The AHC 2021: ‘Responsible Recovery’
The Annual Hotel Conference (AHC) by Questex welcomed over 800 delegates to the Manchester Central Convention Complex from 22-23 November 2021. The AHC is part of the International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF) and attracts leading investors, developers and operators from across the UK hospitality sector.
More than 100 industry experts took to the stage during the two-day event, including senior figures from global brands; Adela Cristea, Vice President, Head of Business Development UK & Ireland, Radisson Hotel Group; Satya Anand, President of EMEA at Marriott International; Stephen Cassidy, Senior Vice President & Managing Director for the UK, Ireland & Israel at Hilton; Camil Yazbeck, Senior Vice President and Head of Development for Northern Europe at Accor; Dimitris Manikis, President and Managing Director for EMEA at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; Karin Sheppard, Senior Vice President & Managing Director for Europe at IHG.
Speakers delivered their views and visions for the future across four stages: vision, collaboration, innovation and transformation, which represented the pillars that underpinned this year’s theme ‘Change for Good.’
There was a real sense of collective excitement and energy, and a renewed optimism for not only the recovery but also the opportunity to reset and reconsider the hospitality industry as a whole. People’s passions have seemingly been reignited. The idea of a ‘responsible recovery’ was discussed throughout the conference.
The hospitality industry is emerging from the pandemic with a long list of changed priorities. Values – in contrast to value for money – are creating new challenges, while sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social Governance) are becoming ever-more important for customers, operators, employees and owners.
Three inspiring leaders – Satya Anand of Marriott; Dimitris Manikis of Wyndham; and Karin Sheppard of IHG – discussed the characteristics of a ‘good brand,’ how people are increasingly conscious of ESG and that travel is now more purposeful. Manikis said: “ESG poses an opportunity to bring young people back into this sector. The future leaders of our industry — doing the right thing for humanity will bring them back.”
Sheppard added: “The best we can do today is not the best we can do tomorrow. Be humble that we are all here to learn and we don’t have all the answers but without steep ambitions nothing will ever change.”
ESG came into focus during the ‘Serviced Living — Capturing the New Demand’ session, when Robert Godwin, MD at Lamington Group, made clear his feelings that “with passion and intent there are ways to deliver truly sustainable buildings” and shared his company’s mission to deliver fully net zero carbon hotels.
Labour shortages are affecting the industry in a huge way too and fixing the reputation of the hospitality industry is vital if staffing shortages are to be alleviated. The sector has an unfortunate association with long hours and low pay, something that was highlighted by keynote speaker Gary Neville, who owns GG Hospitality and runs Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel as well as Hotel Football opposite Old Trafford. “Hospitality staff have been treated poorly for far too long and the pandemic has highlighted that for me,” Neville enthused. “People come first and they need trust and flexibility, empathy and compassion.”
In the ‘Power to the People’ session, Chris Mumford, founder of Cervus Leadership Consulting; David Orr, CEO at Resident Hotels; Thomas Greenall, CEO of Bespoke Hotels; and Harry Cragoe, Owner of The Galivant / Costel Hotels joined forces to address how the supply of labour has resulted in an awareness amongst hotel managers of the wellbeing of their staff. Cragoe said his business “is all about creating happiness” and he wants happy employees because it means guests are likely to be happy. At The Gallivant, mini-bonuses of £10 are handed out each time a staff member is name checked by guests giving end-of-stay feedback.
Lamington Group meanwhile recently launched Room2 Chiswick, its first net zero carbon offering that is 89% more energy efficient than other hotels in the UK. The hotel is 100% electric, has a blue roof that can hold 50,000 litres of rainwater that filters down for use in the building, and is covered with 200 tonnes of soil to grow a green roof to encourage biodiversity and insulate the building. Occupancy sensors inside the building also allow the group to manage heating lighting and cooling to provide energy efficiency savings.
Nicholas Northam, who leads Interstate’s white-label operations at more than 120 hotels in the UK, Ireland, Continental Europe, Russia and CIS, explained that the labour shortage was less about the number of people available for work and more about the skills of potential employees. “We are looking at many different ways to find the talent we need,” he confirmed. Among the programmes that may have previously fallen foul of a company’s behavioural sensibilities, Interstate has set up what he called “academies” in some UK prisons. Thanks to Interstate, Northam said, inmates were receiving instruction on kitchen and housekeeping roles.
Chris Dexter, CEO of Kew Green, in a directly political appeal to the UK Government about relieving pressure in the labour market, stated: “Open up the visa channels.” Pay rates were rising throughout the sector, he added, but jobs remained unfilled because there were insufficient numbers of people available for work.
Whilst the audience enjoyed hearing the anecdotal insights from industry’s leaders and the opportunity to learn from how they re-strategised following such a difficult period, cold hard numbers always win the day.
Thomas Emanuel, Director of STR, gave an industry analysis in ‘Decoding the Revenue Data’ – including how the UK has consistently outperformed Europe as a whole, and that Q3 UK occupancy had returned to pre-Covid levels: however, London and other large cities lag behind due to decreased international travel.
In ‘Profits & Pricing’ meanwhile, Michel Grove, Chief Operating Officer at HotStats, and Joe Stather Director, OPRE, Hotels at CBRE Hotels, asked ‘do hotels still appeal to the investor community?’ Their discussion drew the conclusion that investor demands actually outstrip supply, which is supporting relatively buoyant pricing and in turn an increased number of deals is expected in 2022. They also identified that profitability is weakest in London and Europe’s gateway cities, however these markets are seeing the strongest investor demand. And that the growing interest in alternative real estate is actually being fuelled by increased investor demand.
Looking ahead, The AHC 2022 will take place from 3-4 October at the Manchester Central Convention Complex. Visit theahc.co.uk for more information as registration will open in the coming weeks.
