CONFERENCE REPORT
The 2012 Annual Hotel Conference 3-4 October 2012 – Hilton Manchester
Report by Catherine Martin
Five hundred delegates from across the UK flocked to Manchester for the ninth successive Annual Hotel Conference in what has become one of the UK’s largest hotel industry events outside London. Bringing together the usual mix of hoteliers, analysts, developers and advisors, the one-day conference and networking event this year took on a sporting theme thanks to the UK’s Olympic success, in which Manchester United’s football stadium played a part. Opening the conference,
Gary Neville, former captain of Manchester United and England right-back turned hotel developer, took to the stage in conversation with David Bailey, Deputy Managing Director, TRI Hospitality Consulting. Neville confirmed that he has acquired a plot of land close to Old Trafford with planning permission to build a 140-bedroom hotel. Neville has some hospitality experience as a board member of a Maltese hotel group, but this is his first real foray into development. Aiming to be on-site by February 2013, Neville hopes that this will be the first of many hotels, and insisted that, despite the property’s proximity to his former club, it will not be a Manchester United themed hotel.
Continuing with the sporting connection, the newly- appointed Rt Hon Hugh Robertson, Minister of State for Sport & Tourism, screened
an evocative film highlighting the achievements of London 2012. In what he described as “a moment of great national pride”, Robertson spoke of the government’s drive to ensure London 2012 has a lasting legacy that will have a positive impact on tourism and hotel development across the country as a whole. In the first panel of the day Ufi Ibrahim, Chief Executive of The British Hospitality Association, asked senior representatives from the international hotel chains on stage how they are addressing market challenges and to share their views on what the future holds. Panelists expressed the importance of the UK market in their global expansion plans, with Nick Smart, Vice President Development UK, Ireland & Nordics, Hilton Worldwide, explaining that the group has already doubled its presence in the UK over the past five years and recently announced two further upscale projects. Having recently opened the Bulgari Hotel in London, Marriott’s Vice President for International Hotel Development, Tim Walton, told of plans to convert the historic Berners Hotel into The London Edition, due to open in 2013. Ibrahim asked the panel which UK markets were attractive to them, particularly as London is thought to be reaching a plateau. “It’s the towns and cities where we know we can add value,” explained Richard Arman,
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Development Director UK & Ireland, InterContinental Hotels Group, naming Cambridge, Edinburgh, Bath, York and Oxford as prospective future markets. Smart added that Hilton was looking to airports as a quick way to grow the brand. While official Olympics sponsor IHG reported a significant boost in brand awareness since its association with the games, panelist Andrew Shaw, Development Director UK & Ireland, Accor, questioned whether the hotel industry outside London would benefit. Jonathan Langston, Managing Director, TRI Hospitality Consulting and Chairman of the AHC followed with the Market Review, reporting that the provincial markets have seen a decline in corporate trade. Regional statistics from HotStats showed that York, Manchester and Liverpool achieved the strongest revPAR growth year- on-year to July 2012, at 6.3%, 3.3% and 2% respectively. However Langston warned that this was not necessarily the best measure of performance as profit no longer grows in line with revPAR increases.
In the Economic Review, Hamish Smith, Senior Economic Advisor at Royal Bank of Scotland, reported that it will take another three years for the economy to reach pre-crisis levels. More encouragingly, he noted that the hotel industry has seen a superior recovery, partly
owing to the weak pound. With a choice of 16 breakout sessions throughout the day, the conference explored a number of topics, from the recurring topic of OTAs to a finance focused panel entitled ‘Establishing Relationships with Banks’. A session on spas and health clubs explored the growth that the hotel spa has seen over the past decade resulting in the need for the spa to be seen as a profit centre in its own right. A case study featuring independent hoteliers with over 150 years experience between them dealt with the challenges of getting finance without the backing of an international hotel brand. Despite initial finance concerns, Nicholas Dickinson revealed plans for the development of Congham Hall, a Norfolk manor house formerly owned by von Essen Hotels.
Rounding off the sporting theme and closing the conference, Manchester-born Olympian Darren Campbell OBE delivered a keynote speech telling of his journey from a local council estate to winning Olympic Gold in Athens in 2004. Aside from its sporting
associations, Manchester proved to be a fitting location for a hotel conference thanks to recently announced plans to develop the country’s first National Hospitality Training Academy (NHTA) – Hotel Future – set to open in nearby Oldham in 2013.
www.theahc.co.uk
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