‘Cut Tourism VAT’ campaign and creating a fair digital marketplace, to the future of hotel IT systems and changing guest expectations, to be discussed at the ‘HOSPACE 2015 Interviews’ with BHA Chief Executive Ufi Ibrahim and citizenM’s Michael Levie
HOSPACE 2015 – HOSPA’s cutting-edge Annual Conference and Exhibition for hospitality finance, revenue management, IT and commercial professionals – to be held on 26 November at the Sofitel London Heathrow, Terminal 5
HOSPA is delighted to announce that the two ‘HOSPACE Interviews’ at HOSPACE 2015, on 26 November, will be with two of the hospitality industry’s most influential and dynamic leaders – British Hospitality Association Chief Executive Ufi Ibrahim and citizenM hotels co-partner, founder and Chief Operating Officer Michael Levie.
“We are delighted to welcome two such distinguished and influential industry leaders as Ufi Ibrahim and Michael Levie as the subjects for this year’s HOSPACE 2015 interviews,” said HOSPA Chief Executive Carl Weldon. “The interview with Michael will be one of the Conference’s morning highlights; and the afternoon interview with Ufi will, together with our second HOSPA Spotlight session, bring the day’s conference proceedings to a climactic close.
“Michael Levie (see Notes to Editor for biography) is an hotelier, turned entrepreneur, who has created citizenM hotels with Chairman and co-founder – Rattan Chadha. It is a highly successful group of luxury contemporary hotels for the mid-market traveller – somebody with lots of aspiration, but not necessarily the wallet for traditional luxury. Indeed, Michael has been quoted as describing a citizenM hotel as ‘a retail store for guest satisfaction’, so he is extremely well placed to discuss guests needs and expectations. He is a great champion of the industry and has much to say on current issues affecting it – particularly in the field of IT, such as hoteliers’ dependence on IT vendors and the future of hotel systems.”
HOSPA is very pleased to announce that Michael Levie will be interviewed at HOSPACE 2015 by leading financial journalist Andrew Sangster (see Notes to Editor for biography), who is founder and editor of Hotel Analyst.
Carl Weldon will be interviewing Ufi Ibrahim (see Notes to Editor for biography). “I will be finding out more,” he said, “about the BHA’s vitally important ‘Cut Tourism VAT’ campaign, currently supported by 135 MPs across all parties, and Ufi’s hope to reach the target of 200 MPs by May 2016. The BHA is focused on highlighting the benefits of the hospitality and tourism industry to the UK economy – recently organising a Westminster Hospitality and Tourism Day, and commissioning an Oxford Economics Study which showed that hospitality is Britain’s fourth largest industry, supporting 14 per cent of total employment and delivering £143bn a year to Britain’s economy. In addition, the sector has created one-in-five of all new jobs since 2010.
“I shall be discussing the findings and implications with Ufi; and the need for government support to fully unleash the industry’s potential – on tourism VAT, on speeding up and simplifying the visa applications process to encourage more visitors from growth markets such as China, deregulation, and creating a fair digital marketplace by banning so-called ‘Rate-Parity’ agreements. The latter prevents hotels from being able to offer the rooms to customers who book directly at a lower rate, or offer any benefits for booking directly. The argument is that ‘Rate-Parity’ limits savings that hotels can then pass on to guests, who decide to book directly with them.”
In addition to the interviews, there will be a fantastic line up speakers and topics (including two in-depth Spotlight sessions on ‘Hospitality and the Digital Challenge’; and ’The Challenges of Effective Outward and Inward Hospitality Management’), with the full programme being announced shortly. As in previous years, HOSPACE 2015 will be hosting its ever popular and growing exhibition of hospitality technology solutions – providing delegates with a ‘one stop shop’ to view and interact with the latest and ‘best in class’ technologies – covering all eventualities for any hospitality business, whether they be start-up, established independent, or multi chain-owned, operations.
The event’s grand finale Gala Dinner – including the signature ‘HOSPA Pub Quiz’ – is one of the traditional social networking highlights of the Conference.
For regularly updated information on HOSPACE 2015, visit the HOSPACE Website at: www.hospace.net . For bookings and further details for HOSPACE 2015, contact the HOSPA Membership and Events Office on telephone: +44 (0) 203 418 8196; or email: bookings@hospa.org
Back to News