A couple of weeks back SnapShot CEO Stefan Tweraser took part at the two-day Boutique Lifestyle Hotel Summit at the Montcalm in London. The event was a creative business forum and exhibition that featured 250 industry leaders bent on questioning, challenging, and inspiring future business in the sector.
The summit forum addressed industry challenges and trends from branding to WiFi and the guest experience. Discussions ranged from the current London economic atmosphere and Brexit to the negative effects of terror attacks on our industry.
Following a hot topic discussion of hoteliers bridging the industry education gap, Stefan was part of a focus group, “Turning Data into Information”, alongside industry experts; Mirelle Brown-Maunder, director of hotel development, Best Western Hotels GB, Frank Reeves, CEO and co-founder, Avvio, and Michael Kessler, VP sales, at ReviewPro.
Some high points of the summit were:
- Whether or not boutique hotels should stick with their own brands or join Marriott or other marketing alliances. A key presentation was given by Simon Lewis of The Mindsmith Group entitled, “Going Independent.”
- A discussion on the need for hoteliers to adopt the right technologies and the difficulty involved in making the choice.
- The ongoing OTA dilemma and the implications for boutique hotels in particular. Brands like citizemM, Hoxton, and Firmdale were discussed for their “balance.”
- London occupancy in light of Brexit, terror events, and the Chinese economic factors in the context of investment.
Another key discussion was chaired by Carl Weldon, COO of HFTP Europe and revolved around the challenges of the sharing economy and social media.
The exhibition portion of the conference featured a limited number of brands selected to showcase their products. The exhibitors included; Roche Bobois; Kimpton Hotels, Hotel Indigo, The Montcalm Luxury Hotels, HVS, Luxury Hotels Group, Guestline, Avvio, Energy Renewals, ReviewPro, and others.
All in all, a great event and looking forward to next year!
