Greek hoteliers should learn from the experience gained by their Arabian colleagues, says Sven P. Gade by pointing at the accelerating growth…
Greek hoteliers should learn from the experience gained by their Arabian colleagues, says Sven P. Gade by pointing at the accelerating growth of branded hotel developments throughout the Middle East. Mr. Gade will be among the prominent international experts to speak at the three-day Athens Hotel Branding Seminar scheduled for September 22-24, 2005. The objective of this event is to educate Greek hoteliers about the different options of branding their hotels and the alternative choices such as franchising, management contracts or hotel consortia membership.
Sven Gade the Director of MESA, has been involved in some of the largest hotel projects of the Middle East.
Backed with over 15 years of industry experience in hotel management and over 13 years of consulting background helping companies such as Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young to build their tourism and leisure practice, Sven Gade has gained extensive experience in the tourism and hospitality industry. Prior to his engagement with MESA, Mr. Gade was engaged in major tourism and leisure strategy and large scale development projects for international as well as regional companies and Government organisations such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the European Commission, the European Union, the Tourism Council of the South Pacific, UREC (Kuwait), SEDC (Jeddah) and FAHRCO (Egypt). Further, he consulted companies such as Ritz-Carlton, InterContinental, Sheraton, Hyatt, Four Seasons and Dolce International in business development and operational improvements.
Sven Gade was heavily involved in the development of leading edge hotel resorts, seafront projects and mixed use real estate complexes. He advised a Kuwait real estate company on the positioning and operation of a newly built seafront luxury resort and led a strategic positioning review of a mixed use real estate company in Cairo, Egypt comprising hotels, casino, shopping mall and luxury apartments. As project manager for Mr. Al Fayed, Sven performed a strategic review of the Ritz Hotel in Paris including property valuation and trademark assessment. As project director Mr. Gade developed the tourism master plan of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and led the project coordination of a four-year tourism development project for the Tourism Council of the South Pacific. Currently, he is advising the Government of Oman and several private sector hotel owners on their hotel management agreements.
Mr. Gade recently conducted a regional survey of more than 500 existing (branded and non-branded) properties and approximately 140 planned hotel projects on behalf of MESA. This research project covered hotel ownership structures, operating models and branding levels. Of the sample in MESA`s research, the branded/non-branded ratio of hotels in the Gulf area is 50:50. This puts the region squarely between the ratios of the USA (70:30) and Europe (35:65).
According to Gade`s research findings, in the past the Middle East was not quite as attractive for hotel operators as Europe, where branding is considered a strong factor to improve property performance. At the same time, management agreements are not as standardised as in the USA where owners compete for operators and contract negotiations are less common. Over the last two decades, the Gulf area has been a phenomenon with high demand for brands, but favourable negotiation climate for owners. It appears that Middle Eastern countries are moving towards USA market conditions where high levels of branding and growing supply will result in owners competing for operators.
Owners in high supply locations who have contracted a hotel management company should be prepared to find their operator tempted to exit the property when contracts come up for renewal. Better locations or newer hotel properties may seek to attract operators with more favourable terms and conditions.
The next years will bring major change to the way branded and non-branded hotel projects are being managed. Sven Gade predicts that there may well be a paradigm shift in the way hotel owners and investors interact with hotel operators. Faced with major trend changes in the industry, owners and investors are increasingly securing professional advice to develop innovative operating models or identify the most suitable approach for their requirements. Hotel owners engage professional hotel asset managers who will ensure operating efficiency and optimisation of capital performance in order to protect and enhance long-term asset value.
These and several other issues will be elaborated during the Athens Hotel Branding Seminar, which is aimed mainly at Greek hotel owners, investors and general managers. Greece has one of Europe`s most mature hotel industries comprising 8,600 businesses with a total capacity of 341,000 rooms, says Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas, the Seminar`s scientific chair. However, despite its rapid growth, the Greek hotel sector is among the least penetrated by global and local brands, with only 2.5% of the country`s hotels having a brand affiliation. Seminar attendants will profit from Mr. Gade`s extensive experience on this topic and better understand how to utilise the benefits from working with an established brand.
The Athens Hotel Branding Seminar is organised by Travel Daily News, the leading and most influential tourism industry publication of Greece. Travel Daily News produces a daily e-newsletter both in Greek (http://www.traveldailynews.gr) and in English (http://www.traveldailynews.com). The Greek edition is read daily by 8,000 senior travel and hospitality professionals. The readership of the international edition is even larger, with 15,000 professionals from throughout the world receiving the daily e-newsletter. Travel Daily News also operates a separate consumer site and e-newsletter aimed at the Greek public under the travelforall.gr brand.
Additional information about the Athens Hotel Branding Seminar you can read here
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