HOUSEKEEPING | RENOVATION | FOOD & BEVERAGE | SPA | PROPERTY | EDUCATION | TECHNOLOGY
ISSN 2049-7709 p31 p32 p42 We sat with RBH CEO Helder Stephen Ayers answers the Angie Petkovic offers advice Pereira to find out more about the question on what it is that really on avoiding sanctions from the group ’ s rebranding makes a spa a ‘ true spa ’
Advertising Standards Authority
EDITOR ’ S LETTER
CONTRIBUTORS
JUNE 2018 | £ 5 . 95
WWW . HOTELOWNER . CO . UK
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MALMAISON OXFORD
Once a Victorian prison , the Malmaison Oxford offers guests the unique opportunity to sample prison confines within the comfortability of a modern-day hotel
STEPHEN W . AYERS
Stephen is a British and Canadian author and former hotel manager . He is the CEO of Stay Ahead Hospitality , a company that helps independent hoteliers in Europe and North America to attain high standards and increase profit
DEBORAH HEATHER
Deborah is the director of Quality in Tourism ; providers of independent quality assessments and gradings . Deborah manages an extensive field force of assessors who each grade some 300 properties a year .
PETER HANCOCK
Peter has been the chief executive of Pride of Britain Hotels - a collection of never more than 50 luxury and independent properties - since 2000 . He previously managed hotels and restaurants in Sussex and Hampshire , having started out as a waiter
ANGIE PETKOVIC
Angie started as our resident marketing advice columnist and has now built a substantial following for her straight-talking answers to the common questions about executing a professional marketing strategy
The technology backlash
With the benefit of hindsight , a groundswell of public anger directed at big tech companies was probably inevitable . Facebook is suffering the most prominent evisceration by the media and by politicians in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal . People ’ s complaints against the social network giant ’ s apparently laissez-fair attitude towards privacy always struck me as a bit silly – after all , nobody was forcing a billion people to go online and proffer every nuance of their personality to the algorithm . But then the story moved on : Facebook ’ s like buttons on other websites were collecting people ’ s data whether they clicked on them or not , and those who played certain online games through Facebook were unwittingly handing over all of their own friends ’ data to the game developers . The data was escaping from Mark Zuckerberg ’ s grasp , and it is how tens of millions of people ’ s information wound up in the hands of companies we might prefer it hadn ’ t .
Why am I banging on about Facebook ? It ’ s because the social network is only one of the ‘ big tech ’ companies facing a hostile court of public opinion at the moment . Airbnb – the hotelier ’ s nemesis – is another . It ’ s not just the hotel industry and its objections to competing with sub-let houses lacking the necessary fire safety compliance , insurance , tax and business rates . It ’ s also the consumer , who ’ s getting tired of ‘ platforms ’ that appear not to care a great deal about them , if they even see them as the customer at all ( see comments from Airbnb ’ s CEO on that distinction , p . 21 ). This month we have a feature on a travel blogger who experienced the mother of all poor Airbnb experiences - as a guest – and who set out to do some research of his own into the problems others have had with the platform . Whilst it would not be credible to ascribe any scientific value to his enquiries , it is nonetheless illuminating to consider his findings .
I fear that the total domination of entire sectors by one internet company for each , whilst it may be good for the consumer ’ s wallet by a few pounds , is hurting a dozen industries and actually not providing punters with the great experience they promise . Call me protectionist , but I would prefer to pay a little more so that indies can stay in business and some notion of customer service survives , in everything from retail to cabs to holidays . If the tech backlash reaches an even higher pitch before it gets better , it would not be the worst thing for the rest of us .
I hope you enjoy the issue .
FRONT OF HOUSEKEEPING
HOUSE INSIGHT - PART 2
A look at the Room2 ‘ hometel ’ in Miele addresses the ‘ customer
Southampton , a new hotel concept complaints culture ’ of hotels and combining elements of luxury of gives an insight into ensuring hotels and Airbnb style stays guest satisfaction
RBH REBRANDED HOTEL SPAS
AVOIDING SANCTIONS
ON THE COVER Hotel Concept of the Month , p18
Michael Northcott Editor , Hotel Owner michael @ hotelowner . co . uk
4 www . hotelowner . co . uk June 2018