Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport - 2018 EHMA Special Edition

THE PROFESSIONAL BUYERS’ REFERENCE 

SMARTreport 

SPECIAL EDITION 

EHMA 2018 AGM 

– Marbella 

SMART DATA FOR 

LUXURY DESTINATIONS 

MARBELLA, 5-STAR 

DESTINATION IS THE NEW 

TOURIST SLOGAN OF 

THE CITY 

MANUEL OTERO 

ALVARADO 

President of Committee 

of the 45 th EHMA AGM Marbella 2018 

Spain’s national delegate of EHMA 

SPECIAL ISSUE #09 - MARCH 2018 / A CLEVERDIS PUBLICATION

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Andalusia and in particular, 

Marbella welcome you this year 

the EHMA Congress. 

Andalusia is one of the most 

popular tourist regions in the 

world and a symbol of all that 

tourism can bring to a region. At 

a time when major international 

organisations, with the UNWTO 

in mind, highlight this need to 

make tourism a “force of good”, 

the attendance of the elite of 

the European hotel in Marbella 

gives even more visibility to this 

magnificent region and the 

social and economic benefits 

associated with it. The presence 

of Francisco Javier Fernández 

Tourism and Sport councillor of 

CONTENTS 

3 SPECIAL EHMA 

MARBELLA 

3 SMART DATA FOR LUXURY 

DESTINATIONS 

4 EHMA: CORE VALUES 

6 45 TH EHMA GENERAL MEETING 

8 SPOTLIGHT ON HOST REGION 

10 BECOMING MORE 

DISABILITY-FRIENDLY 

11 LAUNCH OF NEW 

CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME 

12 ANALYSING SENTIMENT 

13 ELITE TRAVEL 

TRENDS 

 

13 THE CHANGING PARADIGM 

OF LUXURY 

14 TRACKING THE TRENDS 

15 THE SILK ROAD 

16 CONCEPTS OF PREMIUM 

TOURISM 

the board of Andalusia at this 

AGM highlights the importance 

of the event for Andalusia. 

The reflections on this year’s 

theme “smart data for luxury 

destinations” are of great 

interest to hoteliers from around 

the globe. Many are aware of 

the role EHMA has played for 

many years, giving itself as a 

mission to become the number 

one platform for collective 

intelligence, education, 

networking and professional 

development among the general 

managers of 4- and 5-star 

European properties. 

Cleverdis, historical partner of 

EHMA, wishes all its members an 

excellent 2018 AGM! 

17 STANDARDS MATTER 

18 SAME SIGNATURE – NEW 

AMBITIONS 

19 TOURISM IN EUROPE 

19 EUROPE: TOURISM IS BOOMING 

20 EU FACTS & FIGURES 

21 HOTREC - WHAT’S HOT? 

23 INNOVATIONS 

& TECHNOLOGIES 

23 CAUGHT UP IN THE WEB: 

CONTINUED GROWTH FOR 

ONLINE BOOKINGS 

24 INNOVATE – YES… 

BUT HOW AND WHY? 

25 THE UNUSUAL PACE OF CHANGE 

26 CHANGE DOESN’T JUST MEAN 

PAIN

SPECIAL EHMA MARBELLA 

Hotel & Tourism 


SPECIAL ISSUE #09 

March 2018 3 

© Lanoel - Panoramio 

SMART DATA 

FOR LUXURY 

DESTINATIONS 

The theme of this year’s 

congress is very topical: Smart 

Data for Luxury Destinations. 

In recent years, companies 

have accumulated through 

digitalisation a large amount 

of “Big Data”, but they risk 

being useless if they are not 

analysed, interpreted and 

appropriately used - thus 

becoming “Smart Data“ - with 

the aim of creating value, 

solve problems and improve 

the offer. 

The Organizing Committee 

is composed of 

Manuel Otero, 

EHMA Spain National Delegate; 

Rocío Galán Pérez, 

General Manager Gran Meliá Don Pepe; 

René Zimmer, 

General Manager Finca Cortesin Hotel, 

Golf & Spa; 

Jorge Manzur, 

General Manager of Puente Romano 

Beach & Resort; 

Enrique Cibantos. 

La marina de Puerto Banús, 

Marbella


Hans E. Koch 

Managing Director, 

Hans E. Koch Hospitality Solutions GmbH, 

President of EHMA 

EHMA: CORE VALUES 

A Word from Association President Hans E. Koch 

Core values of our association 

are Networking, Collective 

Intelligence and Education. 

Networking: Providing platforms 

to broaden, develop and maintain 

professional networking in form of the 

EHMA Annual General Meeting as well 

to share information and network with 

other European and global lobbying 

partners and hospitality associations. 

Collective Intelligence: Giving members 

access to industry relevant reports 

and allow them to share knowledge 

by gathering their expertise into one 

central location. Vehicles are regularly 

updated hospitality news, industryrelated 

publications, i.e. digital “Hotel 

International Magazine” (HMI) with 

a quarterly article by the President 

of EHMA and blogs containing posts 

created by EHMA Secretary, the 

President and the National Delegates. 

Education: Enabling members to 

develop their professional skills by 

providing them opportunities to 

participate in educational programs 

at the Hotel School of Lausanne (EHL) 

and Cornell University.





AMBITIONS OF EHMA 

IN THE YEAR AHEAD 

To successfully launch and run a 

new EHMA internal communication 

tool called Beekeeper, a digital 

workplace app where operational 

systems and communication 

channels live within one secure, 

intuitive platform. Beekeeper 

connects all EHMA members, 

the EHMA office and selected 

partners across locations in real 

time via mobile devices or desktop 

to streamline communication and 

business processes. 

To start the concept of “Young 

EHMA”, a yearly incentive for 

deserving employees from EHMA 

member hotels to participate at the 

EHMA conference. It consists of a 

separate educational session in line 

with the topic of the conference, 

conducted by EHL, and their 

participation at the educational 

program. Our goal is to open up 

EHMA to the younger generation 

and to create opportunities to 

network and exchange ideas with 

them. The project will create more 

awareness about EHMA and in turn 

we expect to gain more qualified 

members for the association in 

future. 

SMART DATA FOR LUXURY 

DESTINATIONS 

This year’s topic is one of a series 

of three: “Communication 

Revolution” (Geneva 2015), 

“Disruptors in Luxury Hospitality” 

(Amsterdam 2017) and this 

year “Smart Data for Luxury 

Destinations”. In today’s age 

of digitisation and big data, 

sharing experiences between 

experts and hoteliers becomes 

ever more important. Hoteliers 

must move away from their often 

traditional thinking in today’s very 

fast changing and increasingly 

competitive business environment. 

Digitisation and big data can no 

longer be ignored. The world 

is driven by technology. Digital 

devices and smart data today are 

part of our life; if we like it or not! 

BRINGING TOGETHER 

THE ELITE OF EUROPEAN 

HOSPITALITY 

Our mission is EHMA to be the 

number one platform for collective 

intelligence, education, networking 

and professional development 

among European hotel managers 

of 4- and 5-star properties. In this 

respect we feel responsible to keep 

our members up-to-date with latest 

developments and future trends 

and yes, be a driving force behind 

the best of smart data processing 

and luxury expertise 

IN TODAY’S AGE 

OF DIGITISATION 

AND BIG DATA, 

SHARING 

EXPERIENCES 

BETWEEN 

EXPERTS AND 

HOTELIERS 

BECOMES 

EVER MORE 

IMPORTANT

45 TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETI 

“Smart Data for Luxury Destinations” 

PROGRAMME* 

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 TH 2018 

07:00 am - 24:00 pm 

INDIVIDUAL ARRIVAL EHMA MEMBERS 

Grand Hotel Meliá Don Pepe 

Puente Romano Beach Resort 

09:00 am -12:30 pm 

MANAGEMENT COUNCIL MEETING 

Marbella Conference Hall 

Dress Code: Smart Casual 

01:00 pm -02:30 pm 

LUNCH MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 

Restaurante Palmyra 

Dress code: Smart Casual 

03:00 pm - 06:30 pm 

45 TH EHMA ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

Grand Meliá Don Pepe – For Members Only 

03:00 pm -05:00 pm 

“YOUNG EHMA GROUP” 

by Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne By Mr. Ian Millar 

05:00 pm - 05:30 pm 

Coffee Break – Sponsor’s Time 

08:30 pm - 11:00 pm 

WELCOME RECEPTION – 

COCKTAIL DINNER 



SATURDAY, MARCH 17 TH , 2018 

08:00 am -10:00 am 

Breakfast 

Grand Hotel Meliá Don Pepe Puente Romano Hotel 

08:30 am - 09:00 am 

FIRST MORNING COFFEE 

WITH SPONSORS 


09:00 am - 06:00 pm 

EDUCATIONAL DAY “SMART DATA 

FOR LUXURY DESTINATIONS” 

Gran Hotel Meliá Don Pepe. 


09:30 am - 04:00 pm 

ACCOMPANYING PERSONS PROGRAM 

ONE-DAY TOUR MARBELLA 

Dress code: Casual

NG - MARBELLA 





Marbella 


Puente Romano Hotel 

09:00 am -12:45 pm 

EDUCATIONAL DAY MORNING SESSION 


10:30 am -11:00 am 

Coffee Break / Sponsor’s time 

01:00 pm - 02:30 pm 

Sponsors’ Lunch 

02:45 pm - 06:00 pm 

EDUCATIONAL DAY AFTERNOON SESSION 

04:00 pm - 04:30 pm 

Coffee Break / Sponsors’ time 

08:30 pm - 12:00 pm 

COCKTAIL & GALA DINNER 

Puente Romano Hotel. Dress Code: Black Tie 

SUNDAY, MARCH 18 TH , 2018 

07:00 am - 11:00 am 

Departure day Breakfast 

Grand Hotel Meliá Don Pepe, 

Puente Romano Hotel 

*The programme is subject to changes


Manuel Otero 

President of Committee of the 45 th 

EHMA AGM Marbella 2018 

Spain’s national delegate of EHMA 

SPOTLIGHT ON HOST 

Andalusia – the perfect location for EHMA’s AGM 2018 

As Spain’s national delegate of EHMA, but also President of Andalousia’s 

Hotel Association, who better to tell us about the wonderful region 

hosting this year’s AGM, and its key assets… 

The region of Andalusia has an area 

of 87,268 SQ km and represents 

17.3% of the Spanish territory. It is, 

on its own, larger than countries like 

Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Austria 

or Switzerland. Andalusia is the 

main holiday destination for Spanish 

nationals and one of the principal 

destinations for overseas tourists. 

Tourism is one of the main engines 

of the economy in Andalusia. This is 

reflected in the data of the number of 

visitors received in 2017: we received 

a total of 29.5 million tourists. Out 

of this numbers, 59.3% came from 

Spain, and foreign visitors represented 

a total of 40.7% of the total, 11.5% 

more compared to 2016 thanks to 

the increase of German and Nordic 

visitors, in addition to Americans, Irish 

and Dutch. The average spend per day 

of tourists in Andalusia is € 66.





What advice can you give EHMA 

delegates to make the most of 

their stay in Marbella? 

We have a fantastic programme 

for the educational day where the 

best national and international 

experts will come to talk about 

hotel news events, mainly Smart 

REGION 

Data in Luxury Destinations, but 

also other matters of international 

tourist interest such as The Silk 

Road. 

Marbella, 5-star destination is the 

new tourist slogan of the city, 

this new motto of promotion 

emphasises its condition of best 

tourist destination of luxury of 

Spain, ideal to host the Annual 

Congress of EHMA. In addition, 

Marbella is a great city to visit in the 

month of March with an average 

temperature of 20 degrees. 

What is your vision of the 

issues and perspectives of the 

hotel industry here in one 

of the most popular tourist 

destinations in the world? 

As in the rest of the world, one of 

the main problems that concerns us 

here is the offer of non-regulated 

accommodation that harms 

hoteliers, since they do not have 

the same rules of the game and do 

not have to pay the same taxes or 

comply with the regulations legally 

established for hotels. Likewise, 

customers are more unprotected 

staying in this type of nonregulated 

establishment, exposing 

themselves to risks that in a hotel 

they would not have. 

However, the government is 

beginning to become aware of this 

problem, and the non-regulated 

rental companies are being 

persecuted. A greater control of 

the advertising and sale of this type 

of business through the Internet is 

demanded. Recently Airbnb.com 

has been forced to publish the 

legal registration number from its 

clients as hotels are required to 

do so 

WE HAVE 

A FANTASTIC 

PROGRAMME 

FOR THE 

EDUCATIONAL 

DAY WHERE 

THE BEST 

NATIONAL AND 

INTERNATIONAL 

EXPERTS WILL 

COME TO TALK 

ABOUT HOTEL 

NEWS EVENTS, 

(…)


THE PROJECT IS OF PARTICULAR 

INTEREST FOR ORGANISATIONS 

WORKING IN THE HOSPITALITY 

BUSINESS WILLING TO COMMIT 

THEMSELVES AND JOIN THE NETWORK. 

Anna Contardi 

National Coordinator, 

Associazione Italiana Persone Down 

BECOMING MORE 

DISABILITY-FRIENDLY 

The Valueable network – already active in 6 countries 

Anna Contardi, National 

Coordinator, Associazione 

Italiana Persone Down, tells us 

about a project that is sure to 

raise a great deal of attention 

during this year’s EHMA AGM: 

The Valueable Network. 

Valueable pursues the objective 

of consolidating and enlarging 

the network of intellectual 

disability-friendly hospitality 

organisations through an already 

tested rewarding scheme and 

some tools that have been adhoc 

designed to facilitate the 

joining process. 

Co-funded by the European 

Commission, under the 

Erasmus plus programme, it is 

the result of a European project 

that involves a multiplicity of 

business and non-business 

actors located in 6 different 

countries (Italy, Germany, 

Portugal, Spain, Hungary and 

Turkey). Its aim is to enhance 

Corporate Social Responsibility 

and business social commitment 

by promoting labour-market 

inclusion of people with 

intellectual disabilities through 

the spread of targeted 

placements (internships and/ 

or employments) in the hospitality 

industry. Valueable already on 

more than 80 committed hotels, 

restaurants, and cafes which are 

already working with people 

with intellectual disabilities either 

through internship or 

employment provision. 

The project is of particular interest 

for organisations working in 

the hospitality business willing 

to commit themselves and join 

the network





THIS CERTIFICATION 

IS DEDICATED TO THE TOP 

MANAGER IN CHARGE OF OVERALL 

MANAGEMENT OF A HOTEL 

Palmero Noschese 

Area Director Italy, 

Meliá Hotels International 

LAUNCH OF NEW 

CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME 

Project Plan set to “fill a gap” in current processes 

Palmero Noschese, Area Director 

Italy – Meliá Hotels International 

is to manage a session at this 

year’s EHMA AGM on a new 

system of certification for General 

Managers. 

The basis for the new European 

Certification for GMs was created 

by EHMA at the previous AGM 

and has been proposed to CEN 

with the aim of developing 

a reference document, CEN 

Workshop Agreement, 

which specifies professional 

requirements in the hospitality 

industry. 

EHMA Italy has already started to 

certify Hotel General Managers 

with Intertek, one’s the most 

representative certification body 

globally, accredited ISO 17024 for 

certification of persons. Intertek 

is also partner in the project with 

UNI and CEN for the standard 

developing. 

Mr Noschese is particularly 

well positioned to speak of the 

plan, as besides supervising 

and coordinating Melia’s 

properties located in Italy - with 

special delegation powers for 

development, he is a member 

of the Board of directors for 

the AICA (Associazione Italiana 

Catene Alberghiere, i.e. the 

Italian Association of Hotel 

Chains) as well as member of the 

board of Federturismo (the Hotel 

Industry Federation). 

The future European document, 

the CWA, will address the 

evaluation of professional experts 

in macro-process knowledge 

and will guarantee their 

competencies and abilities, filling 

a gap of regulation in the current 

standardisation process role for 

the hotel industry. 

This certification is dedicated 

to the top General Manager in 

charge of overall management 

of a hotel regardless of its size 

or facilities and who can be 

regarded as the “Guardian of 

Service Standards and Hotel 

Reputation”. Since this is a 

managing role, it must be 

covered by senior and super 

senior executives


Ian Millar 

Project Manager 

METRO Innovation Chair & Senior Lecturer, 

Ecole hôtelière de Lausane 

ANALYSING SENTIMENT 

Bringing hoteliers of tomorrow up to speed 

EHL are working on a new 

project for EHMA bringing 

in “new talent”. We asked 

Ian Millar, Project Manager 

METRO Innovation Chair & 

Senior Lecturer to tell us a 

little more. 

I will be working with young 

EMHA on a session called “Smart 

Data for Luxury Destinations”. 

The competencies of a future 

hotel manager will need to 

include skills including how to 

use technology to make better 

business decisions. Sentiment 

Analysis, which is behind this 

session allows hotels to analyse 

in real time, hundreds of 

websites where consumers and 

leaving data about their hotel or 

destination. If you take all of this 

data it is incredible how much 

insight a hotel can have about 

itself and its competition. 

How will the group be madeup, 

and how will it function? 

There will of course be a 

theoretical element to this, but 

the core of this session will be 

to work with a real sentiment 

analysis tool in real time on their 

own destinations. This will allow 

the members to have a real-life 

experience with real data. 

What do you hope will be the 

upshot of all this? 

Young EHMA members will 

leave this session with a clear 

understanding of the subject 

of sentiment analysis, what it 

can add to the business and 

how they can have a better 

understanding of a new 

technology and how they can 

go back to their property and 

implement this 

YOUNG EHMA 

MEMBERS WILL 

LEAVE THIS SESSION 

WITH A CLEAR 

UNDERSTANDING 

OF THE SUBJECT 

OF SENTIMENT 

ANALYSIS

ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS 





© Falk Lademann 

THE CHANGING 

PARADIGM OF 

LUXURY 

The luxury travel market continues 

to expand at a faster rate than the 

sector at large, due to a number of 

factors. 

The main reason is an across the 

board change in paradigm of just 

what qualifies as luxury, and just 

who “dips their toe” into the luxury 

travel market. Far more than at any 

time before, people from diverse 

walks of life are becoming luxury 

clients, whether it be for weddings, 

anniversaries, honeymoons or other 

special occasions. The second key 

factor contributing to the growth of 

the sector is the increasing interest 

in travel in general by those who 

have the means to travel. Today, 

rather than buying another new 

Porsche 4S, it could be more fun 

to splash out on a ‘round the world 

tour. It all augers well for the luxury 

hotel market, but also engenders a 

major change in dynamics for the 

once-staid administration. Those 

who pick up that challenge will no 

doubt be the winners of tomorrow. 

La Concha, Puente Romano 

Beach Resort, Marbella


TRACKING THE TRENDS 

Viewpoint of the GM of Les Roches Marbella 

Carlos Diez 

de la Lastra 

Buigues 

General Manager, 

Les Roches Marbella 

Carlos Diez de la Lastra 

Buigues is General Manager 

of Les Roches Marbella, part 

of the global network of Les 

Roches International School 

of Hotel Management. We 

asked him what he sees as 

being the main stakes for the 

industry at the moment. 

Impatience, the value of 

immediacy, wanting everything 

and now, is something that is 

already forcing us to rethink the 

way in which the hotel interacts 

with the client. The famous 

chatbots will be one of the 

stars of the new year. Artificial 

intelligence will be at the service 

of hyper-personalised attention 

without the need for greater 

human interaction. 

The new heyday of bleisure is 

nothing but the enrichment of 

the traditional business line of 

the business guest. The trend 

is clear and overwhelming. 

Already more than half 

of business travellers take 

advantage of their travel to 

incorporate leisure activities 

and even extend their stay for 

this reason. It is not necessary 

to highlight the value of this to 

combat our eternal problem of 

seasonality, nor that the axis of 

value lies largely in the hotelier’s 

capacity of innovation and 

entrepreneurship. 

There is also growing concern 

for sustainability and integration 

with the locals. On the one 

hand this brings an opportunity 

for diversification and the 

enhancement of projects, hotels 

and destinations, that were 

previously outside the main 

tourist activity centre, and on 

the other it is a risk to be taken 

into account due to the effects 

of dreaded “overtourism” 

THE 

FAMOUS 

CHATBOTS WILL 

BE ONE OF THE 

STARS OF THE 

NEW YEAR.





Dr Kurt Grötsch 

CEO, Silk Road Experience Group, 

CEO, Chinese Friendly International 

Dr Kurt Grötsch - CEO of 

Silk Road Experience Group 

and CEO of Chinese Friendly 

International outlines the 

latest evolution for hoteliers 

wishing to attract more 

Chinese clients. 

THE SILK ROAD 

A powerful emerging touristic 

brand – and a great opportunity for 

hotel operators 

THE UNWTO 

IDENTIFIES THE SILK 

ROAD CONCEPT 

AS ONE OF THE 

MOST IMPORTANT 

EMERGING TOURIST 

BRANDS 

The UNWTO (United Nations 

World Tourism Organisation) 

identifies the Silk Road concept 

as one of the most important 

emerging tourist brands in the 

world and Tripadvisor confirms 

in 2017, that 8 of 10 (81%) 

travellers have heard of the 

Silk Road, and 62% percent 

of travellers indicate that they 

are aware of the Silk Road as a 

tourism destination. 

However, there is only weak 

infrastructure in terms of 

communication and hotels to 

attend a rising group of heritage 

and experience orientated 

travellers. Beside Caravanserais 

or Musks, the nomadic tribes 

of central Asian countries had 

no chance to create material 

heritages (civil, religious or 

war constructions) or a diverse 

gastronomy. This lack of heritage 

could be supplied by themed 

hotels, thematic and experience 

tourism formulas on which is 

already working the Silk Road 

Task Force of the UNWTO. In 

this context, we advise that the 

hotel sector could and should 

consider the Silk Road project 

as an opportunity to participate 

in the development of brand 

and investment opportunities. 

As an example, we will present 

a hotel concept adapted to the 

Silk Road circumstances to the 

audience in Marbella 2018


CONCEPTS 

OF PREMIUM 

TOURISM 

A leading European business 

school spotlights the essential 

nature of innovation 

Ramón 

Estalella 

General Secretary , 

CEHAT (Confederación Española 

de Hoteles y Alojamientos 

Turísticos) 

CHANGES IN 

DEMAND, SUPPLY 

AND MARKETING 

CHANNEL TAKE 

US TO A NEW 

SCENARIO WHERE 

NOT EVERYONE 

WILL SURVIVE 

Ramón Estalella, General Secretary of the Spanish Hotel and 

Lodging Association (CEHAT) will be addressing this year’s 

conference on a theme dear to the hearts of one and all. We 

asked him to explain. 

The conference will be related 

to the concept of Premium 

Tourism and what indicators are 

being used, and studying to see 

the evolution of luxury tourism. 

There’s a tendency towards 

personalisation of services, 

which is becoming increasingly 

important: important issues 

such as new concepts in the 

fields of catering, customer 

loyalty, quality of food service 

management, high connectivity, 

and the change of concept of 

mass marketing to specialised 

marketing. 

At the same time, it is necessary 

to study how we manage to 

get along with the innovation 

in our company, how to recruit 

our employees and how to train 

them, and finally how we fulfil 

our customers’ expectations. 

In the luxury and maintenance 

segment, the competitive 

advantages of hotels are 

changing a great deal. We’re 

observing that the changes in 

demand, supply and marketing 

take us to a new scenario 

where not everyone will survive. 

We have to manage new 

customers, in new places, with 

new demands, giving much 

more value to detail. 

The Conference will be based 

on the studies carried out by the 

Instituto de Empresa (IE) on the 

leading business school in the 

European ranking, where I was 

director of Tourism Programme 

2012-2017





I WILL BE SPEAKING ABOUT 

THE ONGOING ISO PROJECT 

CONCERNING ACCOMMODATION 

Maricruz Cádiz 

Technical Director, 

Spanish Institute for Tourist Quality 

STANDARDS MATTER 

Developing 12 new projects as part of 

international standards projec 

Maricruz Cádiz, Technical Director at Spanish Institute for 

Tourist Quality, Leader of the ISO/TC 228 WG15 ISO 22483 

Hotels, will be giving a presentation on ISO/TC 228. Sound 

intriguing? Read on… 

ISO/TC 228 is a committee 

created in 2005 under the 

twinned leadership of UNE 

(Spain) and INNORPI (Tunisia), 

with 98 countries and 21 

Organisations in liaison 

involved. 

ISO/TC 228 is a technical 

committee of the International 

Standards Organisation (ISO) 

responsible for developing 

internationally accepted 

standards for terminology and 

specifications of the services 

offered by tourism service 

providers, including related 

activities, touristic destinations 

and the requirements of 

facilities and equipment 

used by them, to provide 

tourism buyers, providers and 

consumers with criteria for 

making informed decisions. 

ISO/TC228 has published 26 

tourism voluntary standards 

and we are currently 

developing 12 projects in 

topics such as diving, health 

tourism, adventure tourism, 

yacht harbours, bareboat 

charters, volunteer tourism, 

sustainable management 

systems for accommodation 

facilities or accessible tourism. 

In concrete terms, I will be 

speaking about the ongoing 

ISO project concerning 

accommodation, moreover 

in hotels, where I am Project 

Leader: ISO/TC 228 WG15 

22843 Hotels. 

In a couple of years, the 

first ISO voluntary standard 

regarding hotels will be 

published.


Ignacio Maza 

Executive Vice President, 

The Signature Travel Network 

SAME SIGNATURE – NEW AMBITIONS 

The Signature Travel Network adds new hotels and points of sale 

The Signature Travel Network continues to re-invent itself, developing new 

programmes and tools to make its members more effective and more relevant 

to consumers and travel partners. We asked the “member-owned” network’s 

Executive Vice President, Ignacio Maza to tell us more. 

This year, we welcomed 11 new leading 

travel sellers to our network, including 

Adelman Vacations and Hess Travel in the 

USA, as well as the Magellan Travel Group 

in Australia. Signature now generates 

over US$7bn in 

travel sales, and 

SIGNATURE NOW 

GENERATES OVER US$7BN 

IN TRAVEL SALES (…) 

has over 7,000 

consultants 

worldwide. We 

added over 100 

new hotels, 

destination specialists, tour operators, 

cruise lines and tourism offices to our 

portfolio of preferred partners, as well as the 

industry’s first preferred supplier agreement 

with TCS World Travel. We expanded 

our database to over 4.5 million names 

and launched new consumer benefits. We 

continue to invest in technology, ensuring 

consultants have access to turnkey, 

highly customised marketing and client 

relationship management tools to better 

serve travellers. 

What do you see as being the key 

trends in luxury travel as we enter 

2018? 

Consumers are looking for new horizons, 

so we are seeing more inquiries for far-flung 

destinations. We are increasing sales for 

multi-generation/family travel, celebrationrelated 

travel, active/adventure travel, as 

well as solo travel. Overall, travellers are 

seeking once-in-a-lifetime experiences, 

expert advice, access to special venues and 

personalities, unique itineraries, meaning, 

fulfilment, and a sense of wonder in their 

travels. Expectations are high, but we are 

confident that we can deliver results

TOURISM IN EUROPE 





© Angela Llop 

EUROPE 

TOURISM 

IS BOOMING 

Europe continues to prance out in the 

lead of the global tourism market, 

with all analysts forecasting continued 

growth for the current period. 

Europe’s success is due not only to 

its extraordinarily diverse cultures, 

landscapes, architectures and cuisines, 

but also to the concerted efforts of 

tourism industry professionals to 

harmonise and professionalise the 

offering. A key organisation in this 

field is of course the European Travel 

Commission (ETC), which this year 

celebrates its 70th anniversary. Their 

original aim was to collaborate in order 

to promote the importance of tourism 

in rebuilding Europe’s economy after 

the devastation of World War II. With 

early help from the US-sponsored 

Marshall Plan, ETC played a pivotal 

role in the revitalisation of Europe’s 

tourism industry after the war. Since 

then, ETC’s mission has remained 

largely unchanged; promoting Europe 

as a tourist destination in long-haul 

markets. 

Today, thanks to initiatives by 

organisations such as the ETC, the 

industry in Europe continues to evolve 

in the “right direction”. 

Vinya l’Ermita, 

Gratallops, Spain


EU FACTS 

& FIGURES 

Robust growth for European inbound tourism 

Remarkable growth in Europe 

has been led by Southern and 

Mediterranean destinations. Europe 

recorded 671 million international 

tourist arrivals in 2017, just over 

half the world’s total and 52 million 

more than in 2016. This represents an 

increase of 8%, a remarkable result 

for the world’s most visited region, 

comprising many large and mature 

destinations. 

Growth was driven by a strong 

rebound in destinations that faced 

security incidents in 2016, such 

as Turkey, France and Belgium, as 

well as the sustained strength of 

many destinations. Southern and 

Mediterranean Europe, the world’s 

most visited sub-region, led this 

notable increase, welcoming 30 

million additional arrivals (+13%) 

and reaching a total of 267 million. 

Western Europe (+7%) also recorded 

robust growth, while arrivals in 

both Northern Europe and Central 

and Eastern Europe grew by 5%. 

Virtually all major source markets 

showed strong demand for European 

destinations in 2017, both inside 

and outside the region. The recovery 

of the Russian outbound market 

also benefitted many European 

destinations. 

Growth in 2017 was led by Southern 

and Mediterranean Europe with an 

extraordinary 13% increase in arrivals 

and all destinations reporting growth 

rates at least above 6%. Results were 

driven by the recovery of Turkey 

(+29%) and the continued strong 

growth of other major and emerging 

destinations. The sub-region’s largest 

destination Spain (+9%) reported 82 

million arrivals in the full year 2017, 

about 7 million more than in 2016, 

an outstanding result for such a large 

base volume and following already 

sustained growth in previous years





Susanne 

Kraus Winkler 

President, HOTREC 

HOTREC - WHAT’S HOT? 

Key issues in 2018 as seen by HOTREC 

President Susanne Kraus Winkler 

Susanne Kraus Winkler, 

President, HOTREC, is 

participating in this year’s 

EHMA event in Marbella. We 

asked the key issues are for 

HOTREC this year with regard 

to EU strategy. 

Right now, there are quite a lot of 

different topics on the EU table, 

with which HOTREC is dealing. It 

starts with the ongoing shadow 

economy issue, then the revision 

of the waste framework directive, 

a future policy initiative to tackle 

the issue of trans-fats in food, the 

fitness check of the EU General 

Food Law (GFL) Regulation, a 

new proposal of the Directive: 

“Transparent and predictable 

working conditions in the EU” 

replacing the current Written 

Statement Directive, the general 

Data Protection regulation 

coming into force in May 2018, 

adopted conclusions on crossborder 

aspects in alcohol policy, 

the revision of the Directive 

on the energy performance of 

building, the Communication 

which sets-out the EU’s strategy 

on plastics, the free tap water 

discussion in restaurants, and the 

proposal for reform of VAT rates , 

only to mention a few. 

But HOTREC is also dealing with 

the changes in our hospitality 

world. We have to understand 

that old role models of managing 

our hotels and restaurants as 

well as our teams and how


HOTREC 

DIGITAL TASK 

FORCE UNDER THE 

CHAIR OF MARKUS 

LUTHE FROM IHA IS 

STILL INTENSIVELY 

WORKING ON 

UNFAIR PRACTICES 

OF OTAS AND 

FOR A FAIR LEVEL 

PLAYING FIELD 

WHEN IT COMES 

TO RATE PARITY 

ALL OVER EUROPE 

we understand the needs 

of our guests might differ a 

lot from what we were used 

to. Most of the challenges we 

face, like sharing economy, 

digitalisation of distribution 

and communication as well as 

digitalisation of operational 

processes, over tourism in some 

destinations, a dramatic lack 

of skilled labour, transparency 

and political changes, which 

cause problems in surrounding 

regions or safety and security 

challenges in some areas, need 

solutions, which cannot be dealt 

only by the hospitality industry 

itself and not at all by the SMEs 

themselves. We need common 

solutions and even more 

intensive cooperation to manage 

the future of our industry, there 

won’t be quick or easy solutions. 

all over Europe and not only in 

those countries, which could 

manage to get regulations in rate 

parity. HOTREC just launched the 

next digital distribution study 

and is closely watching the draft 

regulation on platforms from 

the Commission. We will also 

look intensively into restaurants 

this year. In addition, on the 

European Commission level the 

launch of the EU Blockchain 

Observatory and Forum was 

announced. With the support of 

the European Parliament it will 

highlight key developments of 

blockchain technology, promote 

European actors and reinforce 

European engagement and 

the ECJ’s decision on the UBER 

case might need some more 

competition law activities about 

similar offers 

Meanwhile, our Digital Task 

Force under the chair of Markus 

Luthe from IHA is still intensively 

working on unfair practices of 

OTAs and for a fair level playing 

field when it comes to rate parity 

Susanne Kraus Winkler at 

the European Tourism Day 

organised by the European 

Commission

INNOVATIONS & TECHNOLOGIES 





© Ed Reeve 

CAUGHT UP IN THE WEB: 

CONTINUED GROWTH FOR 

ONLINE BOOKINGS 

According to the latest 

report by PhocusWright, 

online bookings continue to 

outpace the broader market. 

In 2017, online bookings 

were projected to total €138 

billion, representing 51% of 

the total market. 

Mobile channels supplier 

and online travel agency 

(OTA) apps and mobile 

websites are driving most 

of the growth. Mobile travel 

bookings were projected to 

climb 21%, and will have 

represented nearly one 

fourth of all online bookings 

in 2017. Online supplier direct 

channels will have captured 

two thirds of online bookings 

in 2017, compared to just 

one third for the supplier OTA 

channel. 

The hotel category is the only 

segment where OTAs have a 

strong lead over suppliers in 

attracting online bookings. 

But large chains are expected 

to reduce their dependency 

on the two dominant OTAs 

Booking.com and Expedia 

as they focus on promoting 

their own online booking 

channels. Recent legal rulings 

that ban hotel rate parity 

clauses also favour online 

direct hotel bookings. 

MGallery Victory House Leceister Square, 

London, UK


Álvaro Carrillo 

de Albornoz 

General Manager, 

Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) 

INNOVATE – YES… BUT 

HOW AND WHY? 

Examples of innovative thinking applied 

to the hotel business 

Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, General Manager at Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero 

(ITH) tells us about the main themes of his conference at this year’s EHMA AGM. 

There are a number points being covered 

in the conference: What does innovation 

actually, mean? What can one identify or 

understand as innovation within the tourism 

industry? What do we, the tourism sector, 

and in particular the hotel sector, innovate 

for? How can a hotel stand out from its 

competitors? How to apply innovative 

ways of thinking to really make a difference 

within the sector? Technology and its 

impact in our society: New behaviours; and 

the newest technological developments 

- the future awaits (wearable technology, 

smart data, IoT, AI, deep learning, etc.) 

In will go over the concept of innovation, 

and its meaning to the tourism sector, 

and then review some good examples of 

innovative thinking applied to the hotel 

business. A very relevant aspect of the 

conference deals with the way to transform 

innovation into a competitive advantage 

to stand out over the competitors within 

what it is a very demanding sector. Finally, 

we can’t forget about the most important 

thing: target markets… audience. 

Technology evolves expeditiously, so does 

our society. Those technologies that are 

springing up today are going to become an 

essential part of our lives very soon, and the 

way our behaviour as individuals change, 

makes a necessary point to carefully look at 

for the hotel industry





José Luis 

Calvo Salanova 

Cognitive Computing Director, 

Sngular 

THE 

UNUSUAL 

PACE OF 

CHANGE 

What can be expected 

in the next years 

from a technology 

perspective 

Jose Luis Calvo, Cognitive Computing Director, Sngular, will 

be speaking at the EHMA AGM on the topic of the “unusual 

pace of change we are enjoying and suffering, and what 

can be expected in the next years from a technology 

perspective”. We asked him to tell us a little more. 

I intend to cover 4 technologies: 

Artificial Intelligence as the 

main driver, Virtual Reality, 

the Internet of Things and 

Blockchain as the most 

promising technologies for 

the next years, and potentially 

able to impact the industry. I 

will complete the «state of 

the art» of the technology, 

with several examples from 

the 3 innovation horizons 

(H1, innovation at youcore 

business, H2, innovation at 

your side/complementary/ 

edge business, and H3, 

innovation at the disruptive 

business or the meteor) 

The main change to come 

is going to be continuous 

change(!) From a technological 

perspective, it is going to be 

Artificial Intelligence, which 

will create a greater disruption 

than the one that has been 

created by the Internet. 

Hoteliers should be prepared 

to accelerate their innovation 

pace, which means start to 

experiment fast, cheap and 

learn from it. Also, start 

to think out of the box for 

potential H3 scenarios 

THE MAIN 

CHANGE TO COME 

IS GOING TO BE 

CONTINUOUS 

CHANGE


CHANGE DOESN’T JUST 

MEAN PAIN 

Different ways of approaching the customer 

experience 

pool etc. Today this is changing. 

The experience includes digital 

experiences, all along the entire 

customer journey. From booking 

to feedback. 

Dietmar 

Dahmen 

Creative consultant, visionary, 

futurologist, innovation expert 

CHANGE IS 

VERY GOOD… 

AND I’LL HELP 

PEOPLE SEE THE 

OPPORTUNITIES 

Hotels sell EXPERIENCES… be 

that for private individuals, 

families or to the business 

traveller. The EXPERIENCE 

is the ASSET of the 

hotel. Dietmar Dahmen, in 

his presentation at this year’s 

EHMA AGM, will explain how 

this is evolving… 

Traditionally this experience was 

centred around the PHYSICAL 

amenities…. how the room 

looks like … or your gym… or a 

In my talk, I will help to navigate 

all this change. I will show what 

is happening and what you need 

to do, in order to keep up with 

those trends. I will talk about the 

difficulties you might encounter 

when you start to change and 

how can use change to become 

stronger than you have ever been 

before. CHANGE IS VERY GOOD… 

And I’ll help people see the 

OPPORTUNITIES… and not just the 

“pain” that comes with change. 

Every business centres around the 

CUSTOMERS. And DATA centres 

around customers. So, every 

business needs to EMBRACE 

DATA. This is not easy, but today, 

Artificial Intelligence helps us 

analyse all the data we have and 

to organise the collaboration of 

all the different aspect to tourism 

and even to PREDICT what a 

travel might need, BEFORE he or 

she said s/he need it

SPONSORS 




March 2018 27

Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport - 2018 EHMA Special Edition

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