ILTM Cannes 2022

ILTM Cannes?is?the world's leading luxury travel?conference?and?celebrated its 21st event December 5th to the 8th,?2022.?

The global flagship event brought together over 3,600 luxury travel professionals… the most ever… from?almost 80?countries for a week of dedicated one-to-one meetings.?An extensive program of networking events?and some great social events (drinking and eating too much).?This year's event was met with new levels of passion and enthusiasm after last year's “kind of return to normal.” This year the luxury travel industry was fully renewed with a spirit of true optimism perhaps too much?… read below…

Overbooked /Overlooked??

If there was a feeling shared by all at the show, it was “things are too good to be?true”!?Perhaps it was a wave of relief after the Covid nightmare! In fact, everything was too good and most executives there (not the sales people of course) made a conscientious effort not to be too excited, as concerns were rising amongst some of these?same?senior executives about 2023.?Those I interviewed were cautiously optimistic; but?they?added the proviso that all our business can be affected negatively as a result of the impending USA inflation,?the enduring issues of Covid in China,?and the war in Ukraine. Sales?people are born without fear of anything …”so they just write business and cash their bonus checks while watching CNN”…that was a quote from a seasoned DOSM from Ritz.

In late January, as?I reviewed my observations for this article,?I recognize that USA seems to have a handle on inflation which bodes well for the luxury business in the USA and the Caribbean. On the other hand, S.E. Asia is still creeping back.??China?and Macau which opened last week are starting to boil over with local business as the International travelers have yet to venture to China yet.??Europe is pretending?as if?Ukraine will be in the back window soon, even though war celebrated i's one year anniversary this month.

The proof is that the ITB, the largest travel show in the world by lots (28 football size halls)?and is?European centric?is going to be at least 20% smaller this year than in 2019, while the ILTM 2022 was the largest ever!

Many companies like Kempinski who have had the same central stand?at ITB?in?Hall 9 since the beginning of time (at least 40 years) will be in Hall 9?in 2023. This signifies that European luxury groups are still cautious about the future. A common thread shared at the ILTM related to the future of luxury was… Where has all the staff gone? Some hoteliers in London and Paris described to me?the fact that they could not open all their rooms and restaurants or offer luxury services because of this staffing famine.

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s "2023?State of the Hotel Industry"?report, the luxury hotel industry is set to surpass pre-pandemic levels of demand, while inching closer to other key 2019 performance metrics.?This report also forecasts that the most crucial operational?challenges will be the staffing?shortages and?economic factors, which will replace COVID as hoteliers’ top concern.?The report continued that recruitment is expected to remain a significant challenge for the luxury industry in 2023 with the hotel segment projected to employ over 2 million employees in 2023 an increase of almost 8% from 2022 The?data and analysis?are?from Oxford Economics and were created in collaboration with AHLA platinum partners STR, Avendra, Ecolab, Encore and Oracle.?This?staffing?issue and the proposed solutions, will be explored further in a?future editorial.?

I think Sandeep Walia, Chief Operating Officer - Luxury Middle East at Marriott International in Dubai, UAE said it very well; "As you and I witnessed ILTM was much more than the anticipated, and global travelers are becoming bigger in number and gauging multiple channels. Staffing is key challenge we all are facing, and there is nothing more important than training and retaining the talent. We are optimistic post pandemic towards EU, Ukraine and China and Chinese outbound shall be bigger than over, but may take some time before travel-revenge takes place.?Sales teams think bigger and find ways to overcome challenges yet challenges we experience are stable rates to optimize occupancies."??

The 2022 ILTM opened its doors at the Palais to the most sellers and buyers of any other ILTM on record!?Some executives were?even?turned away…In fact, there were even some buyers who were late confirming?their attendance?and they could not get entrance either.?This “overbooking” was reflected in a lack of accommodation available. Some of the hotels like the Carlton were closed for renovation, the Majestic was partially open, and of course many properties had closed for the season.?Four- and five-star rooms were at a premium!

I followed the advice of the CEO of Forbes?Filip Boyen?who last year rented an Airbnb and was very pleased. Although renting an apartment without staff to attend them may have shocked some senior executives?as?they had to make their own beds and use the same towel for 5 days.?Shocking to them for sure!?I took Filip’s advice and I also rented an apartment very close to the show.?Unfortunately, as it was less than a month before the ILTM, the choices of luxury apartment accommodation were not available.?In fact, I was very happy with the location; but the apartment was "early street" and if you don't know what that means; it means the furniture looked like they had picked it up off the street.?Nothing matched…..?

Saying that when I arrived at the ILTM on Sunday, December the 3rd, it was colder in Cannes than in Canada.?The apartment which I had rented had no heaters and was not equipped for the?cold.?So, I slept in my Canada Goose Jacket.?The property was always rented for the summer season and so no heating was?needed.?Thank god Cannes warmed up later that week, close to 18 degrees by Tuesday!

Another incident that happened on the trip, which seems to be a common incident amongst travelers, was that I lost my cell phone while enroute to the Nice Airport! Surprisingly enough, two weeks later, Uber found it and promised to return it.??it is a?month later and I am still waiting... must be the slow DHL service.

I can hardly wait until the next ILTM?in 2024…..I WONDER WHAT SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR THE LUXURY TRAVEL INDUSTRY?