Expert's Corner: Milan Hotel General Manager's opinion

Though the demand on the Moscow hotel services market in 2010 has yet to fully return to its pre-crisis level, today we are seeing steady, but gradual growth of market activities, compared to 2009. The biggest upturn has taken in the MICE segment, thanks to a significant increase in the volume of sales of business events and banquet services.

How would you assess your hotel’s position today, taking into consideration the scale of the global crisis?

Today, the position of our hotel is stable, while the sales volume and number of our regular visitors are growing. This feat, to a certain degree, became possible, thanks to our flexible pricing system, constant expansion of our spectrum of services and increase of their quality. Other factors include long-term contract relations with corporate clients, successful cooperation with large tour operators and effective advertising strategy, which have also contributed to our success. 

What would you call your hotel’s key competitive advantages on this market?

These include the convenient location of the hotel, its broad range of additional services, long-term contract relations, a diverse and flexible pricing scale and fixing service rates during the crisis.

Recently, Expedia included your hotel in its famous list of the world’s best hotels. To what do you attribute such huge success of the hotel?

The optimal combination of price and quality and a high quality level of services that we have been able to achieve, thanks to constant increase of professionalism of employees and creation of attractive labor conditions form the basic part of our success. Therefore, we see the Expedia recognition as a befitting reward for our whole team.

What are your plans for the expansion of your hotel’s activities in the postcrisis era?

We plan to increase our market share, undertake further development of our brand and boost the hotel’s competitiveness by implementing the highest of European service standards.