As the rich and famous shift to new playgrounds, Monaco kingpin Bernard Lambert is rebuilding the Monte Carlo story.
AH … Monaco: where royalty and tax exiles winter in luxury suites and multi-million dollar penthouses; where movie stars sip Cristal from Baccarat flutes on 300-foot yachts anchored in azure waters, baiting the paparazzi; where Prince Ranier once wooed Grace Kelly and fortunes were won and lost (mostly lost) at fabled roulette tables that have seen the likes of James Bond (in various iterations); where perfectly tanned beauties have been coming to play alongside legendary race car drivers out hunting for their next trophy…
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Almost surreal, this picture of the glamourous and slightly decadent principality did certainly exist once. But the glamour appeared to be fading of late – tuxedos are not even de rigeur at the Casino de Monte Carlo any more.
Instead, the ultra-rich have been seeking out ever more exotic holiday destinations, hampered only by landing rights for their Gulfstream jets.
Enter Bernard Lambert, CEO of Monte Carlo SBM, the 146-year-old company that holds the monopoly to Monaco’s five casinos. It also owns four hotels there, the oldest of which, the Beach Hotel, has just undergone a multi-million dollar refurbishment with its Hotel de Paris and Hermitage being tweaked as well.
For many years before Mr Lambert joined in 2002, the company was quite happy with business as usual.
‘It was a very tranquil company that did not go outside its borders,’ says Mr Lambert. When Mr Lambert joined Monte Carlo SBM in 2002, ‘the challenge was to regroup and make sure we promote the Monte Carlo experience,’ he recalls.
To understand the experience, however, one has to go there, because it is not something that can easily be described. Mr Lambert says: ‘We keep our DNA very close to our hearts,’ but does add: ‘It’s about going back to the glamour of the old times.’
So what happened to the ‘glamour’ so intrinsic to the appeal of Monaco?
‘We have had to face new competition. 30 or 40 years ago, nobody went to the Maldives or Mauritius. These places now give our clients new opportunities to discover other things,’ says Mr Lambert frankly.
Nobody books a suite – which can cost 8,000 euros (S$16,600) a night – for two or three months at a stretch any more either. ‘The profile of the guest is changing,’ says Mr Lambert. Today, most of Monte Carlo SBM’s clients come from Italy, France, Germany, and the US with an increasing number from Russia, Ukraine and other newly minted eastern block republics. The Middle East contingent is also large, representing about 30 per cent of the clientele.
Many still come for the casinos, which generate about 60 per cent of Monte Carlo SBM’s revenues. Its turnover for 2008 was 457.6 million euros and 400 million euros for 2009. Revenue from casinos fell by almost 20 per cent over this period to 210.7 million euros.
Even with its monopoly on gambling, it is not clear if this business segment will grow. ‘We are not sure where the new gamblers will come from. Will it be the sons of our old clients?’ wonders Mr Lambert. So it came as a pleasant surprise when Monte Carlo SBM’s new hotel and resort, Monte Carlo Bay, proved to be such a success.
Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (after the Vatican City) at just under two square kilometres. Already densely built up, new developments can only be built at the expense of older ones so it is understandable that Monte Carlo SBM had not had the opportunity to open a new hotel for more than 75 years.
This changed when some reclaimed land was secured by the company for a hotel. While Mr Lambert will not take credit for finding the site, he does say that he was involved in the ‘positioning’ of the hotel, which is radically different from the company’s other grander and older hotels.
No one knows better than he that the hospitality business is changing rapidly. ‘There’s a phenomena right now – small hotels of 20 to 50 rooms with limited F&B options and limited service. They are contemporary looking and trendy,’ he adds.
Mr Lambert personally does not like these ‘trendy’ boutique hotels – ‘I stayed in one in London and will never go back!’ – but he did understand that the Monte Carlo Bay would need to be younger and hipper.
Toning down on the opulence that the company’s other hotels are better known for, the 334-room Monte Carlo Bay which cost 200 million euros opened in 2005. And it is almost ‘modern’, without a gilt cherub in sight.
‘With the Monte Carlo Bay, we have attracted a new wave of clients … cool and more contemporary. I was surprised that it became a success so fast. In the first year, we repaid the loans and rent and even made a tiny profit,’ adds Mr Lambert. Emboldened, Mr Lambert now wants Monte Carlo SBM to go global – an imperative really, as there is no more room for expansion in Monaco.
About two years ago, Mr Lambert decided to push the brand, Monte Carlo SBM. Until then, the company had also been known by its charmingly archaic name, Societe des Bains de Mer, because in the old days, people used to come to Monaco to ‘take the waters’.
It is now on a fast track for growth. ‘The challenge is to put Monte Carlo SBM on the map and make it a market-driven company,’ says Mr Lambert. Monte Carlo SBM is also by the way, listed on the Paris Euronext exchange with the Monaco government holding 69.5 per cent of the share capital.
Next year, Monte Carlo will open an 85-room resort hotel and spa in Marrakesh called The Jewel of Marrakesh by Monte Carlo SBM.
It may not have an equity stake in this, its first hotel outside Monaco, but this will not be for long as Monte Carlo SBM is also looking to buy properties to convert into hotels. Mr Lambert says that the first of these is likely to be in London or Paris.
At the same time, he is scouting for opportunities in the US and Asia, and has a target to open about 12 hotels in the next five years.
In the meantime, Mr Lambert is busy building and promoting the brand. After making a stop in Singapore, he was off to China where Monte Carlo SBM will have a pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Like many others, he has his eye on emerging markets and the new millionaires who will want to ‘experience’ Monte Carlo. ‘And we still have a good story,’ he says.
Source : Business Times – 7 Nov 2009
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