The Larva Way

I was born and raised in Samos, an amazing island in North Aegean, where - like every Greek island - tourism plays major role in residents’ lives. The first clear childhood memories that I hold, are containing myself, going with my mother to the airport where she was working as Ground Operations Manager. I remember how fascinated I was by watching the airplanes which were fully loaded with tourists from all around the world, departing and arriving on the island. When my mother was finishing her shift, we were going straight to our family-owned hotel. There, my father was always having me by his side, informing me and giving me tips about the proper operation of a hotel.  

Back then, I was not able to understand a single thing of what he was saying. As you can all understand, it was not possible for my 5–6 years old self to understand what are the room places that I should check in order to make sure that every room was properly cleaned by the Housekeeping Department or how important it is to constantly promote the hotel on global scale in order to ensure the optimisation of independent reservations (and tons of other similarly oriented examples). But these advices/lessons were inwardly rooted in me and started to act as enabling factor, which, as I now realise, sharpened my mentality.

A few years later (around the age of 10) the classic question rose up at school. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Astronaut, football player and ballet dancer were some of the most popular answers. 

My turn came up.

- “What about you Stefanos? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

- “I want to become owner of several tourism enterprises”, I replied to the teacher.

She laughed and asked me:

- “Oh really? What kind of enterprises?” 

- “Hotels and staff”, I replied.

I know it sounds crazy, but I truly wanted it. You know what they say. Apple does not fall far from the tree. Thus, it is needless to say that my parents fully supported this dream of mine. They helped me in every possible way by broadening my horizons and constantly gaining new experiences through travelling around the world and by observing and taking place (despite the young of my age) in every possible hotel and hospitality business procedure that I could. 

As years were passing by, I started to realise that evolution and adaptability is the way forward - not only within the hospitality industry, but in this new world in general - and how sometimes an additional professional opinion that comes from business experts outside of a business’ inner environment, can fundamentally evolve a company. That is the reason why I decided to focus my BSc studies on Tourism and Hospitality Management, which were followed by an MSc in Human Resources Management and Consulting. I obtained both of these above-mentioned degrees from the UK, where I was able to be thoroughly taught and truly understand the importance of data-driven strategic excellence and the emerge need of result-driven punctuality on the decision-making processes within the rapidly changing hospitality and consulting business world. 

After gaining several professional experiences within hospitality industry, both in local and multinational level, I decided that, despite the unprecedented difficulties that we are globally facing due to Covid-19 pandemic, it is time to take the first major step on making my childhood dream come true, by creating Larva, the most straightforward, innovative, reliable and authentic consulting company that your business could meet.

In nature, “Larva” means a young animal or insect which will transform, during adulthood, into something new. For me, “Larva” symbolises the magical procedure of turning my own childhood dreams and experiences into an innovative company who cares about your projects and acts with professionalism, consistency and agility in order to help you succeed further. Made for people who share similar dreams like mine and want to constantly scale up their businesses, Larva sets the new era of hospitality transformation consulting in motion. 

Our mentality is simple yet solid. 

Based on our forward-thinking mindset and the ability of efficiently using our cutting-edge implementation methodologies and data driven strategies, we will create innovative tailor-made solutions that will carve out the path which can help you explore your industry, reform your strategy and grow your hotel and hospitality business. 

Please, do not get me wrong. We are not miracle makers and we will never pretend to be. We are not going to lie to you and tell you that everything is going to be fine when it is not. Larva is not like that. It will take lots of effort in order to reach our desired goals together. But one thing is certain. Larva is consisted of innovative and talented professionals who have been in your shoes, understand your burden and the potential risks that you are taking and will stand by your side and do everything that is possible in order to turn your vision into a constantly evolving reality.