Daniel Johansson is a founding member of Campbell Gray Hotels, a hotel management company that develops and operates luxury hotels around the world.
After studying hotel management in Switzerland, Johansson received his hotel training and operational experience in hotels across Europe, including Spain, Switzerland and the UK. He joined One Aldwych in London for its opening in 1998 in operations and subsequently took the role as development coordinator for Campbell Gray Hotels as the company was founded and the group expanded. In 2005, he was named development director for Campbell Gray Hotels, and is leading the implementation of the growth strategy for the company as well as overseeing the complete development process and master planning of all projects.
At the 2018 Mediterranean Resort & Hotel Real Estate Forum, Johansson will speak on a panel entitled "How to Optimally Run a Mediterranean Resort," discussing the unique operational requirements of Mediterranean resorts, from franchises to management contracts, branded or independent. Ahead of the Forum, Johannson shared his insights on the latest trends of Mediterranean development, challenges facing developers and where to seek and find ROI.
1. How would you characterize the overall state of hotel investment and development in the Mediterranean region?
Interesting, competitive and clearly in the strategy for a lot of investors, developers, as well as operators.
2. In what markets are you seeing the most amount of investment activity and why?
Spain, simply due to size of market and our own interests.
3. What is the biggest obstacle for a foreign investor searching for a project to invest in?
Getting close to local opportunities, which are only known to a handful of developers and brokers and are unlikely to be exposed to larger firm.
4. What are the types of hotels and resorts being built and what has the best ROI? Branded? Select- or Full-Service? Multi-use Developments?
For CGH, this is entirely market- and case-by-case-specific, and with various business partners we search for value-add projects where we can re-position an hotel/resort, as well as acquiring trophy assets, where in all cases we can brand, operate and add value.
5. How do you compare hotel development in the Mediterranean versus other classes of real estate? Is it a safer or riskier bet?
Like any opportunity, if you have done your homework and due diligence, and established that you are bringing an innovative quality product to the market that has demand, you should be in a good place. The hotel space in the Mediterranean has a long history and I would say generally it is a safe bet when you buy at the right price. There are still many family-owned-and-run opportunities that can benefit from a brand association.
6. What are the biggest operational challenges when running resorts in the Mediterranean, and how to overcome them?
Seasonality certainly has an impact on the operations and it can particularly bring a challenge to the staffing. One extreme is that you are basically re-hiring part of your service team every year. This can have an impact on service levels and training resources and cost. Unless the destination itself is closed for a certain part of the year, you have to focus your sales-and-marketing activities on the low season and making sure you have a steady stream of business, while in parallel making sure staff receives training, takes their annual leave and it is often the perfect time to do any disruptive and noisy maintenance work. Depending on the remoteness of your location, if you have a limited choice of suppliers and supply routes, the cost of supplies can also impact the business significantly.
7. What are you most looking forward to at MR&H this year?
Feeling the mood on hotel development in the region firsthand from the industry market experts, and meeting new developers, investors and consultants.