Annual three-day summit dedicated to the development of hotel business and art of hospitality was held from 4 to 6 of October in Morocco. The conference was attended by special representatives of the Ministry of Tourism of Morocco, managers and operators of such world famous hotel chains as Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Eagle Hills, Grand Hotel and Helnan Hotel Group. Also consulting companies BlueStone Hospitality Consulting, JBergue Consult Group, Grant Thornton International and others were participated in the event.
Representatives of famous furniture factories, manufacturers of sanitary and technical fixtures and accessories (GROHE, Polycab Wires and many others) were attending the summit, as well as architectural studios with experience in designing hotels and hotels.
ITHAKA – Architecture and Design Studio was invited to take part in the summit as a bronze partner. Within three days, the studio working group held a number of constructive meetings and negotiations with developers and architects from different countries, as well as with delegations of furniture companies.
Main topic of the summit was the state of the hotel market in the countries of North Africa. Special representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, based on statistical data, demonstrated how improvement of the hotel business qualitatively influences development of tourism in general.
The conference participants discussed issues of prospects and potential of hotel business development on the continent, future projects and nuances of designing hotel complexes, taking into account specifics of work in the North African states. An important part of the summit was discussion of current and future design projects of hotels, analysis of variances in the architectural design of small boutique hotels and large hotels (from 200 rooms), as well as territory development plan.