“The challenges of the hospitality sector are significant: training, transmission, attractiveness of talents, customer loyalty, positioning, personalization of 'know how to receive', quest for the best quality-price ratio or even profitability without cutting corners on hospitality and service… These are all challenges to take up, battles to wage, efforts to make, but also teams to bring on board and financial partners to convince.” It was in front of an audience of nearly 200 people that Béatrice Gravierdirector of EquipHotel, opened the inaugural morning of the 2024 edition of the show, Monday November 4 in Paris, Porte de Versailles (XVe). Then Guillaume Gomezformer chef of the kitchens of the Élysée, best worker in France, French ambassador for gastronomy and personal representative of the President of the Republic for gastronomy and food, gave the green light to a morning of exchanges and debates.
On stage: Jean-Baptiste LemoyneSenator from Yonne, former Minister for SMEs and former Secretary of State for Tourism, Catherine Quérardpresident of the French Hotel and Restaurant Group (GHR), Thierry Marxpresident of the Union of hotel trades and industries (Umih), Jean-Jacques MorinDeputy Managing Director of the Accor group and Managing Director of the premium, mid-range & economy division, Charles-Antoine Durondirector of tourism and mobility at Google France, and Olivier Bonco-founder of the Experimental Group. A panel with different but complementary expertise in hospitality. Thus Thierry Marx advocated “an economy of quality” and the importance of focusing on “product identity”, because, he says, “cooking is about giving memory to the ephemeral”. As for Catherine Quérard, she insisted on a hospitality sector “value creator”, hence the importance of training young people and above all encouraging them to stay in the hotel and catering professions. Which is also a priority in the eyes of Olivier Bon, used to recruiting apprentices within his establishments.
“Do not live on what you have acquired”
Among the other subjects covered, CSR, key to reflection in terms of the positioning strategy of any establishment, for Jean-Jacques Morin. But also the AI which is deployed in the hospitality sector. For Charles-Antoine Duron, nothing really new, “because yield management is already AI”. In other words: AI is intended above all to be an additional tool and a source of time savings on boring tasks. In this same dynamic, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne recalled the urgency of investing in the hospitality sector, “so as not to live on what you have acquired and meet the expectations of an international clientele”. Finally, great witness to this inaugural morning, Alexandros Vassilikospresident of Hotrec, an association which brings together hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes throughout Europe, and himself a hotelier in Greece, stressed that the problems encountered in France were found in neighboring countries. A helping hand towards more exchanges and feedback between hospitality professionals at European level.
