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Miltos Kambouridis (Dolphin Capital): Resorts' surplus value increased due to pandemic
Protonotariou Marina
How does the pandemic change the tourism product and the development strategies of the big groups? What are the prevailing trends that have determined which hotel units were full to the brim in the difficult summer of 2020 and what new values are emerging?
Miltos Kambouridis is the mind and visionary of the tourism investment strategy Kilada Country Club, Golf and Residences (www.mykilada.com) in Ermionida worth over 400 million euros, the construction of which was inaugurated amid a pandemic and One & Only Kea Island under construction in Tzia. He is the founder and CEO of Dolphin Capital Partners (DCP or Dolphin), the investment group founded in 2004 and has invested in Greece and 7 other countries, in luxury tourist resorts. The large "collection" of Dolphin Capital and the Greek leader of the international luxury tourist real estate includes excellent resorts, such as Amanzoe and Nikki Beach in Porto Heli, Amanera in the Dominican Republic and Pearl Island in Panama.
Today he realizes that luxury resorts are emerging as the most crisis-resistant tourism sector that is expected to have the greatest growth, as investors turn to them, as the risk of a pandemic has entered the investor models and is not expected to return…
He speaks exclusively to mononews.gr and explains why the surplus value of luxury resorts has increased in the midst of the pandemic, while he emphasizes that now all international hotel groups want to have a resort in their portfolios. According to him, the crisis has increased the value of resorts as it has introduced new values that complement the concept of quality, increased the range of customers and the length of stay in them and now more and more people around the world would pay a lot for quality , security and luxury.
He also points out that Greece has risen a lot as a destination. "For the first time I see such a demand from abroad for Greece as a holiday home destination" he says and reveals that after the first two villas in Tzia, other sales will soon follow until the end of 2020.
How did the pandemic affect your plans? Why is the launch of the new Resort One & Only Kea Island postponed for a year?
The construction is not delayed for a year. Just because of the quarantine, the construction work went back three months due to the blockade of the islands, with the result that the project may not be ready in the summer of 2021, as we had budgeted, but in the autumn of 2021. But the tourist season does not begin in the fall… . and that is why we say that it will start in the next tourist season, which starts in the summer of 2022. So, constructively, yes, the pandemic went back to us, but not in terms of investment or strategy. That is, there is no change in the possibility of financing the project or in the strategic decision to do so.
What are your conclusions from the difficult summer of 2020? What changed;
Our conclusion from the experience of the difficult summer of 2020 is that the hotels that were not affected are what offered security, autonomy, isolation, a large proportion of available square meters per customer. The available area / per capita index acquired an additional meaning that did not have that of security. The customer this year, more than ever, wanted to feel freedom and isolation, that he can move freely, have autonomy but also luxury, service but without much contact with others.
The pandemic crisis has revealed new values. A new value is, for example, compliance with security protocols. Customers who value, seek and choose hotels that respect the safety rules have increased and protection against the risk of transmission becomes an essential part of the concept of quality of services offered by a Resort. At the same time the customer seeks and gives greater value to the concept of exclusivity, VIP, not only in the sense of people belonging to a high economic class, but also people who are sophisticated, disciplined and conscientious. They share the same culture, respect the rules and prioritize health and its protection, their own and that of others. All the above create a new concept that complements the concept of luxury as we knew it until today, makes it more refined and more substantial.
Another thing that has changed this year is the length of the holidays. Days spent at Amanzoe for example increased by 50%. Both the telework and the fear of many trips made many visitors choose the resort that meets their specifications and stay there as long as possible. They worked from there or replaced the multiple choices they might have made another year with just one.
The fullness in your hotels I say