AHIC Talks

Marina Franolic, Managing Director at The Bench, opened the first episode of the IDEEA Podcast with a 25-million-euro question to Marc Finney, Head of International Hotels & Resorts at Colliers. Listen or watch as Marc shares his insights on which markets in Southeast Europe (SEE) region are the no-brainer opportunities for hospitality investment and those that have the potential to be substantial investment opportunities. The conversation also touched on the growing interest in leisure products such as resorts, niche products such as pod or capsule hotels and the ever-increasing importance of ESG for hotel owners and consumers.

Listen to the full episode on the go or watch the complete conversation on video.

AHIC Talks met with Youssef Chraibi, Managing Director of Magespro Africa, a project management and engineering firm focused into the African market to find out how the past 24 months have impacted their organisation and the markets they work in.  We discussed what opportunities there are for the market, the geographies they are focused on for new business opportunities and how clients can minimise construction costs to maximise their returns. 

Michael Levie and David Keen are co-founders of Kube Ventures, a new accelerator platform designed to transform the hospitality industry. Michael and David spoke with Jonathan Worsley about their mission for this platform on this episode AHIC Talks. The founders also spoke about what inspired them to develop the platform and the different verticals created to solved different problems through various mediums. The conversation is a perfect scene-setter for their session at AHIC. In their discussion with Marloes Knippenberg, they will delve further into fostering transformation and change in hospitality.

In this episode, Matthew Weihs talks with Hon. Minister Najib Balala to see how tourism in Kenya is handling the pandemic and what can be done for future investment opportunities. The minister spoke about how infrastructure plays a big role during times of crisis as it enhances intra-Africa travel which offers plenty of opportunity for growth. Having recently confirmed his participation, Minister Balala will be joining over 100 speakers live in person on stage at AHIC in September. 

In this episode, Matthew Weihs talks with Hon. Minister Najib Balala to see how tourism in Kenya is handling the pandemic and what can be done for future investment opportunities. The minister spoke about how infrastructure plays a big role during times of crisis as it enhances intra-Africa travel which offers plenty of opportunity for growth. Having recently confirmed his participation, Minister Balala will be joining over 100 speakers live in person on stage at AHIC in September. 

In this week's episode of AHIC Talks, Jonathan Worsley had a chat with Carlos Khneisser, who is Hilton's Vice President of Development for the Middle East and Africa region. They discussed how the hotel chain has been adapting to enormous changes by focusing on their people and the strength of their relationships with owners. Despite these challenges, they've made significant strides over the past year with the new deals done across the MEA region, with more opportunities brewing in the pipeline. Listen to the full episode to find out more about Hilton's plans and which countries have taken priority. 

In this episode of AHIC talks, Jonathan Worsley spoke with Makram El Zyr, a second-generation hotelier whose father Selim El Zyr was one of the founding partners of Rotana. As the brand's Corporate VP of Development, Makram now leads the brand's ambitious expansion plans, focused on building their relationships with owners across every new project they move into.

In the latest episode of AHIC Talks, Fuad Sajdi shares his vision for Toggle Hospitality: to be your go-to digital marketplace for hotel FF&E procurement. This is a revolutionary idea that will save hotels manhours and time on sourcing supplies by providing them with one easy platform from which they can find everything their property needs in just seconds! Fuad also discussed with Jonathan Worsley the innovations planned in its roadmap to enhance the user experience.

In this episode, Jennifer Pettinger-Haines handed the reins over to Muhammad Ali Syed, Founder & CEO of Mingora Consult. He was in conversation with Prince Alwaleed Bin Nassir who is President of Qoot, about their recent collaboration on a joint report focusing on Saudi CEOs and COVID-19 sentiments in the Saudi restaurant industry. COVID-19 has hit the Saudi restaurant business hard, significantly weakening the business's financial position. Yet their leaders seem committed to holding on, but they can only do so with a  little bit of help from the Saudi government. These were the findings of the report, and Ali and Prince Waleed will be discussing them in detail over the course of this episode.

In this week's episode of AHIC Talks, Mathew Weihs spoke to Andrew McLachlan, who joined Hilton last year as the brand's Managing Director of Development for the Sub-Saharan African region. Andrew shared a preview of the development strategy for the African continent with some of the brand's key brands such as Hilton Garden Inn, LXR, Waldorf Astoria and many more. He also talked about how the brand's history and legacy along with a focus on safety have helped its properties stay resilient during the pandemic.