SLH showcase brings luxury to Canada

If the City of Toronto suddenly seemed more stylish on the evening of Apr. 23, it may have had something to do with the presence of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), a collection of unique, independently-owned properties located all over the globe, who had arrived in the city for an evening of networking and presentations with the travel trade.

The event was the final stop in a week-long series of that took SLH across North America, with Toronto being the sole Canadian destination due to its prominent consumer base.

“Toronto is actually the strongest market in Canada for us,” Jeffrey Sirota, director of worldwide sales for SLH told PAX. “It offers a great mix of both corporate and leisure travel business, so it was important that we make it a part of the showcase.”

SLH has more than 520 hotels located in over 80 countries, with an emphasis on high-end accommodations that can range from resorts in Belize, to chateaus in France and villas in Italy. At the event, with 15 hoteliers representing the likes of The Betsy in Southbeach, Miami; Ka’ana Resort in Belize; Castello di Velona in Montalcino and Rusty Parrot Lodge & Spa in Jackson, Wyoming, there certainly didn’t seem to be any two that looked alike.

“We like to have a good variety,” Sirota said, “because it means we can invite travel trade and while they might not have business for everybody, depending on the agents’ specialties, there’s the potential [for them to find a property they didn’t know existed].”

It’s matchmaking services such as these that makes SLH valuable to the properties in its collection.

“We have an events calendar that we internally promote to our hotels, and it’s largely opportunities to mingle with top producing travel agents,” Sirota said, to which Erin Woodward, head of PR, Americas, explained that SLH itself is membership-based, and that the relationship with hotels in their portfolio is very much a partnership.

The Club, SLH’s loyalty program, allows for its 370,000 members to list destinations wherein they would like to see small luxury hotels on its company website, which SLH’s development team then uses as a reference when finding new properties to bring into the fold.

“It has to be a partnership that works for both parties,” Woodward said. “The hotels are looking for bookings, while SHL needs them to be of a certain quality.”

2015 will see a number of new property openings for SLH, including The Laslett in London; Hotel Alhambra in Coratia; Keemala Resort & Spa in Thailand and a hotel in Perth, which is yet to be named.

For more information, visit slh.com.