Hospitality, 30 years of transformation – Vanguélis Panayotis, CEO MKG Consulting and Hospitality ON
We’ve come a long way in 30 years, and we’ve helped to structure our sector.
We have brought transparency and confidence to the market.
Today, just as 30 years ago, we are faced with a great deal of uncertainty.
In our hospitality family, we are at a new moment where we have to redefine the value drivers in this equation.
We need to redefine other horizons to ensure another 30 years of serenity in our sector.
AI is going to give us more value, but we need to work together to find the best practices to make us more productive.
Transformation through authenticity – Federico Gonzales Tejera, CEO Louvre Hotels Group
The first key to survive is the ability to change, the second is a clear plan, the third is the ability to secure the right people, the fourth is having the client and the last one is the leadership.
90% of CEO who are fired is because they didn’t have the capacity to change and adapt.
If the vision is clear and transparent it can change people’s attitude.
If you break a stereotype the image of the company will change
We want to create brand that are always in the top three among people favorite brands.
Our current plan in Louvre hotels, is that of investing 350 M to renovate our hotels.
We are renovating over 160 hotels to put the money where is our mouth.
The main skill for leadership is generosity because it is about looking beyond the obvious.
MKG Insights – Adrien Lanotte, Senior Data Analyst MKG Consulting
Today, data can help us in this vision of transformation.
We are experiencing more moderate growth in core Europe, while Southern and Eastern Europe are performing very well.
Within a moderate overall market like France, we have extremely heterogeneous dynamics.
There are more subtle changes behind the scenes, including the evolution of booking paterns.
We are no longer in a situation of hyperinflation, so people are regaining the confidence to book at the last minute.
Leisure areas are very attractive, both for consumers and investors.
The search for business and corporate customers is now a real issue.
Aggregated over the early part of 2025, direct sales are regaining market share in terms of distribution.
We need to look for new levers of profitability.
With the fragmentation of the world underway, what about international arrivals, particularly from North America?
We need to change our perspective on how we perform.
Franchising is not the only lever for growth.
Tomorrow’s profitability is based on the ability to connect to pipes.
Shaping digital futures – Alix Boulnois, Chief Business, Digital & Tech Officer Accor
Our sector is constantly on the move, with digital and environmental disruptions in particular, but also unwanted disruptions such as Covid.
Transformation is a daily mindset if we are to move forward.
As a franchisor, we need to have strong brands and know how to distribute them on a large scale.
Technology is at the service of business objectives.
We are a latecomer to technology, unlike the retail sector, for example.
We have adopted new technological tools in the Accor portfolio, such as CRS and PMS.
The grail is for change to become part of the day-to-day life of our teams.
In any transformation, there is a human underpinning.
The biggest disruption with AI is capturing customers online.
This kind of disruption is an opportunity to reshuffle the deck in our favour.
Brand power, brand value – Michel Miserez, CFO Middle East & Africa Marriott International
Brands have an amazing evolution.
We started to introduce the concept of recognition and building trust with the client.
The digital revolution enabled brand to connect with more people.
Nowadays is about experience.
In the 60s – 70s brands started to plant their flag around the world.
Each brand meet the needs of different consumers.
The Marriott brand is our legacy brand and it still really performative and valuable.
We are very active in the middlescale space, having launched a new brand a year ago.
About this century was also the digital evolution, and that would a slow a brand to connect with the clients.
You need a whole ecosystem, and a support system, a franchise system, in order to take the full benefits of these brands.
The Marriott DNA is to focus on value when creating a brand.
We focus a lot on digital transformation we are one of the first companies to have a CSR system.
The new brands, were some things that gave to us a lot of opportunities.
What is about Marriott is about giving people opportunities to grow, the owners, our associates
After covid – 19, brands have to adapt to consumer’s changes.
Were offer people opportunities and choice for every type of trip.
Revenue management, engine of profitability – Fernando Vives, CCO & Management Board Member Minor Hotels Europe & Americas
Nowadays, focus is the word for the revenue management.
You have to be very careful when you message things to your teams.
We are empowering our revenue managers with technological tools.
We try to optimize our segmentation. It’s mostly a question of optimization.
How do we make our revenue managers think faster and how do we use technology
We try to optimize our revenue tool all day long.
The revenue management is the lighthouse of the topline.
Performance through strategic relevance – Alexis Gardy, CEO Belambra Clubs
30 years ago, Belambra was in the first part of its life when it was still called vvf.
In 2021, our customers asked us to change. Our transformation came from an external request.
The customer provides you with very precise elements of perception.
In this transformation, we needed a compass with 4 cardinal points: revenue generation, profitability, customer satisfaction and innovation.
This inventory has enabled us to square up what we sell.
We chose to invest in the sites that generated the greatest contribution within the group.
We took a gamble on deseasonalisation by transforming seasonal posts into permanent ones.
The NPS has therefore become a daily indicator at both global and site level.
Innovation is an ongoing process.
We need to use artificial intelligence to strengthen our emotional intelligence.
Building heterotopias – Alban Ruggiero, Founder et CEO Jost Hotel & Benjamin Altaras, CEO Hospitality Turenne Capital
Alban Ruggiero: I always knew I was an innkeeper.
I was looking for a market that wasn’t moving very much, so I invested in the economic sector.
Always attack a market from the premium side.
Creating a brand is a vocation, an in-depth job.
All the problems come at once, so we have to transform ourselves every day.
The Italian market is one of passion, so it’s made for entrepreneurs.
Benjamin Altaras: What interested us about Jost was the boldness of its products. The positioning seemed interesting to us.
From our point of view, the return on investment comes from a number of parameters, including the quality of the locations, the positioning and the ability to capture local customers and mix them with visiting customers.
Jost has become one of the most important players in hybrid lifestyle hotels.
We’re working on the next story with this new round of financing.
Investors still don’t really understand what lifestyle hotels are all about.
Essendi : Investing in the shift – Catherine Beike, CEO Southern Europe Essendi
We began this transformation in 2021, and it is not yet fully complete.
The name change marks a shift towards holistic value creation.
We also wanted to upgrade the customer experience.
For Essendi, ESG is the foundation of our strategy and development. We set ourselves a very high ESG ambition, it was a no-brainer for us.
The idea is to have a single project for each establishment.
We have a responsibility to ensure that we choose the best strategies for each asset.
Our ambition is to have 100% of our portfolio certified Green Key by 2026.
We want to manage better for longer.
We need to be as close as possible to the expectations of investors, customers and employees alike.
