ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS
ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS 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.
Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport SPECIAL ISSUE #09 March 2018 15 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
