“ PERSIAN HOSPITALITY IS A CULTURAL CONCEPT THAT EXISTS EVEN IF THERE IS NO HOTEL .”
MARIO CANDEIAS
came from inside the country , says Joseph Fischer , owner of Tel Aviv , Israel-based Vision Hospitality & Travel . Turkey was a popular destination for outbound travel , seeing about 2 million Iranians a year , but that dried up with the double whammy of sanctions and inflation . Still , Iran ’ s 23 UNESCO World Heritage sites , culture and climate make it unique . “ It ’ s an amazing country , but the politics is playing a role here ,” Fischer says .
France ’ s AccorHotels has two midscale hotels located in the vicinity of Tehran ’ s airport , and Spain ’ s Meliá Hotels International in 2016 announced a Gran Meliá in a development along the Caspian Sea . That ’ s been delayed but is still on track , the company says .
Candeias , for his part , takes a long view : “ If we invest in a hotel , we are not looking at the timeline of three years , we are looking at timelines of five to 10 years , and then we make the decision .”
Where is the opportunity ? Candeias says the country ’ s hotels need an upgrade in management , marketing , distribution , revenue management and branding ( Espinas itself will undergo a rebranding ). “ So any hotel in a city of more than one and a half , two million inhabitants , can be very sustainable if you develop it the right way ,” he says . “ Of course , it ’ s not going to be the Burj Al Arab or something like that , but you can do , for example , entry-level luxury or upper-upscale or upscale ,” with a big potential to scale .
With Tehran ’ s metro area topping 17 million people , a few more hotels like the Palace could put the company above 4,000 rooms . He offers several ways to get there : management contracts and a franchise model , neither of which is used much ; adding a casual midscale brand or developing heritage hotels at cultural sites ; and by seeking investments in the U . K . and Italy , where shareholder family members live .
FOODIE CULTURE In the meantime , Espinas Palace is adding a 21st-floor rooftop restaurant with a resident DJ . “ When we think of Tehran , we don ’ t think in these terms , right ? But there is a super big market for these types of products here ,” he says .
He compares Tehran to a European city in its neighborhoods , parks and shopping centers . Foodie culture has arrived , as well – or perhaps it has been there all along . “ They love to eat … Everything related to food becomes interesting to them ,” he says . One F & B concept did not have to be imported , however : Shortly after his interview with HOTELS , Candeias was headed to the Caspian Sea to scout candidates for a caviar bar .
Candeias settled into Iran easily . “ I was not expecting that ,” he says . “ Which is good because I can really focus on the job . I don ’ t have to focus on getting adapted .” One focus : finding employees among the highly educated population who can help the company get ahead in a competitive , contemporary setting . He has imported managers from brands like Kempinski and Shangri-La , and for revenue management , butler and personal concierge services . He introduced a more metric-based approach to sales and marketing , which has historically not been a proactive role . “ Normally the person who takes care of sales is the reservations person ,” he says .
It ’ s so time-consuming , he adds , and hospitality education is so outdated that he is considering opening a school . Given the lack of Middle Eastern versions of the traditional European schools , Candeias believes it ’ s an idea with potential .
“ We should be ambassadors of Persian hospitality ,” he says , “ which is a concept that , if I go into the history books , is even earlier than the European hospitality … Persian hospitality is a cultural concept that exists even if there is no hotel .”
Espinas Palace Hotel
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