"ITB Hospitality Day": Four CEOs on brands, markets, real estate and IT
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Berlin (February 6, 2009). The ongoing world economic crisis is battering the markets in several different ways. And the question about the current situation will be among the first questions the four Chief Executive Officers (CEO) will have to answer at the discussion in the course of the 4th "ITB Hospitality Day" in Berlin. For the first time, top-notch hotel heads will gather at the ITB hotel conference on the panel to discuss markets, brands, people, real estate and IT for 90 minutes. hospitaltyInside.com will be acting as media partner at the ITB Hospitality Day, and Editor-in-Chief, Maria Puetz-Willems will have a discussion with Andrew Cosslett of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Ed Fuller of Marriott International, Gerald Lawless of Jumeirah and Ted Teng of The Leading Hotels of the World. Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, CEO & Co-Vice Chairman Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts, who was already invited, unfortunately withdrew his confirmation to come two days ago.
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| Ed Fuller. |
The CEO panel promises some variety due to the different characters and company profiles alone. Ed Fuller has been in the business for 30 years climbing the hotel promotion ladder in a classical way, step by step from bottom right to the top. Today, he heads a global and quoted, but still family-controlled chain with 3,100 hotels in 67 countries.
Today, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) counts 4,100 hotels in almost 100 countries and is also quoted, but steered by shareholders partly unfamiliar with the industry. Andrew Cosslett was himself "unfamiliar with the industry" until 2005, when he switched to IHG. He originally comes from the beverage industry.
Thus, two members of the world's biggest "global players" of the hotel world take a seat on the stage in Berlin. It would be interesting to know whether Gerald Lawless considers them a role model? The CEO
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| Andrew Cosslett. |
of Jumeirah Hotels based in Dubai draws worldwide attention to himself already today - despite the fact he only has eight hotels in his group. And only three of them are outside Dubai. Jumeirah received this attention as operator of the world famous "7-star" hotel Burj Al Arab. The "Tower of Arabia" is outshined by the Burj Dubai, the "Tower of Dubai", in the meantime, but Jumeirah's expansion plans are of gigantic scope for a company that is only eleven years old. By 2012, the luxury hotel group will open up 60 further hotels.
He has already provided hospitalityInside.com with a first insight into this tour de force in an interview (see separate article/see link), and accordingly, he will have and be able to explain to the Berlin audience how to manage such expansion in the midst of the deteriorating economy. Will the hotel group from Dubai be able to continue dreaming the luxury dream? In Dubai, the dream has already cracked - for Jumeirah too? Market knowledge and people are keywords in the talk with Gerald Lawless.
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| Gerald Lawless. |
Ted Teng has been leading the oldest marketing and reservation association of the world, The Leading Hotels of the World, only since last September. He is only the sixth president in the history of the Leading Hotels, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. The American with Asian roots contributes solely chain hotel experience to the private hotel collection.
He also looks back on more than 30 years of experience in hospitality. At Leading's most recent annual meeting in Boston last November, he issued the following slogan: "We won't play the 'chains' game.'" In the course of Leading's expansion, the group will only accept chain hotels meeting the criteria of being unique. He has set the superordinate target not to accept more hotels, but to help the current members achieve better room revenues.
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| Ted Teng. |
This closes the circle once again as far as the current situation goes, but it is not meant to dominate the entire 90 minutes. At this "Tour d'Horizon", the host will try to discover further strategic issues and states of mind of these four leading opinion-making companies.
The visit to the 4th Hospitality Day is free for all ITB visitors. All panel discussions will be interpreted in German/English. The hotel conference will take place in Hall 7.1b, London Hall. The CEO panel is scheduled as the third panel discussion from 12.30 pm to 2 pm.
Please find further information as well as a permanent update of the entire programme under this link. / kn
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