Georges Panayotis: New Hotels! New talents!

It is natural for jobs to evolve, for functions to be diversified, for technology to intervene at all stages of management in order to control human resources, investments, costs and improve profitability. But the most delicate is to succeed in doing so without losing sight of the final customer experience and the perception they may have with respect to value, and especially the pleasure/price ratio. This is undoubtedly where that there was some distraction and the price increase was somehow disconnected from the satisfaction element...
While it would be nice to shift gears, the hotel sector continues to be a cyclical sector: not so much because of its seasonality, but because it must regularly adapt to major behavioral changes. Developments that once took nearly a generation now happen in just a few years. Successive waves have broken without the hotel industry having a chance to reinvent itself and succeed in catching the wave of communal sense, of a desire to share opinions and experiences, of the need to have less and use better.
While hoteliers' expectations evolved, too many properties tried to satisfy the basic needs of an undifferentiated clientele. The level of the customer experience remained close to zero and the added value of the service was no higher. They survived and even prospered at major destinations due to the artificially maintained supply shortage. Their marketing strategy has long been summed up by a simple increase in average daily rates. The speculative real estate bubble for urban hotels has attracted nonprofessional investors who are happy to escape taxes on fortunes, without any real interest in the business aside from a sudden passion for interior decoration. They are – and rightly so – the first victims of the AirBnB phenomenon, that served to reset prices. Restructuring will affect those that did not get in touch with reality and reevaluate their services beyond decor.
The good news is that survivors can always pull themselves back together and work a bit harder to catch the next wave, which will be the wave of a hotel product based on the offer of a renewed experience. Two segments understood more quickly than the others that it was necessary to reinvent themselves, and are strongly influenced by the expectations of Generation Y or the Millennials, also known as Generation What?, which questions certitudes and breaks the usual codes for more freedom, autonomy, availability, fluidity and sharing.
While the economy segment takes inspiration from youth hostels, resulting in hybrid concepts that mix clientele in a modern day Tower of Babylon, properties where knowing how to be and relations between collaborators is more vital than their savoir-faire. Conviviality is facilitated by the new organization of public spaces.
At the other extreme, the luxury hotel industry continues to focus more on the exceptional experience that it can provide through a higher degree of sophistication in terms of the level of comfort, technology or service. The Wow effect is played full force to deserve the average daily rate.
These last two niches rightly applied the plural conjugation of several verbs: seduce, share, surprise, innovate… It is certainly also the direction business hotels as well as resorts should take that are having trouble leaving their traditional fetters. In most cases, they have a good location and many tried and true talents, but suffer from a lack of imagination. Hospitality needs to pick up again, because it is essential to regain the creative strength of the hotel industry of tomorrow.
A comparison may be made with a new F&B trend where the sleight of the hand is as important as product. The Chef's talent is expressed in a careful combination of ingredients that appears simple at first glimpse. Just as cooking has taken full advantage of time and money saving, preparation and assembly innovations, the hotel industry also benefits from new back office tools that allow more free time, energy and means to go out and reach the client. Those that have not understood this won't be around long enough to testify.
GEORGES PANAYOTIS, PRESIDENT & CEO - MKG GROUP
Georges Panayotis is President of MKG Consulting. Born in a family of hoteliers for three generations, Georges Panayotis, 51, left Greece at the age of 18 to pursue his studies in Political Sciences and to obtain his Master in Management at the French University of Paris Dauphine. He then joined the Novotel chain, which will become the Accor Group, to manage the International Marketing Division. After developing specific marketing tools for the hotel industry, he left the group in 1986 to start his own company, MKG Conseil, now MKG Group. In twenty years, the group has become the European leader in studies and consulting for the Hospitality industry. The company employs over 100 people in four departments: marketing studies, database, quality control and trade press, with two publications HTR Magazine and Hotel Restaurant Weekly. The company helped the development of over 2,000 hotels in France and in Europe, with offices in Paris, Cyprus, London and Athens. Georges Panyotis is the founder of the Worldwide Hospitality Awards and the Hotel Makers Forum, and the author of several publications on Marketing and Operations in the hotel business, He is a regular consultant for several television channels, among which Bloomberg Television, and radio networks.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
25/03 23:03
Greek FM: Positive turn in relations with Turkey due to neighboring country's attitude change
25/03 15:53
Congratulatory messages from state leaders and embassies on Greek Independence Day
25/03 13:40
Greek Independence Day celebrated with parades and cultural events
25/03 10:58
Tourism commits to water action agenda at 2023 United Nations water conference
23/03 22:50
IATA and AWS launch firsf Datathon to promote diversity in aviation
23/03 22:27
Greek battle ships dock at Piraeus port for public visits over Independence Day
23/03 22:18
23/03 19:55
Passenger traffic in Greek airports grows 53.3% in February compared to 2022
23/03 18:13
Fall in coronavirus infections and rise in flu cases in Greece on March 13-19
23/03 14:23
22/03 23:37
Priceless antiquities returned to the people of Greece at New York Consulate
22/03 22:42
22/03 21:46
Greek summer school organized in Peloponnnesian city of Kalamata in 2023
22/03 18:52
Downtown Athens traffic restrictions imposed for Greek Independence Day parades
22/03 17:31
ABNA-SE conference concluded with general assembly in Thessaloniki
21/03 23:17
UNWTO organizes tourism statistics workshop for Asia and Pacific in Nepal
21/03 23:00
Calilo Resort on Ios: A Greek hotel in the 11 most sustainable hotels in the world
21/03 22:21
HRADF inks Igoumenitsa Port share purchase deal with Grimaldi-led joint venture
21/03 16:15
19/03 14:10
UNWTO launches new Women in Tech startup competition across the Middle East
19/03 14:07
Greek president attends memorial march for Thessaloniki Jews killed in Holocaust
19/03 09:14
Greek Minister: Relaunching railway services key to restoring public's confidence
18/03 14:07
FM launches official campaign of Greek candidacy for UN Security Council
18/03 13:37
18/03 13:28
Greek Tourism Minister forecasts that 2023 will be a very strong year for sector
18/03 09:02
Greek Minister meets visiting Israeli minister of science and technology in Athens
17/03 23:10
Passenger traffic rises in Greek ports but cargo drops in Q3 2022
17/03 16:09
17/03 15:04
China and Greece join forces to create mutual learning model between cultures
17/03 12:14
Τhe new minimum wage set by Greek government at 780 euros as of April 1
16/03 21:37
Walk against discrimination 2023 to take place at Syntagma Square on March 21
16/03 19:30
Central Athens road traffic restored after rallies and transport strikes
16/03 19:12
Athens Half-Marathon to affect traffic in and around downtown Athens on Sunday
16/03 14:17
Greek state budget recorded primary surplus of 4.201 billion euros in Jan-Feb
16/03 14:12
FinMin: Greek banks able to absorb any turbulence from global markets
16/03 14:03
IATA and Afroport Mauritanie ink agreement on ground handling safety
16/03 13:07
15/03 13:59
Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino opens this summer in Peloponnese of Greece
14/03 23:09
Greek mining enterprises planning to invest 300-400 million euros in 2023
14/03 20:41
Public transportation in Athens halted partially by 24-hour strike on Thursday
14/03 20:19
14/03 19:15
Nominations open for 2023 IATA Diversity and Inclusion Awards in aviation
14/03 19:02
Health Minister: Greece lifting Covid measures with some exceptions
14/03 18:52
UNWTO Best Tourism Villages ceremony focused on tourism for rural development
14/03 17:33
Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air cancel all flights in Greece on Thursday
14/03 13:06
7th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum in Thessaloniki on April 25-26
14/03 12:11
Hellenic Train: Buses to transport passengers for free on certain routes from March 15
14/03 12:00
Thessaloniki Urban Transport employees annunce 24-hour strike on March 16
14/03 00:10
Hellenic College - Holy Cross full accreditation reaffirmed by NECHE
13/03 23:23
75th Anniversary of Dodecanese unification marked on March 12 in Astoria
13/03 22:33
Greek Transport Minister and railway unions meet on safe restart of train services
13/03 19:18
UK’s Prime Minister rules out return of Parthenon Marbles to Greece
13/03 16:49
Hellenic Republic President: Cyprus top national priority of Greek foreign policy
12/03 14:23
British Museum head on solving 200-year-old dispute with Elgin Marbles
12/03 14:20
Greek unions call 24-hour national strike on Thursday over Tempi train crash
12/03 14:05
Summer tourism season kicks off in Greek island of Rhodes earlier than ever
12/03 13:11
Athens metro stations closed as protest rally is held over Tempi train collision
11/03 21:05
11/03 19:05
UNWTO marks Best Tourism Villages ceremony in AlUla of Saudi Arabia
11/03 17:15
Huawei VP CEE & Nordic Europe Region: Greece is a valuable market
11/03 13:27
UNWTO report on methodologies and tools to measure greenhouse gas emissions
11/03 12:58
GWTO head: Greece among most promising emerging wine tourism destinations
11/03 10:13
New Cyprus President to visit the Greek capital Athens on March 12-14
11/03 09:48
Hellenic Statistical Authority: Greek trade deficit fell 21.9% in January
10/03 20:20
Tourism's potential centered at LDCV, UN conference on least developed countries
10/03 19:24
Panhellenic Exporters Association: High Greek exports growth to continue
10/03 18:33
Construction commences on 'Giannis Antetokounmpo' BB court in Ghana
10/03 11:12
SKY Express offers free flights for Athens-Thessaloniki students
09/03 23:09
UNWTO and Saudi Arabia join forces to promote education and training in tourism
09/03 21:46
09/03 20:20
UNWTO: New report to support climate action in the tourism industry
09/03 13:45
Natural gas prices for households in Athens dropped 23% during February
09/03 02:13
Feminist organizations rally in downtown Athens for International Women's Day
09/03 00:18
The UK’s National Theatre staging Homer’s epic Odyssey across England
08/03 23:29
08/03 22:37
International Air Transport Association releases 2022 airline safety performance
08/03 22:06
Railroad employees to continue strike action in Greece through Friday
08/03 20:47
Archbishop of Greece meets with visiting Pakistani Shia Muslim leader in Athens
08/03 20:36
SNF Institute for Infectious Disease Research founded at Rockefeller University
08/03 18:53
Europarliament's Civil Liberties Committee completes two-day visit to Athens
08/03 17:01
UN World Tourism Organization: Women take "centre stage"in sector development
08/03 00:46
EU officials to discuss railway safety and modernization in Athens on Wednesday
08/03 00:13
07/03 22:29
Greek PM asks shipping minister to increase security on ships ahead of Easter
07/03 21:25
Athens mass transport to operate on limited schedule during Wednesday's strike
07/03 20:39
Founder of company renovating Athens’ Archaeological Museum wins ‘Architecture Nobel ’
07/03 20:28
IATA: Disjointed EU PLACI roll out risks customs clearance delays
07/03 19:42
Three Athens Parthenon fragments returned to Greece at Vatican ceremony
07/03 16:20
Media: ‘Modern Elgin’ arrested trying to steal pieces of Athens Acropolis
07/03 14:16
06/03 22:47
Hellenic Cables and IPTO ink deal on Lavrio-Serifos and Serifos-Milos interconnection
06/03 22:06
Melina Mercouri exhibition organized at Elefsina, European Capital of Culture
06/03 20:38
Lamda Development signs deal with TEMES for joint development of hotels in Ellinikon
06/03 18:24
24 hour general strike to affect transport across Greece on Wednesday March 8
06/03 17:43
IATA slams disjointed EU PLACI roll out risks customs clearance delays
06/03 16:02
AHEPA honored at Hartforf and visits UConn’s Hellenic Studies Center Paideia
06/03 15:51
European Union promises to modernise Greece's railways and improve safety
05/03 23:59
Cyprus port of Paphos wins EU 2023 European Capital of Smart tourism competition
05/03 15:54
Tripadvisor: These are the two Greek beaches among the World’s top-25
05/03 15:47
Associated Press report: Nations reach accord to protect marine life on high seas
Tourism commits to water action agenda at 2023 United Nations water conference
Greek FM: Positive turn in relations with Turkey due to neighboring country's attitude change
IATA and AWS launch firsf Datathon to promote diversity in aviation
Greek Independence Day celebrated with parades and cultural events
Congratulatory messages from state leaders and embassies on Greek Independence Day
Passenger traffic in Greek airports grows 53.3% in February compared to 2022
Greek battle ships dock at Piraeus port for public visits over Independence Day
Fall in coronavirus infections and rise in flu cases in Greece on March 13-19
Founder of company renovating Athens’ Archaeological Museum wins ‘Architecture Nobel ’
SNFCC becomes again most magical Christmas destination in Athens
Greece less dependent on Russian gas during the first 10 months of 2022
Report: Which Christmas destinations abroad did Greeks prefer this year
Impressive results recorded by the Cyprus port of Limassol during 2022
'Economist' report lists Greece among the 'economic winners' of 2022
CNT Reader’s Awards 2022: Greece among top 10 of world’s best countries to travel to
Researchers use drone to measure black carbon in Cyprus capital of Nicosia
UNWTO launches new Women in Tech startup competition across the Middle East
27.8 million tourists visited Greece in 2022 and spent 618 euros per trip on average
New Cyprus President to visit the Greek capital Athens on March 12-14
Media: ‘Modern Elgin’ arrested trying to steal pieces of Athens Acropolis
UNWTO organizes tourism statistics workshop for Asia and Pacific in Nepal