HYLKO VERSTEEG: Happy to Have First InterContinental in Albania

Today the travelers want more and more a bit of experimental tourism. What better to experience something that nobody knows yet. So, I am very optimistic of Albania.

By Rudina Hoxha & Jose Pinto

During the signing ceremony of first InterContinental Hotel in Tirana last June, Mr. Hylko Versteeg shared some thoughts with TRAILBLAZING MAGAZINE at the sidelines of this amazing event, participated by the Premier of Albania, Mr. Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana, Mr. Erjon Veliaj, Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mrs. Mirela Kumbaro and many other ministers and state personalities, tourism experts, media and others.

For him, Albania is a land of opportunities.

“I think it is one word – Opportunity. There are very few countries so strategically located from the geographical perspective but it also offers a big variety of tourism from corporate to beautiful leisure, so it is always a bit of unknown to explore,” he said.

The new InterContinental Hotel, located in the Skanderbeg Square, will have around 280 rooms and suites distributed over 32 floors.

This way, International Hotel Group continues the expansion of its luxury & lifestyle growth in Europe with InterContinental Tirana set to open in 2025.

IHG ® Hotels & Resorts (IHG ® ), one of the world’s leading hotel companies signed the Franchise Agreement with Mr. Ram Geci, Owner and President of Geci Group, one of Albania’s leading infrastructure companies, which also specialises in hospitality and tourism. The company has around 20 years’ experience in hospitality, having been a shareholder since 2004 and Sole Owner of Tirana International Hotel, Tirana, Albania, since 2011.

Full interview below:

Please can you make an introduction of yourself and InterContinental Group for the readers of TRAILBLAZING MAGAZINE?

My name is Hylko Versteeg and I am responsible for the development in the Southern Europe, so basically I cover the Mediterranean area excluding France and obviously including Albania, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar, Malta, Andorra, Cyprus. I cover the growth of InterContinental IHG Hotels and Resorts in that region. I am based out of Madrid. I am married to a Spanish beautiful lady and have two daughters. Although I am Dutch, I have been living abroad for many years. In a way, I am an international citizen.

What do you see in the Albanian market so interesting that you don’t see in other countries or regions?

I think it is one word – Opportunity. Obviously, Albania has a lot of catching up to do and a lot of opportunity to be taken in consideration with a lot of caution. Because as we know, with opportunity always comes the risks. This is going to be a big challenge for Albania. But there is a great opportunity. There are very few countries so strategically located from the geographical perspective but it also offers a big variety of tourism from corporate to beautiful leisure, so it is always a bit of unknown to explore. Today the travelers want more and more a bit of experimental tourism. What better to experience something that nobody knows yet. So, I am very optimistic of Albania.

This is your fifth visit in Albania. What are your impressions about our country?

Very positive. I really love the people, the whole atmosphere, the culture. The people are really eager to grow and learn. I see a keenness in them to improve. There are so many intact things here. It is fantastic that you have a direct flight to Madrid. So, it allows me to fly some days with Wizzair and some other days with Lufthansa. One time I got my wife with when in a business trip. We came on Saturday and we visited Lalez Bay, we walked Tirana from up and down for the whole day. I am very excited to see where Albania goes in the next 10 years.

Let’s talk about the InterContinental Tirana whose signing ceremony was taken place last June. Can you mention some of its major features or innovative concepts?

I cannot say much at this point because a lot of it is still under design. For example, when you talk about the concepting which we have started but we don’t have the final concept done yet because this is part of the next phase.

I can say that it will have 280 rooms and suites distributed over 32 floors. It will have one of the largest ballrooms in Tirana over an 1800 square meters with a capacity of 1.000 people for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) events and weddings. It will have no pillars and this will make it quite spectacular. It will encompass several restaurants and bars, big spa with indoor swimming pool.

Rendering-of-intercontinental-tirana

Photo credit - IHG® Hotels & Resorts (IHG®)

On top two floors, we will accommodate club lounge and restaurant /bar which will have the most amazing panoramic view of the whole Albania. The location is another great asset, we are right in the Skanderbeg Square, in the heart of Tirana.

We don’t have the concepting in place yet but we are thinking about ideas. A lot of work still to be done.

How does European Hotel Management Group (EHMG) help you in the identification of the Albanian properties that are of interest to you?

More than anything else, the EHMG help us with the experience of Mr. Milos Cerovic, ex- General Manager of IHG Hotels and Resorts. He has a lot of in-depth knowledge about our systems, about quality and service level that we deliver. So, they are helping us to make sure that we maintain those. This is obviously when I mentioned before that Albania has still some challenges moving ahead. And there is obviously the service culture, the hotel sector needs to be more established also from an educational perspective and that’s also where they are helping us out.

In your view, are the Albanian owners more inclined to go towards branded franchise than management in comparison with the rest of the Southern Eastern Europe?

It is very country specific. But I do believe that the value of a big brand is more preferred in Albania. Especially in hotels and probably also in the food and beverages sector. You always have to keep your own identity. But in today’s environment where you get so much out of reservations’ systems, putting independent hotel in Albania, you are going to struggle to obviously get the same level of system delivery as we call it, from call centers, apps, online reservation systems into your hotel. Obviously coming from the history that Albania has little international brand representation, I think it is also something that people thrive and like to go to internationally branded competition in all the aspects, from shopping to restaurants and hotels. So, I think Albania has a big demand for it. In the more established countries, like Spain, they have their own hotel chains. So, they need a little less the big international chains.

Can you tell us more about the signed projects in Albania and what’s in the pipeline?

We have two projects. The one is the InterContinental Tirana, the first ever in Albania. And the second is the Crown Plaza brand which is more upper scaled, more corporate. We have this project signed in Durres city. We are looking to start the constructions in the last quarter of this year. We need 24 months to complete the project, so around the end of 2024, beginning of 2025, which will be pretty much the same time for the opening of InterContinental Tirana.

These are the only two projects we have signed so far. We are looking very carefully. We want to make sure that we first open these hotels and we make sure that they function well. We don’t want to grow for the growth’s sake of these popping hotels everywhere. We must make sure that they deliver the correct service.

Let’s talk a bit about the concept “Fit for All” which is a standard concept, almost copy paste that you see often in Albania. How does InterContinental see this? Do you support this standard format or you encourage the owners to be more creative and think in a long term?

It is a bit of two ways of looking at it. On one hand, especially for InterContinental brand, we don’t want to go too crazy. Because this is not what the luxurious clients are looking for. Also, you should not forget that if you invest in a big hotel with 280 rooms (it is a significant investment), you need to make sure that the whole concept has a duration, so people, after 3-4 years, do not get tired of the concept and the design and so, you need to change it again.

We are not the most daring in the concept and design but we think on the return on investments and what really makes sense for a long term where people will continue to come. Also, we will continue to work hard to create concepts that are not present in Albania. We will do a lot of competitive analysis, so we cannot do the same food and beverage, bar and restaurant concept.

We have one of the advantages that there would be a lot of food and beverage facilities in the new InterContinental tower but also we would have a fantastic food and beverage offerings on the 32nd floor where people will see not only the view of Tirana but pretty much half of Albania. It will be pretty much amazing.

The InterContinental Group have the minimal standards when it comes to hotels. How important are they when you define a property?

They are important because obviously we have globally over 140 million loyally members. They want to go to an InterContinental and know what they get. They can be very different properties, like the classical property - the InterContinental in Cannes, the InterContinental in Ljubljana which is more a modern tower. We are building an InterContinental resort in Montenegro, in Algarve or in Crete. So, they are all very different but the standards are very different. There is a set of standards we need to incorporate from service to quality expectation, room size and facilities. So, you have to have all of it in but then we also allow for some liberty around it.