A chat with Daniel Von Barloewen, Vice President, Accor One Living, Head of Mixed-Use (EMEA)
What does a day in the life look like for you?
Quite varied actually! As my role spans across development, marketing advisory support and operations of our branded residential projects across Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, a typical day could find me evaluating new opportunities for branded residential (either co-located with a hotel or standalone), helping our existing development partners create best in class marketing collateral and hosting sales events at our hotels, delving into floorplans and designing the facilities and amenities that will be dedicated exclusively for the residence owners, or reviewing annual home owner association budgets. So a really wonderful breadth of activity that keeps me constantly busy and highly engaged.
What is it about branded residences that you’re most passionate about?
I love the branded residential sector because it combines two of my passions: creating vibrant sought-after residential communities, and the wider hospitality industry. Everything starts and ends from how to plan out multi-generational spaces to live, work and play – and then both maximising the value of the real estate through carefully designed and market-driven facilities, as well as enriching the lives of the residence owners through the provision of tailored hospitality and residential management services. Accor has a team of dedicated residential operations experts across the globe, and we are always looking at ways to make the lives of our residence owner communities better through the services we provide.
Why are branded residences taking the world by storm at moment?
The sector has indeed seen such tremendous growth over the past two decades (150% over the past decade alone, according to Savills latest branded residential research paper). The ability and preference to work remotely, combined with the focus on health and wellbeing, design and technology, and tailored service offerings that branded residences offer are hugely appealing. It is the soft programming elements of hotel branded residences (curated events and the way in which the services are delivered) that really sets them apart from non-hotel branded residences and unbranded residences.
What do you think the branded residences sector is missing?
Greater expertise in branded residences amongst real estate consultancy practices.
What do you think the biggest opportunity is for branded residences?
Branded residential started off as solely a luxury product, catering to a select few. For instance, of Accor’s existing network of over 36 operating branded residences, 75% of them are in the Luxury segment. But over time the sector has considerably diversified to a broader and deeper buyer base, as evidenced by our pipeline, of which 55% is in the Premium and Midscale segments. A great example is the Mama Shelter Residences in Dubai, the first Mama Shelter Residences in the world and which sold over 95% of the 204 Residences within 3 months from launch last year. In addition to continuation of this trend, the other major trend where we see significant growth is in standalone residences.
Do you have a favourite brand?
That’s always an impossible question to answer, as Accor has such a great variety of brands: we do branded residences alongside 22 of the Group’s brands. Each has its own charm and personality, tailored service offerings and private residence owner facilities, customised to address the brand requirements as much as the residence owners’ needs. The OWO Residences by Raffles in London for example (made possible by the vision and commitment of its developer the Hinduja Group) offers wine storage and sommelier services through a partnership with Berry Brothers & Rudd. The private screening room at The OWO is a centrepiece of the 30,000 square feet of private facilities made available exclusively to Residence owners, and will allow the team to organize intimate talks with authors, artisans and thought leaders. Our SO/ Residences in Kuala Lumpur will feature a Resident DJ in the residence owners’ lounge, and cocktail tastings hosted by our mixologists, reflecting the energy of the brand and the buyers who are attracted to it. We even have bowling alleys in some of our branded residences!
Accor has just launched a dedicated platform for mixed-use, Accor One Living: can you tell us a bit more?
Accor One Living is an industry-first platform dedicated to the development and operation of forward-thinking hospitality solutions for travelers and homeowners. Accor One Living builds on Accor’s leadership in the branded residences category, where it currently has more than 135 branded residence projects already operating or in varying stages of development, across 22 distinct brands. Over the next five years alone, in partnership with visionary developers around the world, Accor One Living will open over 125 new branded residences – including flagships like The OWO Residences by Raffles in London, the SO/ Uptown Dubai Residences and Raffles Residences Boston Back Bay in 2023. Accor One Living also supports the integration of coworking offerings, extended stay hotels, golf management solutions, private member clubs and more.
