Developing a prosperous and profit-making hotel business requires not only significant financial investments, but also a detailed concept and strategic approach. The KSD & Ribas Hotels Group online project, developed by leading experts, is aimed at developing practical skills to successfully launch and effectively manage a hotel business. Artur Lupashko, the founder of Ribas Hotels Group, and Oleksandr Didyk, chief operating officer at Kyiv School of Development (KSD), talked about the project’s major goals and the situation on the hotel market, and the online education sphere in the interview.
Artur Lupashko, founder of Ribas Hotels Group.
Why did you decide to create the “Hotel Business School”? What specific challenges or pain points in the hotel industry does this project address?
The main concern in the hospitality industry is the lack of quality basic training and educational programs aimed at upgrading skills, expanding and deepening knowledge to meet the current trends. The hospitality market is dramatically evolving because of the pandemic and the war, and so even knowledge that was relevant 10 years ago is now mostly irrelevant.
With this understanding, we decided to create a school to raise the level of knowledge and culture of the hospitality industry in the country. We also want to involve some potentially interested people and partners. Those are our focus, because this course is not only meant for hoteliers, but also for marketers, conceptualizers and investors. We recognize that if our potential partners know what we know at the level that this school provides, it will be much easier for us to communicate and collaborate with them.
What outcomes do you anticipate for your course attendees after completing the course?
After attending lectures at the Hotel Business School, our trainees will:
- Understand the basic aspects of hotel management including finance, marketing and guest services;
- Know the trends and innovations that shape the hospitality industry;
- Be able to plan, implement and manage hotel facilities;
- Build a hotel launch strategy to maximize profitability;
- Analyze and measure competitiveness to create an effective business plan;
- Use social media, content marketing and other tools to promote the brand and engage the audience.
What are your plans on developing and expanding the Hotel Business School educational project after the first course is completed?
We intend to run this course twice a year. Given that things are changing rapidly today, and we are adapting ourselves along with our approaches, I am sure that every six months we will have something new to add to our school.
We also have plans to expand this course to foreign markets, for example, to customize it for the Indonesian and Central Asian markets. In the long run, we want to cover European markets by offering the course in English.
What has changed over the last 5 years in the hospitality sector?
When it comes to changes in hotel construction, it should be noted that the approach to this process has fundamentally changed. Previously, construction customers were more often private individuals who built hotels for themselves, focusing on their own preferences. Today, most orders come from developers, which has shaped the approach to the design and construction of hotels. Developers strive to create projects that are both interesting and conceptual because they need to sell the real estate.
Mandra Morion cottage town (the village of Mykulychyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region).
With today's changes in the concept, design and construction phases, management and service will subsequently be affected. There will be a strong need for managers who can run large hotels accommodating up to 500 guests. Since these managers are still few in number, hotels will engage specialists from other fields. This will also create new opportunities for service innovation.
Oleksandr Didyk, chief operating officer at Kyiv School of Development (KSD).
Would you tell us about Kyiv School of Development? When was it established and what are its major goals and core values?
Our school was founded in 2017 as Urban Land PM, but eventually we shortened the name to ULPM School. At first it was a monobrand, offering only one offline program.
Earlier this year, we rebranded and are now called Kyiv School of Development. We are committed to changing development in line with the best world practices, helping owners and top managers of companies and their staff to create high-quality construction projects.
What opportunities does participating in free projects like the Hotel Business School course open up for the modern entrepreneur? How could it enrich their business experience and development?
The most valuable benefit to the trainees of our courses is that they acquire insights that are delivered online from the market. Any knowledge needs to be backed up by financial performance. Ribas Hotels Group is a company that has been delivering consistently positive financial performance. A large number of investors and developers are now partnering with Ribas Hotels Group to create high-quality and high-margin development projects in this niche. So we can share not only proven hypotheses that have already become common practice, but also proven financial results.
How do you consider the importance of supporting initiatives such as the Hotel Business School project?
Our school does not offer dry theory, but rather knowledge through practice, which the authors of the course have successfully implemented. This success is often backed by large financial and time costs to iterate and investments in finding better solutions and testing hypotheses. Of course, these costs have to be converted into money when it comes to transferring this knowledge to the trainees.
Programs with exclusive insights from Ribas Hotels Group are free of charge. Trainees have the opportunity to get the best solutions without any risk of making a mistake.
This is a unique situation, especially in the crisis-affected development market, when developers are facing problems caused by full-scale invasion, lack of investment and low purchasing power of the population. Making such knowledge available for free is of great benefit as a successful business can widely spread its unique precious knowledge, thus supporting its partners.
How is Kyiv School of Development being affected by the fact that its founder Ihor Raikov is now fighting at the front, where he is defending our land? Has this prompted you to engage in charitable activities? If yes, what kind?
Ihor's decision has really affected our school. First, he decided to join the Ukraine’s armed forces at the very time when the school was going through transformation and scaling. We greatly expanded the number of our online courses, which required an increase in the number of staff to ensure that all processes at the school were carried out.
As for his charitable activities, Ihor Raikov’s social media pages show that from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has been actively involved in helping our state, both as an individual and through the school. This support is still going on today.
In lieu of conclusions
Creating a successful hotel business requires not only a large investment, but also a well thought-out concept and strategy. “Hotel Business School” can be a worthwhile background for investors, developers, hoteliers, architects and anyone planning to work in the hospitality industry.
You can learn more about this course by clicking here.
You can register for free: https://my.urbanland.pm/register.
Subscribe to our blog to keep up to date with hospitality market news!
