JP TRAIBLAZING MAGAZINE
BY JOSE PINTO *
D
uring pandemic times and sifting through the winners and losers during it, I found that when a family that partially owns its company, that company tends to do better. What were or even are the reasons? A family tends to look after “its “investment better, i.e. they keep their management team on a shorter leash and on its “toes” as customary said.
owned Hospitality properties and instead turn their sights to large, enterprises. As a result, they are shielded from indiscriminate sell-offs by big investors. In short, Hospitality properties or companies owned and operated by a family with an HOTEL expert endured milder liquidity swings and have emerged as relative winners during any pandemic times. In my opinion how hospitality will emerge from the pandemic?
In my opinion, “Covid-19 becomes a launch pad for reflection for hoteliers and many other businesses. They were asked to review and reconsider their processes, flatten the hierarchy, and enhance cross-cooperation as not seen in most past recent times. They have been seen improving their teams’ agile decisions obliged by the last minute business requests and also to meet regularly to share best practices to enhance on the guest / customer experience, share market trends, novelties, concepts among many others.
A family is most the times agile and can make decisions faster, their portfolio is in most times less diverse making the success or failure of the company all the more critical, and the family has a much deeper “socioemotional attachment” to its business than any management company. In the European Countries context, families tend to have a long-term, intergenerational vision that is not “100% rational”, i.e. solely based on profit and loss. In particular, small owned companies with a CEO/ Chairman who is a member of the family outperformed better than any other.
New models have been and are emerging. They will rule in the near future that “hotels are no longer a place where you only sleep” as still believed by many. The “hotel of the future” needs something more. Hotels and Resorts must become the heart of their communities, offering a new
Funds and private equity firms do not tend to co invest in small or family-
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F O U N D E R ’ S N OT E
How Hospitality Will Emerge from the Pandemic
JP TRAIBLAZING MAGAZINE
