Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #45

Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #45
2020 Winter Edition 19
19
VALERIE WILSON WINS 2019
MARY GOSTELOW AWARD
Valerie Wilson accepts
Mary Gostelow award from
2018 winner, Geoffrey Gilardi
ILTM Cannes kicked off on 3 December
with its usual annual global forum,
capped-off with the crowning of this year’s
Mary Gostelow award laureate – New
York based travel advisor, Valerie Anne
Wilson. Accepting the award, Ms Wilson
stated, “I just love this industry beyond
description. I think that travel is probably
the best education you can give to a child
and an adult today, because with each
trip you take, you have a new experience,
a new exposure, and hopefully you have
done something a little better – to make
the world a better place. ILTM has certainly
done that for many people in the travel
industry. I think that probably Matthew
Upchurch and Virtuoso did it most for me;
because I was not afraid to be outspoken. I
was not afraid to try and create a business
38 years ago when luxury travel really
didn’t exist from the agency side in a big
way. We all have the opportunity to share
this around the world, and make it a better
place”
NEW CAPELLA BANGKOK
– THE “DISRUPTOR”
John Blanco, GM of the new Capella
Bangkok says his property has some strong
selling points: “Bangkok has always had
two key sub-markets – the mad Riverfront
and the CBD. Most of the luxury brands,
including Rosewood and Waldorf were
installed in the CBD area, and it’s been
about 25 years since something important
and new has happened on the riverside.
This area is home to legacy properties such
as the Mandarin Oriental and the Peninsula
- large properties that have been there a
long time. The Capella comes in as a bit
of a disruptor. The ethos of our brand is
that of much smaller properties, hence the
ability to tailor and personalise at a much
higher level, and with more authenticity.
The property consists of 101 river-facing
suites and villas, beginning at 70 sq m –
up to the only riverfront villas in Bangkok,
including private pools”
John Blanco
General Manager, Capella
Bangkok
MADRID AND BEYOND:
A PRODUCT BASED ON PEOPLE
Nigel Hack
Founder,
Madrid and Beyond
Nigel Hack, founder of inbound operator
Madrid and Beyond organises itineraries
throughout Spain and Portugal. He says for
today’s travellers, it’s all about the “carpe
diem” experience: “You can talk about
transformative travel, experiential travel,
behind closed doors, insider access… that’s
what we are trying to do. When travellers
go to restaurants, they don’t want to sit
with tourists all around them, they want to
be with locals. They want to meet artisans,
and be in contact with local people. I
believe we do this better than anyone else,
because we have a much broader range of
people with whom we work”