Heading for HOTEC

McLean Events International Ltd CEO Noor Kassam says HOTEC Middle East, held this month at Shangri-La Muscat, will challenge the relationships between buyers and suppliers.

Why was Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort in Muscat chosen as the venue for this year’s HOTEC?
We have used this venue in the past and it proved to be very popular with both buyers and suppliers. The event is held in a different country most years.

To date, we have held HOTEC at: Marriott Hotel, Cairo, Egypt (2004); InterContinental Al Bustan Palace, Oman (2005); Rotana Towers, Abu Dhabi (2006); Mövenpick Dead Sea, Jordan (2007); Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah (2008); and InterContinental – Paphos, Cyprus (2009).

How many suppliers and how many buyers do you have signed up this year?
This year’s event will bring together approximately 100 international suppliers to meet with 65 buyers representing the major hotel chains from the Middle East region. These are similar numbers to last year’s event and this aspect is premeditated to ensure that all buyers and suppliers get to know each other.

Where has most demand come from for HOTEC 2010?
The event is specific to the Middle East region so most buyers are based in the Middle East. With larger hotel chains, some decision makers are based in head offices in Europe or the States and are brought in for the event.

The majority of the suppliers are doing business all over the world and many come from their Middle East regional offices. We attract Europeans as well as a few Asian and American companies.

Are there any new delegates at the 2010 event you can highlight?
HOTEC Middle East 2010 will see 40% of the buyers and suppliers who are new to the event. While we have many who would want to return on a yearly basis we limit the number of returning delegates to ensure that the buyers have new products to see and that the suppliers are able to meet with different hotel chains.

Among the many new suppliers are: Dedon from Spain; Groupe GM from France; Desert River from Dubai; Siro Wood from Egypt; and Luzerne Ltd from UK.

New buyers include: Mohamed Ahmed from Ritz-Carlton Hotels; Steven Jones from Fairmont Raffles Hotels & Resorts; Rachel Leane from Starwood Hotels & Resorts; Bruce Beardwood from Hilton Worldwide; and Mohammad Tarazi from Mövenpick Hotels.

Why is the HOTEC one-to-one meetings format successful?
McLean Events International launched the concept of the one-to-one forums 13 years ago to provide a new and innovative platform for buyers and suppliers to meet and discuss business opportunities in a more effective and focused way through a specialised programme of one-to-one meetings.

These events are now attracting the leading and most powerful players within their industries to talk business, network, exchange ideas and build long lasting relationships in five-star hotels away from everyday work.

The HOTEC format is also used for the fitness industry (SIBEC), spa industry (SPATEC) and conference industry (CONFEC) and events are run in Europe, UK, Middle East, Asia and North America.

What is the theme of HOTEC and how will this be addressed?
The panel discussion at this year’s HOTEC Middle East is ‘Challenging the Relationships between Buyers and Suppliers’, with a view to discover ways to improve, build and reward.

With Rachel Leane from Starwood Hotels participating alongside Giribabu Koteeswaran from Jebel Ali International Hotels, their views differ between unconventional and traditional, so the discussion should be interesting.

We also have Michel Landi from Deltabuy who will be bringing in the purchasing company perspective and Daniel Moncunill from LEDS-C4 with the supplier opinion. HOTEC delegates will benefit as the buyer/supplier relationship is dissected and reconstructed, as they can ask questions and provoke further discussion.

What are your views on when we will see recovery in the Middle East hospitality industry?
The feedback that we are getting across all our events in the Middle East, Europe, UK, Asia and North America, is that it will be Q4 in 2012 before the economy begins to show signs of real recovery.

Having said that, the positive thing that we are finding at our events is that the majority of both buyers and suppliers are taking a very bullish attitude towards the future and are not just sitting back and waiting for the economy to pick up, they are actually being much more aggressive and talking to many more companies and offering a much better service than in past years.

HOTEC Middle East will be held at Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort, Muscat, Oman from May 7-10, 2010. Visit: www.mcleaneventsinternational.com