In the hotel world, collaboration is more than a requirement, it’s an art. As Christiane Germain, co-president of Groupe Germain Hospitalité, said last month while speaking on the topic of collaboration at a Women’s Executive Network gathering in Toronto, most people don’t realize that when a doorman welcomes a guest, there are about 17 other employees contributing in some way to that greeting. “It’s a business of details,” she told the crowd.
Interestingly, as surprising as it may seem, while hospitality is a highly competitive field, hotel managers collaborate with the competition. Sound strange?
Think again. Hoteliers regularly share information and data on their hotels — via third-party analysts — with their competitive set, so the industry at large can better understand its successes and its challenges. “Each hotelier knows what the other is doing,” Germain said. “We know if the destination is doing well.”
Not surprisingly, Germain, and other hoteliers acknowledge success is contingent on many factors and many individuals, including employees and suppliers who work behind the scenes — the purveyors of food and equipment, architects, designers and, of course, the financiers who bring projects to fruition. Without the input and collaboration of these suppliers, who provide products, funds, information and expertise in their respective fields, hoteliers would fall short of achieving their goals.
It’s that spirit of collaboration and cooperation that’s highlighted annually in our special “Who’s Who Almanac” issue and on our “Who Owns What?” poster (see this month’s insert). The featured listings and directory provide a glimpse into the Canadian hotel world and a look at the companies that help make this industry vibrant and dynamic. Additionally, the much-anticipated “Who Owns What?” poster provides a broad overview of who the industry’s players are, while highlighting how they’re connected to one another. Think of it as an industry “family” tree of sorts.
Though the “Who Owns What?” poster was introduced to help our editorial department better understand and navigate the inter-connectivity of the hotel world, the poster has taken on a life of its own, becoming a mammoth annual undertaking that aims to visually delineate how each brand is connected to other brands, owners, developers and management companies. While the project is painstaking in the level of detail and information required to ensure its accuracy, and requires months of research and proofing, it clearly underscores that in the interconnected world of hotels, no brand is an island.
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