When Phil Andreopoulos joined Yotel as the new CEO in September, he described the company as being at a “pivotal moment” in its growth and said he wanted to help the brand expand its presence worldwide.
Before joining the team, Andreopoulos spoke with owner Talal Al Bahar and outgoing CEO Hubert Viriot. “We had some very interesting early conversations about the vision Talal has for the brand,” Andreopoulos recalled, describing the owner as a “visionary” for the company’s future. “He wants to see the brand grow globally into new markets, as well as really define itself in the markets where it already exists.”
That vision aligned well with Andreopoulos’ ideas, especially as someone very familiar with the Yotel concept. “I've been admiring it for some years, and I see that it has the potential to go exactly where Talal’s vision wants to take it. And really, that's the thing that has brought me into this role.”
Yotel, he continued, is “relatively small,” which makes it “agile and nimble.” From a business perspective, he added, “it's really, really helpful for a brand to be able to think on its feet and adapt to what the customers want and what hotel owners want.” Bigger brands may face challenges in keeping pace with an “ever-changing industry,” he added.
For his part, Andreopoulos was looking both to take the brand to “new places” and “cement its position” in markets where it already has a presence. “Now that I'm here and I'm in the role, I'm seeing that all of those things can happen.”
Rising Up
Describing himself as “a lifelong hospitality-industry person,” Andreopoulos started off washing pots and pans in a restaurant when I was a teenager. “And I've been in the industry ever since.” He joined Yotel after years at Marriott International, where he held multiple senior leadership roles across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His responsibilities at the company covered brand management, marketing, e-commerce, sales, reservations, revenue management, loyalty, communications and consumer insights across 78 countries and all Marriott brands.
“I enjoyed my time at Marriott immensely,” Andreopoulos recalled, calling it “a great company” and noting that his wide range of responsibilities prepared him for brand leadership. “I have a deep understanding of how our customers buy, how the [business to business] environment works, how the intermediary environment works … and all of the intricacies of revenue management and pricing [and] marketing.”
He also helped grow Marriott’s franchise business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Franchising is an area where we, at Yotel, see a lot of opportunities, so I will be bringing some of that franchising expertise to our company,” he added.
Changing Times
After a lifetime in hospitality, Andreopoulos has noticed significant changes within the industry. Most notably, guests are “a little more aware” of what they want and what hotels can provide. “Guest expectations are much, much more attuned today,” he said. “They're much more aware of what they want, and they're much more knowledgeable.” As such, hoteliers have to be “at the top of our game” in order to impress.
This is especially true when it comes to food-and-beverage programming, especially when a notable experience shared on social media can spark significant interest in a brand or even a specific property, he said.
Similarly, interior design has become increasingly “thoughtful,” as Andreopoulos described it. “I remember the days when every hotel had flowery carpets and flowery curtains. And that was considered to be the height of interior design.” Brand proliferation has sparked much more variety in design over the years, he continued.
Andreopoulos believes that Yotel, as a brand, is focused on those two aspects of hospitality. The brand’s signature “smart bed,” which partially folds against guestroom walls to provide more space, lets them “take control of their own interior design,” he said, and each property has its own food-and-beverage programming. The Glasgow hotel, for example, has a four-lane bowling alley in its top-floor restaurant, which Andreopoulos said is popular in the area. “I didn’t think, at the beginning of my career, I would have dreamed that there was a rooftop restaurant and bar with a bowling alley in it in one of our hotels,” he said. “So it's great to see Yotel innovating in that way.”
Now that he’s overseeing the company, Andreopoulos said his new job is shaping up to be all that he had hoped it would be. “It's actually even more interesting and more fun than I thought it was going to be.”