The IHIF Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Majid Mangalji, President of Westmont Hospitality Group by Laurence Geller CBE, Founder and Former Chairman & CEO Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Chairman Churchill Centre and Jonathan Worsley, Chairman, Bench Events and Board Director, STR Global.
The third and final day of the 16th International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) concluded on Wednesday with a keynote speech by Dr. Jacques Attali, CEO of A&A and President of PlaNet Finance.
The closing was preceded by a session titled “Innovate or be Damned”. Among the speakers was David Rowan, Editor, Wired UK, who stressed that current patterns are “changing how we interact with machines” and we can expect that M2M communication (Machine to Machine) will be the next big thing. Rowan firmly believes that “mobile internet is the single biggest opportunity in our lifetime”. He gave the examples of Snooze Box who provide portable hotels and questioned what the rules for hospitality are. He said they are changing and gave another example of room service and asked why these can’t be combined with local neighbourhood restaurants. He urged hotels to create innovative technology ideas that build customer loyalty with a brand. Rowan said when he was last at IHIF two years ago he was berating hotels for charging for basic internet access. Now he believes hotels should be providing super fast broadband connectivity. He likened it to giving complimentary cold water free of charge but then charging for hot water. He said “hotels need to give more power to the guests and let them interact with their systems”.
The IHIF Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Majid Mangalji, President of Westmont Hospitality Group by Laurence Geller CBE, Founder and Former Chairman & CEO Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Chairman Churchill Centre and Jonathan Worsley, Chairman, Bench Events and Board Director, STR Global. Geller described Westmont as the largest private owner and operator of hotels in the world. Geller then read out a list of words he would use to describe Mangalji: a negotiator, energy, brilliance, word is his bond, a negotiator, perceptive, good judge of character, a negotiator, visionary, bold, courageous, caring, family man and a negotiator! Delegates and Mangalji were then treated to a video with congratulatory messages from Richard Solomons, Sam Plimton, Chris Nassetta, Dan Neidich and Arne Sorenson who have all worked with Mangalji over the course of his career.
Geller asked Mangalji how he felt receiving the award; “I feel deeply honoured and when I was watching the video with those accolades, I wondered who they were talking about! I feel truly humbled”. Mangalji took the opportunity to thank his family who are a constant support and said that the most important ingredient to Westmont’s success is working as a team. Geller asked Mangalji what is next for Westmont. Mangalji referenced how they originally diversified out of North America into Europe and that they feel that this really is a never ending business that is full of opportunities. Their company ethos is to “get up every morning thinking they are going to learn something new today”. Mangalji said that his father is “his guiding light” and he thanked him for giving him a long rope when he first started. Geller asked whether Mangalji was optimistic about the future given the current volatilities around the world. Mangalji echoed a theme that has been bought up several times over the course of the conference that difficulties and downturn provide opportunities and with solid teams on the ground, these challenging times can be well managed. He observed that downturns are generally followed by good times.
The next IHIF is scheduled to take place from the 3-5th March 2014.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
