Main Talk Sponsor
Humphrey Bowles, Co-Founder and CEO, SUPERHOG
- Biography: Humphrey is on a mission to solve the trust and protection gap of 250 million short-term rental hosts, owners, property managers, operators and guests. SUPERHOG combines guest screening with embedded insurance, and is delivered as a SaaS solution that can be integrated seamlessly within the pre- or post-booking flow, providing the toolkit to be able to proactively assess risk and verify guests, thus preventing troublesome guests from entering properties. On top of this, SUPERHOG provide up to £5m of protection for all bookings in case something goes and the guest causes damage and doesn’t pay for it.
Sébastien Leitner, VP Partnerships, Cloudbeds
- Biography: Sébastien heads up global partnerships and industry relations. Sébastien’s team partners with solution providers, guest experience and engagement tools, distribution partners, and new technologies that enhance the guest stay. His team also oversees Cloudbeds public relations with industry partners and associations.
Prior to Cloudbeds, Sébastien worked at Expedia in various roles managing lodging connectivity for independent and chain hotels as well as vacation rentals. After studying Hotel Management and Business Administration in Germany, Sébastien started his career in hospitality working for Le Meridien Hotels and Swissotel.
Sébastien has been a board member of HEDNA since January 2014. He is currently serving as President for HEDNA. Sébastien speaks English, German, and French. He is based in Montreal, Canada where he lives with his family.
In Association with
Thursday, 31st March 2022
THE REAL IMPACT OF SHORT TERM LET REGULATIONS ON OUR LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES
Frequently Asked Questions – many thanks to everyone for submitting questions. We are now compiling a Frequently Asked Questions document on STL Licensing & Planning Control Areas, in association with industry stakeholders and legal advisers. This document will be available shortly.
- Fiona Campbell, Chief Executive, ASSC
- Anna Morris, Owner and Managing Director, The Edinburgh Address
- Louise Dickins, Managing Director, Dickins Edinburgh
Tourism can bring a wealth of economic, sustainable, social and cultural benefits to our communities and cities, supporting resilience and stimulating job creation.
The First Minister’s commented in Scotland’s Outlook 2030 that “an innovative, resilient and welcoming [tourism] industry is vital, not only for Scotland’s future prosperity, but for Scotland’s place in the world”. Scotland’s self-catering sector wants to play our full part in achieving this objective.
Our professional self-caterers are diligent and considerate business owners who are too often unfairly maligned. They do not, for example, ‘hollow out communities’, as some have claimed, but rather are part of local communities across Scotland and have been for many, many years.
So why are we so poorly misrepresented, and demonised as sex traffickers, drug dealers and puppy farmers?
Fiona Campbell will provide an overview of the sector, the perfect storm it finds itself in and the impact of ill-conceived short-term let regulation not only on the sector itself, but the onward supply chain and tourism and hospitality as a whole.
Hear from Anna Morris, Owner of the Edinburgh Address, about her award winning 15 year old business and the place it plays at the heart of the community: a local Scottish company, employing locals, accommodating diverse guests who eat and drink in local eateries and purchase their food in local shops. Find out how their guests’ stories are part of the fabric of the Scottish tourism industry, which is vital to the world renowned Edinburgh tourism offering.
Dickins is a local Edinburgh business which has been letting homes successfully and respectfully for 24 years in the city, causing no issues for local communities. Here their Managing Director, Louise Dickins, highlights six simple solutions to stop any issues with short term lets in the city. These proactive steps can amend the negative narrative and help policy makers and the community recognise the importance of short-term lets to the local economy. The ultimate aim is to achieve a positive and peaceful coexistence for local communities, leading to a sustainable future for the sector and the city as a whole.
How we live and work can represent the beginning of a bold new approach putting our communities, our people, our visitors, our businesses and our environment at the heart of everything we do – and ever more so in a post pandemic environment, but only if the regulatory landscape enables that approach.
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In partnership with
How property managers can use technology to improve processes, be more efficient, standardise, automate and protect their business- existing and future to stay ahead of their competition.
- the benefits of automation to host, guest and your bottom line
- the importance of trust and safety in the STR industry and to the wider community
- why adopting new technologies and services will help you stay ahead of the competition
- Presenters to include:
- Leo Walton; SUPERHOG Co-Founder and VP of Growth: Leo became part of the founding team at SUPERHOG in 2019, after having spent seven years running the supply function at onefinestay. These experiences have given him a deep understanding of, and passion for, the vacation rental industry, and in his role as the VP of Growth he works closely with operators and hosts, helping them to unlock growth and streamline operations by using SUPERHOG, which combines guest screening with embedded insurance. Having experience of the property management side has given Leo an acute understanding of the pain points which SUPERHOG sets out to solve, guest screening, deposits, chargebacks and property damage. He’s passionately committed to building tools to help improve and revolutionise the industry.
- Steve Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Operto Guest Technologies: Steve has over 25 years management experience in strategic planning, marketing and sales execution of consumer and technology products. Steve’s a positive, people focused, strategic leader, passionate coach, and a keen hockey player and supporter.
- Robin Morris, Director, Bookster: Robin founded Bookster in 2007, and has applied his passion of creating easy-to-use technology to the ever-changing holiday rentals market.
Enhancing the Guest Experience (Lessons from 2021)
Andy McNulty, Co-Founder, Touch Stay will look at what we have learnt from the pandemic and offer practical ways to enhance guest experiences He will highlight the importance of personal touch and communication as well as the importance of social responsibility. People love to read – how can you deliver the content that you want them to read? He will also give you the tools to stop repetitive guest questions & enhance their experience while saving time. He will highlight the importance of communicating more and how this can be done with less effort, and how Touch Stay can facilitate this.
- Andy is the CEO and co-founder of Touch Stay, a mobile web app that helps accommodation operators communicate more efficiently with their guests. Taking the form of a digital guidebook, containing all the information a booked guest needs to know about their stay, it reduces their questions and creates a better stay experience. Prior to Touch Stay, Andy held C-level positions in luxury fashion at brands like Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Victoria Beckham.
Tuesday 26th October 2021 – 11am to 12.30pm
Annual General Meeting & Destination Leadership: Responsible Tourism For A Sustainable Future
Scotland’s future tourism strategy has the ambition to be the world leader in 21st century tourism.
Scotland’s Outlook 2030 strategy, is reflective of the changing world we live in, our new mindset and approach to how we live and work and represents the beginning of a bold new approach putting our communities, our people, our visitors, our businesses and our environment at the heart of everything we do – and ever more so in a post pandemic environment.
Our current and future challenges are well known to us, however we have many opportunities ahead. We have so much to look forward to in delivering success, not only for Scotland’s tourism sector but for our entire nation, creating a better country for us to live and work in, and for the world to visit. We have a vision of every person living in Scotland being inspired by tourism and experiencing the benefits of tourism today and for many years to come.
During our Talk we will hear from our industry experts looking at the challenges and opportunities post pandemic; the role of DMOs in marketing and managing destinations and the importance of membership organisations to support your business
- The new extra-ordinary
- 2022 future destination strategies
- New emerging trends: conscious travel & sustainable tourism
- The role of DMOs in marketing and managing destinations and the importance of membership organisations in supporting your business.
Hosted by Willie Cameron, Director of Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards & Founding Director of the Cobbs
- Willie was the founding Director of The Cobbs Group of companies who have hotels / coffee shops and retail all in high amenity tourist areas and today, Willie is their Business Development Director. Willie is also the owner of Loch Ness Marketing a media service company and is a sought after contributor on television and radio on tourism/food and drink of Scotland. He is on the board of the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards and sits on the National Council of Rural Advisers for The Scottish Government.
Talk Supported by
- Fiona Campbell, Chief Executive, ASSC
- Ross McAuley, Chief Executive, South of Scotland Destination Alliance: ‘The Foundation of Great Destination Strategy – Segmentation/Targeting/Positioning’
Ross will talk about the 3 key stages for a destination or business to go through in determining the best commercial strategy for growth.
Ross joined as CEO of the South of Scotland Destination Alliance in May. The SSDA vision is to accelerate tourism spend and jobs growth in the sector. The destination covers both Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway and boasts a large self-catering contribution.
- Cathy Craig, Chief Executive, Argyll & The Isles Tourism: “The Sum of the Small Things; A Visitor Perspective”
Cathy’s presentation will focus on meeting new visitor demands as we move into a new era post Covid. Whilst no-one has a crystal ball, a great deal of work has been done to understand the expectations of our visitors in a post Covid and challenged economic and environmental climate. This insight can be used by businesses who want to deliver a high standard of visitor experience and those who want to compete to keep the staycationers they may have enjoyed this year. Visitor expectations are likely to be more demanding than ever before, to be delivered against a very challenging backdrop for self-catering businesses; continuing staff shortages, rising utilities costs and regulatory change. There are many small changes that businesses can make which will go some way to meeting these visitor needs. This short session will outline some practical changes that could go a long way in meeting these demands in the eyes of our visitors.
Cathy Craig joined AITC as its first CEO in August ’21. She brings more than 20 years’ experience with highly skilled Director roles in marketing and business development. She played a key role in AITC as volunteer Director and has been on the board of VisitScotland for six years, bringing great experience of national strategy and an understanding of the challenges for Scotland.
Born in Manchester, Cathy sees herself as an ‘adopted Scot’ having lived in Scotland for eight years with her Scottish husband and sons. She has a wealth of experience from her commercial and Marketing Director roles at CalMac and ScotRail and most recently, four years as Commercial Director at Entrepreneurial Scotland.
Speaking about her new role, she said: “I am very proud to have been selected to lead AITC’s ambitious delivery plans over the coming years. My passion to see Scotland succeed economically and socially combined with my deep affection for Argyll and the Isles equips me with the drive needed to deliver in this role. I’ll be joining an amazing team and working with our many supportive partners to realise our collective goals.
Fiona Campbell, Chief Executive, ASSC, says:
“Building on the wonderful heritage brand that already exists, innovation must be at the core of the approach to tourism going forward. If Scotland is to be the world leader in 21st century tourism, we must continue to develop and deliver an innovative, visionary, and fully sustainable offer that doesn’t react to demand, but proactively and creatively anticipates the aspirations and needs of future visitors, whilst protecting and enhancing communities throughout Scotland.”