Is this a relationship that is one premised upon the positives or negatives, is it a friend or foe type set of circumstances. I think ultimately what will be successful are those who can at least embrace it as a partnership opportunity, be mindful of where the OTAs can truly add incremental value. Many talk about the OTAs adding, if they can add incremental room nights, that’s definitely extra revenue you might not otherwise have achieved and that's serves a purpose. I think the reality at the moment is, yes you’re getting some of that but you’re also facing a challenge from quite a large amount of business not necessarily being incremental. So, I think it’s working on the ways that you can ensure that what you get is incremental and at the same time as we touched on before, ensuring that when we do gain access to that customer who may have arrived via the OTA channel, you try and make the most of the opportunity to cement your relationship as a hotelier with that customer going forwards to maybe cut out the OTA going forwards.

We just had a discussion yesterday night at the Adnan hotel, which is an Icon hotel of course, and and, very traditional, very classical in one way, but they combine it with very new elements - a very, very hip bar, where locals are coming, and he told us that a few weeks ago there was the fashion week in Berlin, he saw that all these hip, guys and girls go somewhere else, and they came to his hotel because they say "we are living in a sort of hip environment all day long and it's very nice to go back into a sort of traditional authentic, er, environment" and that's what they found there. So I think the challenge is to be flexible, above all, because I mean the changes go so quickly that you have to innovate always, you know it's not something that you're doing every five or six years, it's a sort of continuous searching for new elements but, it's, I think a combination between a traditional and authentic and, gadgets, and new things, so this is, I think, a combination of everything.

Deal-making is a hurdle for growing business. In this TV show Tom Walsh of Staycity discusses a strong development pipeline.

Deal-making in alternative markets

It is a very limited marketplace. I mean our our objectives, were 900 units today, by the end of next year we'll have 2000 keys. There are deals that we did over the last few years that are under construction at the moment, many of them, a couple of them opening this year, and four or five properties opening next year. It's hard to find the properties that's, you know, that's, that's you know, par for the course, you really are competing with other users, whether it's office use or residential use, or hotel use, you're generally competing for, you know, scarce real estate in city centre locations. We're, we're seeking city centre locations, so you're, you know, you are by definition really, uh, competing with other users. Our growth plans will see us having about 5000 keys by 18 or 19. We're quite comfortable we'll be able to find sufficient properties for that we've, as I said, 2000 open by the end of next year, and a pipeline of 1300 on top of that. And, a good strong unsigned pipeline, so you know, we're able to ferret them out, you know, bit by bit, deal by deal.

Browse more videos by the Hospitality 250 experts and find more insight into deal-making and other hospitality topics.

Africa is more than a great opportunity, it's the biggest market to come. Just to keep in mind, a few numbers; first, 1.5 billion inhabitants by 2050, it will be bigger than uh, China or bigger than India. In the continent of Africa fits more or less all the whole world; uh China fit in Africa, India, Europe, US, and Brazil, just to give you the size of Africa. And today, if you take the market, only 5%- 5.3% of the sub-Sahara Africa, just to give you uh, the, the- the mass market that we are developing, uh, branded hotels, 5%, versus 44 in, in Europe, and 70 in the US. Then, to show you the massive opportunity we have, all together, bigger than chain original player like Mangalis Hotel Group, or small independent hotels, to support the growth of Africa.

The perception of Africa is always different. If you are well connecting with Africa, this is our case, because our ownership is Africa; we are belonging to a company, we are based in, in Ivory Coast in Senegal for the past decade, and we know all the issues of Africa that we need, and we know we need to understand how we work in Africa, which is, I agree, totally different than in Russia or Western Europe or in even in the US. And as far you know all the issues and how to deal with, it's more easy to work with than, you know, and Africa, probably there is more administration, more bureaucracy than in Europe, but the way of doing business is more the same, the wish of doing business is the same, and the acceleration of doing business is clear, then all in all, at the end, it's not to say complex to do business in Africa. It take more times, according some countries, logistics is an issue, logistics to bring the stuff from Europe or from Asia, it's an issue to build, it's an issue, but with the new technique of the approach and the new logistics that we deploy, it's more easy to in Africa, and the time frame from day one, the construction and delivery to operate, the time has reduced by two, at least for past 5 years, and even with take modular construction we proposed a construction for 10 to 11 month, which is track record in the industry.

I just saw this morning on the television here in Berlin, a whole transmission on, a new concept of, working only with icons, so we don't have a language any more, but we work only with icons, which would help to have all the language issues worldwide eliminated in one go. But this is very much the new generation, I mean everything is, with pictures, everything is visual, everything is, short and fast, you know, I mean what we see in the span of attention is not too high, not too long, so you need to interest in them and involve them in a very short period of time. I think visuals help a lot there. And I also support the creativity of the young generation, there's a lot of creativity and imagination, and if you try to, to limit that down to words, it’s not in line with how they function. So that's what we see, and and it means that in our curricular at our school and our university programs, we work very much with simulations, and er, interactive courses etc, so to really involve them directly and give them the chance to, to, work on their creativity. And we see that happening, and because, I mean, our students yesterday, that one against it was Cornell, it was really based on a sort of really creative imagination of how the world could be if you look into the developments of an Airbnb and all other kind of of Uber's etc that is going on. If you look into, into this development, they find a sort of very easy going answer, it's not complicated. And I think this is one of the skills of the new generation.  

Digital engagement and driving bookings direct to brand websites is key to competing with OTAs. In this TV show Frank Reeves explains how Avvio can help.

Direct digital engagement

Avvio's a company that partners with hotels, groups and service departments, and our primary mandate is to work with the industry to grow the level of direct website bookings. So we provide a number of products, our flagship product would be in the area of booking conversion, so optimising booking conversion, studying and analysing abandonment levels, things like AV testing. And we would then follow that, with digital marketing services and web-design. We were founded out of Ireland back in 2003, and today we work with about three hundred and fifty hotel serviced apartment brands between Ireland and the UK.

Hospitality TV will continue to feature shows about digital engagement. Why not take a look at who else has been featured in the Hospitality250.

Customer demand will drive which concepts take off and which get left behind. In this TV show Tim Helliwell discusses how consumers are looking for something different.

Customer demand for alternative accommodation

Well, I think these really are arguably the future in terms of where the sector is going. The established brands and the established offerings will always be there and there will always be a market for them, but as we've heard today, you know, people are equally looking for something different, whether that's the brand offering and everything that goes with it, or indeed, in terms of the concept that's been offering. So, whilst, as I said on my panel, that you know I, I'm focussed on hotel finance, I'm actually focussed on aparthotel finance, hostel finance, anything which has got a hospitality angle to it, because frankly that's what consumers are looking for, and that's exactly why I'm here.  

Hospitality TV will continue to feature shows about customer demand and alternative accommodation. Why not take a look at who else has been featured in the Hospitality250.

Why do it? Because number one, if you don’t, somebody else will. And we’re already seeing the first hotel chain that's tied up with a retailer coming together to go in there. They’re going to bring their retail marketing ideas over. Secondly, it provides an ability to monetise the wireless. So you could put great wireless in, so you've taken away the worry about having to have great wireless and it being a complaint point, but you've done it in a way that it pays for itself by increasing the spend of your customer when they're on site with you by personalised their visit.

Real estate funds can be a part of the development process for hospitality projects. In this TV show Andrew Pratt explains what Patrizia is all about.

Real estate funds and commercial investment businesses

Patrizia was set up in the mid 1980s, basically as a residential property company investing in residential property in Germany. Went through an IPO in 2005, now has over fourteen billion euros worth of assets, mainly in central Europe, fifty residential and commercial, we have thirty funds in Germany, we're the second biggest house builder in Germany as well now, the market in Germany's changing from being a, er, rental market to home ownership. Similar model to the UK. We act for a hundred pension funds across Europe - well across the world, actually. The strategy for Patrizia was to replicate that model, in the UK. Came into the UK, about - just under two years ago now we've been setting up both residential and conversion, commercial investment businesses.

Hospitality TV will continue to feature shows about real estate funds and development. Why not take a look at who else has been featured in the Hospitality250.