limits physically the number of
potential visitors. The lack of hotel
infrastructure and limited domestic
transportation are restricting the
market to Yerevan and a couple of
hotspots.
When political answers are brought
to lift these barriers, there will be a
natural boom in the tourism indus-
try together with new investments
in hotel structures. The expected
inauguration of low-cost flight con-
nections with Europe is already a
positive sign for the market though
we need also more transparen-
cy and unbiased statistics to be
provided by authorities to secure
more viable foreign investments.
Another big challenge for the
country is education. There are
not enough vocational structures
to develop and provide special-
ized workers for the hotel indus-
try. I am talking about positions
such as cook, waiter or reception-
ist. Armenians are naturally hos-
pitable and welcoming however
guest-oriented service and techni-
cal skills need to be provided in a
more professional manner and at
a larger scale. Hotels can’t bear the
whole training process to cover
future needs. It is also necessary
to have more open-minded man-
agers with experience abroad, who
can understand the challenges of
guest satisfaction, digitalization
as well as Human Resources in
a country sometimes polluted by
archaic mentalities.
When coming from abroad, you
first have to be open-minded your-
self and despite the geographi-
cal localization of Armenia, keep
in mind that this is not a typical
European country. The boundaries
between life and work are thin-
ner in relations, following a patri-
archal scheme. On the other hand,
socialistic heritage and corruption
have also impacted civism and
productivity. So, like in most of the
country, you have to find the right
balance with the values and meth-
odology you want to bring and the
local values you have to respect
and amend. And finally, a tough
challenge is to move out of the
country and leave your friends, all
these nice people and the sunny
weather behind you…
And What about Ibis
Cambridge Central Station Hotel?
What characteristics and privileges
have the hotel and in general the
tourism of Great Britain?
It might be a bit too early for me
to speak about tourism in Great
Britain as I recently arrived and I
still feel like a tourist in fact!
I would say that the main charac-
teristics of the hotel industry in
this part of the world is the pro-
fessionalism and specialization of
each domain. Most of the support
functions in a hotel, like Revenue
Management, Human Resources
our Accounting are externalized.
So are most of the team, as you will
probably outsource your house-
keeping or your security team.
All in all, it allows the General
Manager to focus on 3 main tasks
which are to increase the satisfac-
tion of the guest and the satisfac-
tion of the Team. The third one, the
satisfaction of the Shareholders
will benefit from it and from busi-
ness development. As it is a very
competitive market, the hotel
online reputation is the main indi-
cator of the good health of a hotel.
On the opposite, with a very com-
petitive labor market, employee
retention is a key target to be able
to keep the right level of service
and achieve the reputation target.
Another major difference is also
the gap in digitalization. Even
though the technical solutions
implemented in Great Britain give
a competitive advantage, I am
glad to see that in Armenia and
Indonesia, the industry can pro-
cess with technological leaps and
catch up very quickly. Not talk-
ing about the fact that people are
much more technology-oriented
in these countries and the public
access to wi-fi is easy. Have you
ever tried to connect to wifi in a
café in Paris? Nightmare!
Emblematic hotel for
an emblematic city”
Ibis Cambridge and its 231
rooms is not a standard
hotel on the market.
In this boiling and creative
city, the hotel introduced
Chill, the new Coffee Shop
& Bar concept.
It is also the first hotel of
the brand with no physical
front desk.
A team of welcomers is
checking
the
guests
online, using mobile
phones.
The
concept
might
surprise however it always
convinces the guests
that you can associate a
warm welcome with new
technologies.
ibis Yerevan Center Hotel
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