Future Hospitality Summit Podcast

Marina spoke about branded residences to Daniel von Barloewen from Accor in the last episode. To get another perspective on the segment and further understand the growing interest in branded residences, Marina invited Hakan Kodal, Chairman of Ando Living, for the eleventh episode of the IDEEA podcast. Ando Living is a relatively new brand in the residential space aiming to revolutionise it by brin...

If we talk about branded residences, Accor needs to be part of that discussion. Accor is set to open one branded residential project every six weeks throughout 2023 and 2024. The global hospitality group operates branded residences on both a managed and franchised basis across twenty-two brands, with a worldwide network and pipeline of 130 branded residential projects. And the man leading it with...

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, IHG has remained committed to its expansion plans. In the past two years, the hospitality group has signed numerous deals across the globe, with Europe being a key focus. The company aims to have 60 hotels in operation by 2035 and recently debuted the InterContinental brand in Albania. IHG is confident Southeast Europe presents many growth opportunitie...

You can't make an informed decision without the data. This is especially true when it comes to hospitality investment. And if you want to talk about hotel data, you need STR, a one-stop shop for all matters related to hotel performance data. Marina invited Thomas Emanuel, Senior Director at STR, for the eighth episode of the IDEEA podcast to share a teaser of what attendees can expect from his ses...

For the seventh episode of the IDEEA podcast, Marina Franolic invites Takuya Aoyama, the Vice President of Hyatt International and long-time supporter of the Adria Hotel Forum, the predecessor of IDEEA Hospitality Investment Forum, and a seasoned industry veteran. Marina took the opportunity to get off-the-cuff insights from Takuya by doing a roll call of markets in the Central East Europe region...

he EU's new taxonomy for sustainable finance and associated legislation is a complicated concept to get your head around. To make matters trickier, it seems likely to evolve over the coming years, with the ramifications unknown for some time. To break down the impact of the new EU taxonomy, at least briefly, and how it impacts real estate investors and decisions around building a new property, Mar...

Hilton has 5,500 hotels worldwide, with another 2,700 properties in development. And Hilton plans to make all of them sustainable and is very well on its way. Paulina Bohdanowicz-Godfrey, Senior Director of Energy & Environment EMEA at Hilton, joined Marina Franolic for the fifth episode of the IDEEA podcast. In their conversation, Paulina shed light on the pillars of Hilton's ESG strategy called...

Fresh off his vacation in Croatia, David Nath, Head of Hospitality CEE & SEE at Cushman & Wakefield joined Marina Franolic for the fourth episode of the IDEEA Podcast. In the conversation, David shared his thoughts on the challenges for the hospitality industry in the first half of the year, the likely return of interest in urban destinations and how the pandemic has enabled brands and operators t...

In this episode of the FHS Podcast, Amir Lababedi, Managing Director Development MENA, Hilton talks to Ali Shahid, Marketing Director, The Bench about his role and responsibilities at Hilton and what the operations look like for the hotels in Riyadh at this time of the year. Amir discussed how customer demands are transforming with time and 'bleisure' and 'staycations' are becoming a major trend i...

Martin Berlin, Partner, Global Deals Real Estate Leader, PwC Middle East talks to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, The Bench about his role at PwC and the impact he is creating while being at the company. Martin discusses the shift in working practices post-pandemic and the challenges the industry is still facing going through recovery. Towards the end, Martin shares his insights on how Qatar wil...

Patrick Antaki, COO, Hospitality Management Holding (HMH) joins the FHS Podcast to talk to Jana Bader, General Manager KSA, The Bench about HMH's operations over the past few years. Patrick also talks about what he is looking forward to the most at the 2022 edition of the conference and how is HMH leading the change in the hospitality industry.

In this episode of the FHS Podcast, Tim Cordon, Area SVP, Middle East & Africa, Radisson Hotel Group talks to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, The Bench about Radisson's operations over the past few years and the difference in performance before and after the pandemic. Tim discusses the challenges that come with expanding the human capital of the company and talks about all HR-related activities...

In this episode of the FHS Podcast, James Wrenn, Director - Head of Hotel Advisory, MENA Region, Colliers talks to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, The Bench about the evolution of the hospitality investment market of the Middle East over the past decade, and what the future looks like for the region. James explains how the Middle East is now turning into a mature market as investors shift their...

Guy Hutchinson, President & CEO, Rotana returns to the FHS Podcast to talk to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, The Bench about Rotana's operations in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Guy elaborates on Rotana's newly launched brand 'Edge' and discusses the impact the FIFA WorldCup will have on Qatar as a destination. Guy and Matt further chat about inflation, fuel price hikes, supply ch...

In this episode of the Future Hospitality Summit Podacst, Tim Peck, Chairman, OBMI talks to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, The Bench about the 85-year legacy of OBMI along with what the pipeline looks like now for the company as the industry has shifted its focus towards being sustainable and environment-friendly post-pandemic. Tim also talks about his panel discussion on Sustainable Design at...

Haitham Mattar, Managing Director IMEA, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Special Advisor, UNWTO returns to the FHS podcast to discuss sustainability, responsible tourism, and IHG's Journey to Tomorrow with Jana Bader, General Manager KSA, The Bench. Haitham talks about the shift in customer demands as they become increasingly aware of the environment and discusses some practices IHG is following to reduce...

Sandeep Walia, Chief Operating Officer, Marriott International talks to Ali Shahid, Marketing Director, The Bench about his reasons to be at the Future Hospitality Summit and what the event means for the industry. Sandeep expresses his optimism about the future of Tourism, Hospitality, and 'Bleisure' and talks about all the growth Marriott has seen post-pandemic.

Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF) leaders, Atul Chopra, Founder & CEO, Fresh on Table and Emma Banks, Vice-President, F&B Strategy and Development at Hilton talk about the impact of sourcing produce locally and encouraging farming to support the local F&B industry. They also talk about the immense opportunities Saudi Arabia holds for F&B and what their expansion plans are to support the Sa...

Rohan Ranade, Associate Vice President – Real Estate & Development, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) speaks to Ali Shahid, Marketing Director, The Bench about the expansion plans of IHCL in the Middle East and their post-covid exploration of new-age business models. Rohan explains the importance of staying relevant to the new generations with the latest tech and infrastructure so that the...

Noelle Homsy, Co-Founder, ENVI Lodges talks to Jonathan Worsley, Chairman & CEO, The Bench about how she feels about being at the Future Hospitality Summit. Noelle also talks about what sustainability means to her and what underlying problems need to be addressed in order to achieve sustainability in its most authentic form in the hospitality industry.

In this episode of the Future Hospitality Summit Podcast, Federico J. González, Chief Executive Officer, Radisson Hotel Group speaks to Sarah Hedley Hymers, Editorial Director, Connecting Travel about what he thinks the future of hospitality is. Federico makes some amazing points about retaining human capital in the industry and setting measurable goals for achieving sustainability in hotels.

In this episode of the Future Hospitality Summit Podcast, Hassan Ahdab, President of Hotels Operations, Dur Hospitality talks to Jonathan Worsley, Chariman & CEO, The Bench about his participation at the Future Hospitality Summit. Hassan talks about how the industry needs to be ready to serve the modern sophisticated customers with digital solutions while staying sustainable at the same time.

As the Vice President of Development for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in Europe, Christian Michel is at the forefront of the company's expansion plans. He joins Ali Shahid, Marketing Director at The Bench, on the third episode of the IDEEA podcast to share the focus markets for the world's largest hotel franchisor, which includes the Balkan region and specific markets such as Turkey and Romania. He...

Live from the Radisson Blu Beke Hotel in Budapest, David Jenkins, Vice President of Business Development for Radisson Hotel Group, joined the IDEEA Podcast's second episode to share some of Radisson's goals and strategies for future investment and development in Central and Southeast Europe. The discussions also highlighted the growing opportunities for conversions of unbranded hotels to branded h...

Marina Franolic, Managing Director at The Bench, opened the first episode of the IDEEA Podcast with a 25-million-euro question to Marc Finney, Head of International Hotels & Resorts at Colliers. Listen or watch as Marc shares his insights on which markets in Southeast Europe (SEE) region are the no-brainer opportunities for hospitality investment and those that have the potential to be substantial...