In 2008, as operators jockeyed to open properties in time to catch the gold rush that was the Beijing Olympics, a new kid on the block joined the fray in the party district of Chaoyang. Now known as a collection of design-driven urban properties, Hotel G Beijing was the first of the G hotels and residences. Designed by Taipei-based British designer Mark Lintott and Morocco-based French-Algerian Imaad Rahmouni, Hotel G Beijing was also Christophe Vielle’s first opening after launching GCP Hospitality (GCPH) in 2008, the hotel arm of Gaw Capital Partners founded by Goodwin Gaw.
“G stands for gap, and how we fill that gap in the market,” says Vielle. “For every city, we look at the market and come up with a unique identity for each property that we open there. As owners and operators, Vielle says the company relies on being flexible. “When working with owners, we look at what’s happening in the hotel market and what’s missing, as well as how the business can be turned around.”
Vielle left his home in Angers, France at 16 to pursue a career in hospitality by learning on the job. “I cooked, I served, I worked front of house, I learned to manage—all before I was 18,” he says. Five years later, at 24, Vielle wanted to go to the U.S. but couldn’t get a visa. Instead, he decided on Australia, with a plan to pass through Hong Kong on the way. “I stayed there to make money for my onward ticket, working for Edward Kuok [chairman of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts]. That ended up being a year, and then I moved to Taiwan to work in a private club.” Vielle never made it to Australia. He learned Mandarin, got married, and has been based in Bangkok for the past 25 years, working for the likes of Accor and King Power Hotel Management Company, among others, and met Gaw when he launched the Mercure Hotel Pattaya, owned by the real estate mogul and his family.
GCPH has now expanded to 42 employees, with branches in Beijing, San Francisco, and Seoul, as well as the parent GCP office in Hong Kong. With 23 hotels—a mix of independent brands and more mainstays like Accor, Hyatt, and InterContinental (the company acquired the InterContinental Hong Kong in 2015)—GCPH recently launched Residence G Shenzhen, a 178-key hotel and serviced apartments in Nanshan, designed by Hangzhou’s LYCS Architecture. While Residence G Hong Kong, from Shanghai- and London-based Neri & Hu, originally operated as an extended stay property when it opened three years ago, Vielle has since tweaked it. “[It] turned out to be more profitable as a daily. We tend to build our properties with flexibility, though units are generally smaller for hotels and larger for long stays,” he explains. “Each hotel is different, depending on the city, and our F&B targets the neighborhood. For example, we opened Scarlett in Residence G Hong Kong, the first Western restaurant on Austin Road. For guests (90 percent of whom are in the creative industry), it provides a nice table to meet others over dinner or drinks. It helped us create a sense of community.”
Similarly, for the newly opened Macau Roosevelt by Los Angeles firm Gulla Jónsdóttir Architecture & Design, Vielle aims to offer something unique to the highly saturated Macau market. “We approached Roosevelt Macau like a G,” he says. “It’s not on the strip. It’s a lifestyle hotel that caters to families, with strong F&B offerings.” For the property, Jónsdóttir channels the Hollywood property’s modern glamour (also owned by Gaw and recently redone by Yabu Pushelberg) “with a similar period-centric twist to the first overseas extension of the brand,” Vielle says.
Following the 2014 opening of Hotel G San Francisco (designed by New York’s Hun Aw Studio) and the acquisition of the Public Hotel in Chicago from Ian Schrager (now managed by Journal Hotels and set for a facelift), GCPH is looking to acquire more hotels in the U.S. Through a joint venture with Journal Hotels, which is currently managing six historic buildings, plus three Gs planned in Myanmar, Beijing, and Seoul, Vielle is taking GCPH to the next level.
