Billed as Middle East’s premier event for the real estate and hotel industry, Hotelier Summit Middle East 2017 gathered once again some of the biggest names in the local and international hospitality sector to engage in focused face-to-face business meetings, discuss the latest technology developments, create business opportunities and tackle industry issues and challenges.

A highlight of the event included a keynote address delivered by Vikram Loomba, director - Real Estate Hospitality and Leisure Advisory Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers - Middle East. Loomba shared his in-depth perspectives on the current trends that are affecting business around the world and his understanding of the factors that are disrupting the status quo in an ever-changing hospitality environment.

“Our conferences are dedicated to supporting industry professionals about the latest trends and challenges. This year’s program does just that, making this one of our most engaging summits. This initiative has never been more important than now, with the Middle East hospitality sector poised for a robust growth in the coming years, we are confident that the summit offered instrumental information and insights on the industry,” said Ganesh Babu, director at IDE.

Held from May 17-18, the two-day event was graced by thought leaders from the industry including hotel owners, developers, operators, architects, design engineers, consultants and global suppliers. The Hotelier Summit Middle East is considered as the most important conference of the year that focuses on in-depth discussions about urbanization and construction economics, especially in the wake of the rise in the number of hospitality projects in the region. Key topics of discussion included general sessions on:

- Global Megatrends and their Effect on Middle East Hospitality
- Optimising Building Efficiency in the Hospitality Sector
- Sustainable Hospitality in Qatar and beyond
- Affordable Luxury - The new normal?

The summit was presented by IDE, a global real estate solutions firm. IDE organizes summits which are procurement driven to connect suppliers from all across the globe with the leaders of the hospitality sector across the Middle East, The summit attracted a turnout of over 350 attendees. In addition, it comprised of more than 15 speakers and 10 presentations/panel discussions.

This year’s Summit was well received and witnessed a lot of positive sentiment. IDE Consulting Services is now looking forward to next year's edition of the Hotelier Summit Middle East, and will make it an even bigger and more efficient deal-flow platform. - TradeArabia News Service