One of Geneva’s best luxury hotels is changing the hotel group it’s affiliated with, and I can’t help but find this to be an unusual development.
Continue reading: Surprising: The Woodward Geneva Rebrands As Auberge
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I fear its your last point - Geneva is a tough market with too many brands, hard to break through as small sized silent-luxury property. Would have expected Oetker gives the property a longer timeline to get established after the long renovation.
Fantastic property, far better than MO, Beau Rivage and FS closey, was planning on going back this April. Not sure now. Also a page about The Woodward without a picture of the incredible pastries at breakfast, sacrilege!.
This is obviously not a decision made by Oetker, but by the owners of the hotel.
@Tim what makes you say that? This update didn't really surprise me at all. Oetker is very focused on destinations/leisure, and Geneva is a strange location for that. It doesn't really fit in with their strategy and other hotels (even Paris). Auberge manages plenty of hotels in smaller cities, which Geneva aligns with.
An example of why small independent hotels arguably need soft brands more than bigger hotels. Marriott or Hyatt bring so many customers to a property. I imagine all the corporate contracts in Geneva are at legacy properties.