LONDON— Ineffective tourism lobbying, particularly in the United Kingdom, was one of many topics lodging industry executives recently discussed at a two-day conference held at the Hilton London Metropole here. There was no shortage of other points raised during Cornell University’s Fourth European Hospitality Industry Strategy Conference. More than 350 industry professionals from the U.K., Europe and around the world turned out for the recent confab. Pre-Conference Input Among those concerns ranked highest on the agenda were branding, consolidation, financing, government involvement, human capital, investment, revenue enhancement and technology. What’s more, these issues were reportedly highly reflective of conference attendees’ interests, considering that the content of this year’s meeting was said to have relied heavily on pre-conference input as well as on-site feedback. • As the gathering unfolded, conference leaders such as Cornell Hotel School Dean David Butler maintained that this year’s presentation would concentrate on “strategy” and not just on matters of investment. However, perhaps demonstrating that an investment conference— by any name— is still an investment conference, the related attributes of value realization, as well as value retention for assets and shareholders alike, marked much of the first full day of educational sessions. Moreover, panel presentations on Creating Customer Value… Every Day & Every Stay; Real Assets/Real Strategy/Real Value; Excellence Through Knowledge: Tomorrow’s Solutions; and Managing Tomorrow: A Strategic Look further underscored the profitability potential of the hotel scene throughout Europe in general and within the U.K. in particular. To this end, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.’s Patrick Mene maintained that “process-based management has become the key to high performance.” As he explained, today “you no longer really manage people or product.” Rather, it was suggested by Mene that it is the way things are done that is now the main function to be controlled. Accenture’s Alex Christou pointed out that the lodging industry, from a shareholder’s viewpoint, has dramatically underperformed. Accordingly, Christou’s advice to the audience of hoteliers was to “invest in your customers” as a primary means of bolstering performance and, in turn, increasing profitability. • A stronger sentiment was aired during an afternoon session when Paul Slattery of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson contended that for hoteliers to “simply brand the hotel business as cyclical is just an exercise in intellectual laziness.” As Slattery explained, the real question in this sense would be, “Whose cycle are we talking about?” Specifically looking at the U.K. as a prime example, it was noted that “some two-thirds of all hotel demand comes from countries outside the United Kingdom.” • Another topic that came up for considerable conversation was that of the value of branding within the European hotel marketplace. Once again, the most pithy comment on the subject may have been offered by Slattery when he contended brands will ultimately grow in perceived value and importance within the European marketplace. This is primarily because he believes that “banks will [push]brand affiliation as a necessity in order to raise/secure capital.” • The conference closed with a high-powered CEO panel delivering a collective Outlook From The Top, addressing the gamut of critical industry issues. Matters pertaining to human capital came up first as a major concern for the panel. Panelists included Sven Boinet of Accor; Kevin Kearney, Marriott International; John Jarvis, Jarvis Hotels; Roeland Vos, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; and Christian Windfuhr, Maritim Hotels. Particular points covered during the CEO’s discussion included: finding, training and retaining the right people; the role career schools could and should play; the seemingly incestuous nature of the lodging industry itself as employees switc
