Interview with Fabio Curcio Valentini, founder of CVHP

We discussed the future of Hospitality design with our long-term associate Fabio Curcio Valentini, architect and co-founder of Curcio Valentini Hotel Project. Here we share some interesting thoughts emerged from the conversation.
 

What are the main changes in the world of hospitality after the pandemic?

The world of hospitality is undergoing unstoppable evolutions which will affect investments, design and also the offer of services and the management of facilities. New receptive models and trends that have appeared on the market for some years are now accelerated by the global phenomenon of the pandemic. The accommodation facilities with the aim of intercepting changed travel and accommodation needs are becoming more and more mixed: from condo hotels to branded residences, often created by the same hotel chains, from relais to luxury residences, from hamlets to diffused hotels. There are two trends that are occurring: the "Staycation", already known with the 2008 crisis, that is the tendency to stay in one's own city or in the immediate vicinity to take holidays and the "Workation" which shows how accommodation facilities offer packages for medium-long term stays to move the office to another place. The best known destination market at the moment is Dubai but there are also small villages along with widespread hospitality. Smart working and digitization will influence the projections of the RE of trade associations, where before the pandemic, workers who moved around the world for conferences and events were 30-40% of the total, now it is estimated that they will be 10% . Managers will travel less and with longer stays, choosing hotels designed not only for business. The lifestyle hotels will be the most suitable to meet these needs: they are 5 stars, but with a totally different and urban concept.

How is hotel design changing? Temporary or permanent changes?

Certain trends were already taking place among investors and hotel chains. The hotel becomes more and more a home, flexible structures, articulated in a different way with respect to the standards of "maximization" and "standardization". On the one hand, the relationship with the territory and the services that open up to the city becomes fundamental, and on the other, the osmosis between the internal spaces of the room and the external ones of nature. The combination of a functional mix, a trend already underway by many international chains, could be the winning bet: hotel, long-stay, residence with hotel services where everything is designed starting from the architectural scale up to the interior design and the product. , always with great attention to a home configuration.

In this particular moment for real estate, how important is it for a foreign investor to have a 'local partner' to invest in Italy?

It is essential to act as a local partner for a foreign investor, trying to generate high returns. There are investors but the difficulty is to adapt international hospitality brands to the local Italian market, which is so diversified. The interest in resorts, trophy assets and luxury hotels has been renewed; there is in fact a significant amount of capital that has been raised to take advantage of hospitality opportunities and a huge amount of demand to finance high quality assets. CVHP has acknowledged this trend and can leverage its experience and expertise in the management and execution of complex transaction processes, on understanding the local reality and context. CVHP acts as a strategic advisor and guide for those who want to make the investment. The experience in consolidated conversion schemes allows us to guide the restructuring process quickly and with the necessary approvals. It is also important to accompany the customer in establishing relationships with major international companies for lease agreements and with large international hospitality operators, thus increasing the visibility and value of the projects.

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