, van den Oord is eager to reduce the percentage of owned hotels in the portfolio – which currently stands at 60%.

“We want to bring that down a little bit. I’d like to half that figure at some point.

“We’re going to do that by focusing more on Hotel Management Agreements.

“My goal is to get to 100 hotels over the next 10 years. Based on what I’m seeing currently with what we have in the pipeline, I think that’s very much within our sight.

Evolving brands

160 years on from the establishment of its first hotel, The Langham, London, in 1865, LHG is leveraging the power of this enduring luxury brand, while modernising its offering for a new generation of travellers.

“The Langham, London was the first purpose-built grand hotel in Europe. It had elevators – they called them ‘rising rooms’ in those days. And it had running hot and cold water in the rooms and air conditioning.

“We’ve got a lot of history with that hotel, and I think that heritage, combined with our luxury focus, really sets us apart in many different ways.

“Our British heart, Asian soul, and global mindset is something that we’re very proud of and it differentiates us from other luxury brands that are out there.”

“Whilst we have that heritage and that legacy that we’re known for, we have been able to ‘sex it up’, if I may, with some of our great food and beverage concepts.”

One such example is at The Langham, London, where The Wigmore, a quintessential English pub, designed by Martin Brudnizki, offers hearty pub food reimagined by acclaimed chef Michel Roux Jr.

“You can have a Guinness with a toasty, but also a martini or a glass of champagne.

“We have put in a cooking school there too, where people can learn some of the tricks of the trade from Michel Roux Jr.

“We also have Artesian, which is an award-winning mixology bar. It’s been number one best bar in the world for four years running.”

Van den Oord says the modern luxury hotel experience is about creating environments that make people feel comfortable and welcome.

“We’ve all been to theses amazing hotels with gorgeous lobbies, the marble and the chandeliers – everything is picture perfect – however, they’re very quiet and there’s not necessarily life and soul to these lobbies.

“I want to make sure that our hotels are accessible, approachable, with great food and beverage, where people feel comfortable, where they can have fun, enjoy themselves, and not take life too seriously. Where you can have a delicious meal, and you’re still very happy, even when you get the bill – which is not always the case in a lot of restaurants around the world.”

In proving its commitment to make its hotels and restaurants more approachable and affordable, The Langham London opened its doors to Netflix show Five Star Chef, which debuted in 2023. The cooking competition sees seven professional chefs compete to bring their fine-dining concept to the Palm Court restaurant at The Langham, London.

Caribbean restaurant, The Good Front Room, opened in July 2023 for a six-month pop-up, which was extended to April 2024 due to its popularity.

“We had a lot of great responses from that show, really high viewership, and the winner did an amazing job for us. The restaurant was fully booked for a year, and there was a waiting list.

“The feedback has been amazing. We are in discussions with Netflix for another, but in another location.”

The right people

As at any hotel or restaurant, the guest experience is led by team members.

The Langham has numerous training programs and academies to ensure a consistently high standard across everything from its Afternoon Tea to Chuang Spa. But finding the right people is essential to both their success and that of the hotel.

“When I interview people, the first and foremost that I’m asking myself is, ‘Are they nice people?’

“I want to find people that have that social nature from within, that they enjoy hospitality, that they enjoy engaging with our guests and with their colleagues. That’s really important.

“When my mother goes to a supermarket, it takes her an hour because she talks to everyone. That’s the kind of people I want working for us.”

Then, it’s about teaching them “The Langham way of doing things”.

“It’s very authentic, it’s unpretentious, it’s unscripted… so staff can be themselves and tell their story.”

by Ruth Hogan