MANCHESTER, England — Amid market changes and geopolitical noise, hotel leaders are making bold moves to succeed and stay ahead.
During a panel on leadership at the recent Annual Hospitality Conference, executives said they are constantly rethinking strategy and embedding sustainability, technology and culture to move forward with clarity and purpose, ultimately building resiliency to face any number of scenarios.
In the United Kingdom, hoteliers are facing challenges in the form of increased government taxes, business rates and National Insurance contributions, but there are still opportunities to thrive.
The panel included hotel executives from companies that own, operate or asset-manage large property portfolios. Gilles Clavie, CEO of Essendi — the largest hotel owner-operator in Europe — said his company's portfolio has grown to 550 properties, but “we want to operate more.” He added any boldness must start from a deep analysis of the current situation and its economic and human conditions.
“Then it is about confirmation of the plan, to include all stakeholders, bankers, lenders. Everything must be clearly explained to the team. Our plan is to move more into midscale while reducing debt, and we are already benefiting. Margin has grown,” Clavie said.
He added Essendi’s focus has been on European midscale hotels since its metamorphosis from AccorInvest started as an idea in mid-2020.
“That has never changed, but the landscape has gone through many changes since we started this process,” he said.
Tim Rumney, CEO of BWH Hotels Great Britain, heads up a hotel firm that essentially is a membership club, but he said his ownership cohort has changed.
“If you are a hard-branded BWH hotel, then you are one of our members, but that is less than 50% of our portfolio now. We have fewer family offices involved,” he said. “Instead, we attract more investors, and what matters to them is [return on investment]. Our strategy is to grow [the number of] hotels in each brand, improve their quality and concentrate and improve branded fee contributions over the next five years. We think this is a virtuous circle.”
David Hart, CEO of RBH Hospitality Management, has seen a huge amount of added value from developing in-house tech and “driving the maximum service by having specialists at every level.”
He added the 56 hotels RBH manages have a combined value of approximately £1 billion ($1.35 billion).
Operating a more sustainable hospitality business has also been a priority for RBH, Hart said. RBH was the only hotel management company that has fully implemented the commitments and certification outlined in the 2022 edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP22.
“That was because we were ready and had already bought into it. And it hinged on that you can show a very clear ROI, despite there being a massive range of opinion about it,” he said.
Europe’s fractional nature requires bold management strategies and vision, Essendi’s Clavie said.
“We’re in 24 countries, so we saw we needed to align all our organization with one, maybe two goals. Every statement, decision, adaptation is put in front of all management and then shared with every team,” he said.
Change can come from outside, too, Rumney said.
“Forty percent of our change is based on what our customers tell us. They are vocal about which hotels could do better, and, of course, we do have the option to exit,” he said. “We have [exited] from five in 2025, but often most hotels pick themselves up with a [capital expenditure] plan that can be deliverable.”
Maintaining consistency across a diverse portfolio takes boldness, quick actions and vision, Rumney said.
“We have a disparate estate,” he added.