Regional hotelier of the year Koos Klein reflects on a fast changing Asia-Pacific region - and shares his development plans ahead with Yeoh Siew Hoon.

Koos Klein, Asia Pacific Hotelier of the Year, remembers his first posting to Australia when he was assigned to open the Novotel Darling Harbour in Sydney in 1990.

"I was the Dutch guy in Australia opening an unknown French hotel in an unknown part of Sydney. In the corner ceiling, the glue was still coming off.

"Nobody had heard of the name Novotel before and when we opened, people were calling us to buy phones.

"But the Australians were very friendly and extremely hardworking and keen to learn about the new man and not too shy to throw a party.".

The Netherlands-born Klein was awarded the title by Jones Lang LaSalle Hospitality last week and his citation read by the previous year's recipient Patrick Imbardelli, the former CEO of InterContinental Hotels Asia Pacific.

Today, Klein is overseeing the largest development pipeline in Hilton International's history in Asia, with the group poised to open 300 hotels in the next nine years

He is also helming the company at a time of great change – Hilton was acquired by the Blackstone Group late last year – and the intent of the new investors is clear. Grow the company and sell it, something Klein acknowledged in his interview with Barge.

Asked how different it was operating under the new ownership, Klein said, "It is clear that Blackstone did not buy Hilton to hold on to it forever. They are acting as our balance sheet which is good. It means more money for development.

"But private equity is opportunistic and the company is extremely active in gearing for growth."

Asked how different it was to work with people with financial background rather than hospitality experience, Klein said, "They are not that involved with the operations side. We have hoteliers who know the business best so we are not seeing much influence there."

And although five of the six top leaders at Hilton International have changed after the acquisition, Klein said, "My boss is still there. We are moving more to a matrix organization."

Klein said the integration of the two Hiltons would have taken place anyway, with or without the acquisition. "It's going a little faster, some people decided it was too fast and have moved on, but it would have happened anyhow."

The accelerated rate of growth of Hilton in Asia Pacific can be put down to the fact that the company is introducing its Hilton Family of Brands across the market segments.

When Klein arrived in 1998 to run Hilton in the area, Asia represented only five percent of the company's bottomline, as Barge pointed out. This was because Hilton only operated then in the four-and-a-half and five-and-a-half star area, said Klein.

"We now have new brands, that's why we are growing."

Asked if Hilton was going from one extreme to the other by Barge – from one brand to nine brands, Klein said there was enough differentiation between the brands. "Our focus is India, China, Japan and Australia."

In India, Hilton Hotels has formed strategic partnerships with India's largest developer, DLF to own and develop 75 hotels in seven years; and Marigold Hospitality Limited, in India to franchise 16 Hampton by Hilton economy hotels.

In China, the company will operate 26 hotels in China by 2011 and has entered into a deal to franchise 25 hotels under its mid-scale brand, Hilton Garden Inn® to RREEF Alternative Investments (the global alternative investment management business of Deutsche Bank) and H & Q Asia Pacific.

Efforts to develop the flagship Hilton brand continue, while the company expects to bring more luxury properties into the pipeline under the Conrad and Waldorf Astoria Collection brands.

Yeoh Siew Hoon, one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, writes a regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry for 4Hoteliers.com.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her other writings can be found at www.thetransitcafe.com

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