EquipHotel, the leading BtoB trade show for hotel and restaurant professionals, is innovating. In 2020 it will shake things up and go off the beaten track.
Under the direction of Béatrice Gravier, the trade show aims to be a source of inspiration and a place for professionals to test out new experiences, while continuing to be a leading destination for sourcing.
This year EquipHotel is getting a makeover.
Here’s your sneak peak and all the details.
BÉATRICE GRAVIER: THE PERFECT FIT TO OVERSEE EQUIPHOTEL
After graduating from ESC Bordeaux business school, Béatrice Gravier began her career working at a Burgundy wine importer in England that supplies the best restaurants in London. When she returned to France, she worked on international BtoB trade shows before joining Reed Exhibitions, where she managed sales for MIPIM (international trade show for real estate professionals) and MAPIC (international trade show for retail property). From Since January 2020 onwards, she has been heading up the Hospitality & Food Division at Reed Expositions France and overseeing the development of several hotel and food exhibitions, including EquipHotel.
The 2020 edition of the trade show will be a real source of inspiration for professionals. EquipHotel needs to be a place where people can take in, feel and discover everything that’s happening in the evolving hospitality industry.
Béatrice Gravier, Director of EquipHotel Paris
How do you see the hotel and food industries in 2020?
B. G.: With the development of co-living and co-working, the sector is undergoing major changes and needs to adapt to these new behaviours, accommodation options, ways of travelling and dining, not to mention the way that clients are taking inspiration from hotels, bars and restaurants. They draw on the ideas from a hotel or open kitchen and apply them to their own apartment or house. They transfer an “experience” right into their own home, and with good reason. Hotels and restaurants have become showrooms for innovation. Guests and clients can try out a new spa, taste the latest cocktail creations, work, schedule a meeting or relax in a hotel lobby, the new hub of hotels. They don’t just go to hotels to sleep anymore. They’re looking for a journey filled with experience. When I worked in the real estate sector, I saw how hotels are the focal point in a business district, or in a vast urban planning project such as the Reinvent Paris project. As for the food and restaurant industry, I believe in culinary concepts that create an atmosphere and unique experience. Cuisine reflects a restaurant’s concept, and it is important to connect chefs and hotel professionals with partners that work with them in this endeavour. Local sourcing, CSR, and technology are also current areas of interest and EquipHotel has a responsibility to feature these innovations. The menu is no longer the only thing that draws people to a restaurant, neither is a sea view the reason to book a hotel room. We need to be offering experiential spaces.
How do you feel about your first EquipHotel?
B. G.: I hope that the 2020 edition of the trade show will be a real source of inspiration for professionals. EquipHotel needs to be a place where people can take in, feel and discover everything that’s happening in the evolving hospitality industry.
Hotels and restaurants have become showrooms for innovation. Guests and clients can try out a new spa, taste the latest cocktail creations, work, schedule a meeting or relax in a hotel lobby, the new hub of hotels.
Béatrice Gravier
Why did you decide to use the “tribe” concept as the central theme for EquipHotel 2020?
B. G.: Because the “tribe” correlates with my current view of the hotel and restaurant sectors. It reflects the new ways of consuming, living and relaxing at hotels and restaurants. It’s also a way to promote entrepreneurs who have dared to use new approaches to hotels and restaurants.
As a guest, what do you expect from a hotel and restaurant?
B. G.: I expect a change of scenery, innovation and new uses. I want to be surprised and go home with inspiring ideas, whether it’s in tableware, decoration or cuisine. For example, I once saw a wine fridge at a restaurant and bought a mini one for two bottles that I use at home.
WHY THE HOTEL INDUSTRY NEEDS TO REINVENT ITSELF?
New expectations
In the age of vacation rental by owner sites, hyper-connected travellers, clients looking for tailored packages, social media networks that make, remake and break the online reputation of establishments, hotel professionals need to adapt. One solution that works is the idea of becoming more outward-looking to get people to consume onsite. This has been demonstrated in bars with guest or partner baristas, restaurants that invite local producers to make appearances, fun spaces created on rooftops, together with vegetable gardens, games rooms, “boules” pitches, cultural events and activities, and the sale of products from artists and designers.
Economic downturn
The economic downturn is combined with constrained purchasing power, forcing 3 and 4-star hotels to improve their value to become as attractive as possible. This includes hiring architects and interior decorators to create or renovate an establishment. Nowadays, these professionals mix second-hand furniture with designer pieces, painted surfaces with touches of colour, bespoke tiles with basic light switches, all to make hotels Instagram-ready.
The rush towards experience-based
According to an annual study by KPMG, L’industry hôtelière française en 2019 (The French hotel industry in 2019), countryside and rural tourism accounts for nearly 30% of overnight stays, and coastal and mountain tourism (with the mountain hotel sector accounting for 20% of winter overnight stays) are attracting more and more travellers with offers to get away from it all, enjoy the slow life and reconnect with nature. This includes advertising targeting the under-25 age bracket, with modernised hostels, where sleeping in a dormitory is no longer a deal breaker and sharing a kitchen offers the chance to meet and talk with new people.
CREATING A NEW VISUAL IDENTITY BY AGENCE 14 SEPTEMBRE
Why did you create a new visual identity for the 2020 edition of EquipHôtel?
B. G.: The goal was to make the trade show reflect the image of today’s hotel and restaurant industries. I therefore took on a new approach in terms of tone. The idea was to help EquipHotel shift towards an influencer role. To do so, the trade show needs to assert and express itself, by clarifying that the visible choices and stances made in the various pavilions at Porte de Versailles are in the interest of visitors.
How did “EH!” come to life?
B. G.: Initially, the teams who organise the show wanted two letters as a hashtag. I pushed the idea further. The interjection became a signature. It needs to engage people and spark curiosity, but still be perceived as reliable, a source of information they can count on. “Eh” is “Hey” In French, meaning “Come and see me because I’ve got things to show you and I know what I’m talking about.”
How will this new visual identity be featured at the trade show?
B. G.: We want to avoid overkill! We plan on targeting the right places, the right times and the impactful traffic areas, to work like an event or demonstration associated with a real message from the trade show.
EQUIPHOTEL: 5 DAYS AND 5 TRIBES
When it comes to new additions, EquipHotel 2020, will feature five tribes, one for each day. They each have their own style, their own ways of working, ideas, priorities and teams. As key players in today’s hospitality industry, the leaders of each tribe will speak at the trade show to talk, dialogue and share with visitors.
THE SOCIALLY ENGAGED: MOB HOTEL
MOB HOTEL is committed to good, organic and local products, working with committed partners. They are human, deliberately imperfect, constantly experimenting, free, persevering and inclusive. These trailblazers set up business in neighbourhoods where people live and work together to create the new paradigms of tomorrow.
THE UNIFIERS: EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
Experimental Group works as a group of friends, achieving success by working together. Their bars and hotels are making waves from Paris to London, New York, Venice, Menorca and Verbier. People come to their establishments for the bohemian chic atmosphere, good drinks, good food, unique rooms, views, and spaces that unify and bring together a community.
THE GLOBE-TROTTERS: 25HOURS
25hours hotels cater to urban travellers, cosmopolitans, and connected nomads who work everywhere at any time, but who also want to enjoy a change of scenery and relax. Located in the heart of major cities across Europe, with new hotels set to open in Florence and Dubai in 2020, their establishments each have their own unique and striking personalities. The idea is to appeal to globetrotters of the 21st Century and offer them a familiar place of retreat.
THE FAMILY-MINDED: MAISON ALBAR HOTELS
Maison Albar Hotels represents the fourth generation of a hotel dynasty, where French art of living and hospitality have been passed on seamlessly over the years. With locations in Paris, Nîmes, Porto, and soon in Nice, their warm and luxurious glitz-free and inconspicuous boutique hotels are places where the bar, spa and restaurant become destinations, remaining true to their family roots and attention to the utmost quality.
“LOCAL COLOURS”: FABIO PISANI & ALESSANDRO NEGRINI – IL LUOGO DI AIMO E NADIA
“Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia” in Milan, is the worldwide symbol of Italian gourmet identity. Chefs Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani bring their modern flare to the tastes and flavours of their country. Every day, they draw inspiration from the best products from a market, vegetable garden, producer or wine-grower to share their passion for cooking. Their cuisine is modern, sustainable, healthy, refined and in line with Italy’s rich gourmet heritage.
Important presence of Greek brands operating in the hospitality sector, at EquipHotel Paris 2020
Worth Note the fact that around 8 months before the show, the following Greek companies have already booked their participation!
CONTACTS AND OTHER INFORMATION
Fish Communications is the exclusive representative of Equip Hotel Paris in Greece and Cyprus.
For more information click here.
WHERE AND WHEN?
From 15 to 19 November 2020
Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles 1, Place de la Porte de Versailles, 75015 PARIS
FOLLOW US
www.equiphotel.com
LinkedIn: EquipHotel Paris
Facebook: @salonequiphotel
Twitter: @Equiphotelparis
Instagram: @equiphotelparis
#equiphotel
#eh20
