The International Luxury Hotel Association came to Prague last week to host its Inspire Europe 2025 conference for the first time in the continent since before the pandemic.
Approximately 200 hoteliers attending the event held at the Česká Národní Banka, Czech National Bank Congress Center, which sits opposite the host hotel, the 176-room Andaz Prague by Hyatt.
The bank hardly ever admits groups and conferences to its hallowed halls, we were told.
The bank reminded me of the stern surrounds of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, the fictional bank in the film “Mary Poppins,” the C-Suite of which earnestly pleads with George Banks’ son, Michael, to not underappreciate the value of his small coin and that after patience said coin would grow into a small fortune.
There remain banks in which banking is the chief business, cavernous places most people might feel trepidation on entering.
Some of these grand banks now are hotels.
Coming to mind is the fine, 146-room Park Hyatt Vienna, another Hyatt hotel, which is in the former Austrian Hungarian Monarchy Bank.
I entered a Prague post office, and it was equally enormous in scale and feel.
At the ILHA conference — the association hosts its U.S. conference in Las Vegas next month at Resorts World — I was honored with moderating the first panel, the CEO session, with Alex Sogno, founder and CEO and senior hotel asset manager, Global Asset Solutions; Hugh Taylor, CEO, Michels & Taylor Ltd.; and Ivo Nahálka, CEO and chief architect, Archina Design, and the final session, a conversation with Tom Rowntree, vice president of global luxury brands, IHG Hotels & Resorts.
Luxury in the hotel world is a curious entity as it seemingly continues to disregard economic pressures, and because it is in that rarefied state, its chief offerings to guests need to be emotion, authenticity and human connection.
It is a segment that requires the utmost care in its every aspect, and panelists and attendees voice this concern, opportunity and responsibility through the Inspire’s three days.
At the panel I moderated, Sogno succinctly stated, “Guests today expect more than opulence, they seek meaning and authentic experiences that connect creativity with commercial value.”
There will be articles on the conference in the coming weeks.
I managed a very quick spin around Prague, a glorious city of several architecture styles — Baroque, Art Nouveau, Gothic to name three, and there is a feeling of history walking alongside visitors as they discover its delights. Its Jewish heritage, the literature of Franz Kafka and Milan Kundera, the first person I talked to in my editorial career, and its medieval churches, bridges and guild halls.
If there is a criticism, it is around the spate of cannabis shops and Thai massage parlors, which are more than a few.
This concern was pointed out by one on-stage panelist.
On Wenceslas Square, which dates, so I believe, to the late 14th century, there was a nail salon in the front window of which, open to be viewed by all, a person sit in an aquarium of water populated by goldfish or some such, whose purpose I am guessing was to clean the dead skin off the client’s toes.
This might be a needed service, but perhaps in a back room!
It was my second time in the Czech capital.
Discoveries included the Communist-era Great Strahov Stadium, one of the largest such places in the world, with space for 250,000 and outside of which is an upturned pink tractor — I read the tractor is technically a Zetor 40 built in Brno, where Kundera was born — an art project by David Černý that has connected to it the history of a rock band that probably did not exist but the rumors of which angered and terrified the country’s communist leaders at the time.
I had lunch at Restaurace U Kristiána, a local spot. I had noticed very few restaurants opening for lunch, maybe as it was a Tuesday.
Goulash was my inevitable menu choice.
Images fresh in my mind, I decided against fish.
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