Marrakech landmark La Mamounia turns its attention to the Indian traveller

Century-old property headed by the hotelier who helped reposition The Imperial New Delhi

The director general of La Mamounia, often ranked among the world’s top luxury hotels, is currently in India in an effort to introduce the landmark from Marrakech, Morocco, to the Indian traveller. The visit is part of a strategic push by the 100-plus-year-old hotel to tap into a market that barely features in its guest list, which includes figures like Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Paul McCartney, Charlie Chaplin, and Gary Cooper.

 

“Americans, both from the East Coast and the West Coast, form our main customer base, followed by France and other European countries,” says Pierre Jochem, who, having held high-level positions at properties such as The Imperial and the Oberoi in New Delhi, knows a thing or two about the Indian traveller.

 

 

At present, Indians account for less than one per cent of La Mamounia’s guests. But over the last few years, the hotel has been noticing a subtle change. “We started seeing some Indian guests coming through the US,” Jochem says. “And we said to ourselves: ‘India is going to start coming to Morocco’.”

 

The observation led to Jochem and his team visiting India regularly to increase their outreach. The strategy is deliberately long-term. 

 

“We are slowly building the base,” he says. “If 5 per cent of our guests are from India, we will be very happy. We believe the number will grow naturally in the next three or five years.”

 

The Indian guests arriving at the hotel today are mostly leisure travellers, and include couples, individuals or families exploring Marrakech. While the hotel has also begun receiving enquiries about Indian destination weddings, Jochem says the property will approach that segment cautiously because of the scale and logistical complexity such celebrations involve.

 

Among other things, the hotel is exploring promotional events in India, including culinary showcases featuring chefs from La Mamounia, besides word-of-mouth recommendations. The outreach has so far focused on Delhi and Mumbai, but other cities are on the radar. “Next year, we will probably look at Bengaluru and Hyderabad.”

 

The focus on India comes as La Mamounia – which translates to “safe haven” or “reservoir” in Arabic, and was conceived on a palace and garden gifted by the sultan of Morocco, Mohammed ben Abdallah, to his son in the 18th century – has itself gone through a change in approach.

 

When Jochem took charge of the property in 2013, the mandate to him from its owners was to bring the hotel up to the times, while preserving its heritage. “It had to remain an icon, but not an icon frozen in time,” he says. “Back then, it had a museum-like atmosphere” – staid, rigid. “It wasn’t very open to the city of Marrakech.” That was changed to allow visitors to walk through its gardens, which cover two-thirds of the property, dine in its restaurants, or simply drop in for a drink.

 

Operational culture was also changed, as were commercial policies, making room rates and dining arrangements flexible. The average annual occupancy, which stood at about 48 per cent of the 200-plus rooms, including suites and riads, has since touched 70 per cent, and room rates have increased from $700 to $1,000 a night.

 

For Jochem, who is recognised as a visionary hotelier, the challenges of running a historic luxury property are familiar. The French hotelier was part of The Imperial New Delhi’s journey during its renovation. And in 2002, he became its first foreign general manager since the 1950s.

 

“The Imperial is one of India’s most historic hotels,” he says. It opened in the 1930s, the last years of British Raj, and was witness to the discussions among Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, around the partition of India and Pakistan. “During that period, Lord Mountbatten practically lived at The Imperial,” he says.

 

Over the years, post-Independence, the hotel lost much of its former prominence. “It became a tired hotel. Many people in Delhi almost forgot it was there,” he says. But then its renovation and repositioning brought it back to life – and how.

 

These lessons, he believes, remain relevant for historic hotels everywhere.

 

“Hotels like The Imperial, and La Mamounia, have soul,” he says. “But history alone is not enough. You still have to deliver the right product.”

 

He points to India’s hospitality sector and the strong growth it is witnessing. “Demand is high and business is thriving, but that success can sometimes lead hotels to overlook the importance of maintaining and upgrading their product,” he says, adding, “It is important to make profits, but you must never forget the core of the product.”