Last week, on the 18th to the 20th of November, Hipoges and KPI Hotel had the pleasure to participate as Gold sponsors at the R&R Resort & Residential Hospitality Forum in Athens, held at the Athenaeum InterContinental.
This leading Hospitality event is organized in collaboration with the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), and Enterprise Greece, the official agency for promoting investments and trade on behalf of the Greek government.
The R&R Forum is the lead event in the leisure and residential hospitality industries, drawing investors, developers, operators, and other professionals from around the globe. This year, with representation from over 20 countries and an attendance exceeding 400 participants and over 70 Active Global Investors.
For three days there were great opportunities to connect with industry leaders, discover new trends, and focus on the future of hospitality, within the 2024 theme: “Big Ambitions, Big Results” the forum addressed challenges and leveraging opportunities in a rapidly evolving market.
Day 1 at the R&R Forum: Development Tour and Welcome Reception
On the first day, the registration opened around 2pm, with the Development Tour: The Ellinikon¸ an experience of one of Europe’s largest and most groundbreaking urban redevelopment initiatives: a mixed-use contemporary living project comprising residences, shopping districts, business centers, entertainment venues, luxury hotels, educational and health facilities, located on the historic grounds of the former Athens International Airport.
After the tour, there was a networking session, the Power Hour: AI-Driven Quick-Fire Matchmaking a perfect way to kick off attendee’s interaction with a little help from an AI matchmaking tool, ideal to meet delegates with similar objectives and to start positive conversations.
To finish off the day, there was the Welcome Reception – Hosted by Enterprise Greece, where delegates enjoyed the evening in a relaxing environment before the start of the conference, with a warm welcome by Marinos Giannopoulos, CEO, Enterprise Greece.
Day 2 at the R&R Forum: Opening Remarks and Insightful Sessions
Day 2 at the R&R Forum, started around 8am with registration and refreshments, while representatives from the Greek Government and Questex gathered at the Athenaeum Ballroom II&III for the Opening Remarks: Welcome to Athens.
The engaging sessions followed throughout the day, with essential breaks for networking coffees. To start off, the Opening General Session: Assessing opportunity, managing challenges, creating advantage, with the following topics:
- Opening keynote: Turning ambitious visions into sustainable results.
- Economic Overview: Adapting to a volatile macro-economic landscape.
- Data Insights: Trends and performance in Leisure Hospitality.
- ESG and Leisure Hospitality: Balancing economic impact with environmental and community considerations.
Time for another session, the General Session Smart money: Investment and finance in leisure, which covered the following:
- Capital Talks: Investor insights from opportunity to exit.
- Investor Interview: Turning ambitious vision into sustainable results.
- Financing leisure hospitality: Finding the optimum structure in a complex debt landscape.
After a lunch networking break, it was time to come back to more engaging sessions, the General Session: Living Collabs: Returns on branded residences focusing on the topics of:
- Market overview: Examining dynamics and stakeholders in the branded residential market.
- Residences in the mix: Development, investment and finance strategies.
- Spotlight on a key residential project.
- Operating, marketing and selling residences: Successful partnerships
Another session running was the International Hospitality Forum: Powering hotel growth Hosted by Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, covering topics such as:
- Planning for future growth: Navigating generational change for Greek hoteliers.
- Opportunities in the economy, premium and midscale segment: Bridging the quality gap.
And a final General Session – Partnering for Success: Aligning stakeholder interests in leisure hospitality where Pedro Garcia e Costa was a key speaker, joined by leisure hospitality leaders to discuss the critical importance of developing the right partnerships and aligning visions to perform in the complex leisure hospitality market. Also, emphasizing the need for tailored approaches and in-depth knowledge of the segment, assets, distribution and local market conditions, a great session.
To end, there was a Keynote – Big Ambitions, Big Results: Leadership, innovation and technology – the theme for the 2024 edition. Followed by the Evening Reception, the perfect way to end the day, continuing with day’s discussions over refreshments with delegates in an informal setting, enjoying the Greek hospitality.
Day 3 at the R&R Forum: Breakfast Roundtable and Closing Keynote
The final day of the event was short, but fully packed, starting with a wellness session of Morning Yoga for those who wanted to start the day refreshed, followed by the Breakfast roundtable – Open-air hospitality: Investment strategies for a rapidly emerging alternative leisure segment, to discuss how recent deals, involving major leisure real estate investors are proof that the open-air hospitality segment (campsites, caravan parks, glamping and more) are set to evolve rapidly.
There were also other Breakfast roundtables taking place, covering Portugal: Top destination for foreign investment in hospitality as well as Balancing act: Managing the threat of overtourism for sustainable hospitality and travel growth, this session discusses the economic, environmental, and social impacts of overtourism, which has re-emerged post-pandemic as a pressing issue in popular European destinations.
Other great insightful sessions were:
- Developer insights: Delivering ambitious mixed-use projects (Mirum with Elounda Hills project).
- Development strategies for sustainable returns.
- Growing destinations: Strategic partnerships to develop appeal for travellers, investors and local communities.
- In the round discussion – Spain: Investing in Europe’s golden resort market, also, Evolution of wellness: From wellbeing to longevity concepts.
- Italy: Seizing investment opportunities in a vibrant market – Powered by ITHIC.
- Investing in the Greek market: Navigating opportunities and growth.
- Repositioning a portfolio: In leisurely conversation.
- Capitalising on experiential hospitality: Successful lifestyle and luxury leisure concepts.
- Driving alpha: Boosting performance in leisure properties.
To end the event there was a closing lunch and closing keynote session, the perfect opportunity to cement newly made connections or catch up with colleagues before the travels home.
Hipoges and KPI Hotel participation in the R&R Forum event reinforces the commitment of the company to innovate and mark leadership in the ever-evolving hospitality sector. Events like these are essential to share knowledge, foster collaborations and continue to drive the transformation of our industry.
To find out more about the events we participate in and how we contribute to shaping the future of asset management, visit our Company section of the blog.