INTERVIEW Chris Cahill
Accorhotels’ CEO of luxury brands talks facts versus perception, building trust and upmarket meetings and events
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MEET CHRIS CAHILL at Accorhotels’ Global Meeting Exchange, at the newly renovated Fairmont Rey Juan Carlos I in Barcelona. Cahill knows Fairmont well, having spent 19 years
in various senior roles with the Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI) group and its previous incarnations. Following a period as executive vice-president at Las Vegas Sands Corp, he returned to Fairmont in 2016, when it was acquired by Accorhotels, as CEO of the group’s luxury brands portfolio. Cahill is straight-talking but calm. He
is also very polite without it seeming rehearsed in that classic hospitality way. I ask him what he thinks about the perception that his old company – Fairmont – did luxury well, but Accorhotels may be less certain in the top tier. His reaction is typical – first, an openness to the observation and a recognition that it existed, but then a refutation based on the data. “I tend to like facts rather than
by owners). I put it to Cahill that travel and meeting planners are less interested in brands than consumers – they’re just looking at location and capacity. “First of all, you’re going to have a natural selection based on capacity and location. But the further on you go, the brand matters
“If the buyers have good experiences they want to gravitate back there, because it’s one less thing to worry about”
perceptions,” is how he puts it, “So I didn’t know for sure. When I went in and looked at it I was actually impressed with Sofitel’s guest satisfaction scores and employee engagement, as well as their competitive performance.” His conclusion? “The perception is ill-deserved.” Nevertheless, he admits: “Perception is a reality, therefore it’s our obligation to demonstrate to people that they have the wrong perception.”
WHAT PLANNERS REALLY WANT If you spend time with hotel senior management, you’ll know they obsess about brand, as well they might since they have now become asset light (ie sold off the properties, and are now existing on the management or licence fees they are paid
40 BBT May/June 2017
a hell of a lot, because the planners have got to have confidence in the reliability of the hotel. From an end-user perspective, for the transient guest, it is about having a hotel in the right location, and then the facilities, but for a meeting there is so much more to it.” Cahill makes the observation that relationships matter more to B2B guests. “Our B2B customers are the ones that you have the most ability to build brand loyalty around, because they build relationships of trust.” He sees this trust being partly provided by the brand, but “on the B2B side the customer is also dealing with sales people at the hotel and GMs – and if the buyers have good experiences they want to gravitate back there, because it’s one less
ByTOM OTLEY
thing to worry about and they can carry on with the planning part.” Technology is disrupting most businesses, but as far as meetings are concerned, Cahill thinks it might actually help power events. “For all the technology we have now, people seem to want to meet up more. It’s the law of unintended consequences. We have heard the example of how TED talks are very popular when viewed online – but the effect of that is, the more that’s online, the more people want to go to TED. It’s the exchange with other people that
most people get their learning from. Think about the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they are championing all this new technology, yet the shows keep getting bigger.” Cahill admits that in a luxury hotel
“there’s a constant change between the jeans and T-shirt crowd, so I think a fixed boardroom will be a thing of the past, because it’s too restrictive and doesn’t suit everyone. The reality is the purpose of the meeting dictates an awful lot both in terms of the venue and the technology to enhance that experience.”
HIGH TOUCH VS LOW TOUCH The fact that Airbnb is now marketing itself for events Cahill sees simply as recognition that the accommodation platform is “taking the participant part out of the hotel block – but they don’t pick the venue, the meeting planner does that, so it’s no different from what OTAs do. I think the fact they are marketing that they’re doing this is interesting. “But we see Airbnb as a supplier in our ecosystem, whether transient or meetings. Complex events require a high amount of touch, and Airbnb’s business model is built for the lowest amount of touch. I can’t imagine them putting in blocks of rooms and supplying the needs for an event. It’s competition, but not new competition.”
CHRIS CAHILL, CEO LUXURY BRANDS, ACCORHOTELS Cahill served 19 years (1993-2012) in various roles at Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI) and its predecessor companies, including president and chief operating officer, responsible for the operating performance of all brands worldwide. Between 2012 and 2016, he worked as executive vice-president, global operations for Las Vegas Sands Corp, before joining Accorhotels, which completed its acquisition of FRHI in July 2016.
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