In conversation with Francesco Mussinelli, General Manager, ROMEO Hotel Naples (Exclusive Interview)

How is ROMEO Hotel positioned in Naples’ luxury hotel sector? What is your comp set?

Naples is a place of new ideas, new feelings, new achievements, presenting themselves among the traditional piazzas, grand edifices and the modest premises of lively artisan talents, who design, make and sell every luxury and facility.

The ROMEO hotel is pure new Naples, five-star, fully modern in style yet traditional in values. Centrally located, it is close to the Piazza Municipio and overlooking the Bay of Naples with its famous views of Vesuvius and Capri beyond. So… actually the ROMEO hotel is positioned as the best hotel in Naples’ luxury hotel sector.

Our comp set includes all the other 5 star hotels in the city: Grand Hotel Vesuvio, Grand Hotel Parkers and The Britannique Naples.

Post pandemic, tell us more about the rebound and recovery of the hotel (in broad / general terms)

The hotel is currently performing very well, even better than the pre-pandemic time. It seems that travellers are really willing to catch back with the time they lost during the last two years.

Expenses on F&B and ancillary services have increased, as well as the demand for guided tours, private boats, excursions and SPA treatments.

In the hotel we will have therefore to invest more time in training and improvements of standards and new concepts, so to be ready to face all these new challenges.

Has the guest profile changed? Do they have different expectations?

Guests and expectations are somehow the same as before, but is seems that everybody is demanding “more” and service has to be performed in a more individual, tailor-made way.

A sort of hand crafted hospitality is now arising.

Is luxury perceived differently?

To our knowledge, not really. What has increased is the demand of attention, the time that we have to dedicate to our guests.

People now want to talk to someone in person, and when they have the occasion to do it, it is for a longer period of time.

What is your view on Naples’ potential a solid luxury destination?

Naples, like many other destinations in Italy, has seen a big growth in term of visitors during the last years.

In addition, being the hub for islands and Amalfi and Sorrento Coast connections, it is now one of the Italian cities with the highest increase in terms of number of tourists. On the other hand, the average length of stay remains limited to about 2 days, shorter than Florence or Rome.

Tell us more about your approach to service. Are there still post pandemic challenges persisting?

There are no particular challenges at the moment, apart from the difficulties in recruiting new staff members. Referring to HR issues, the market is now much more complicated than before and the lack of good workers is a challenge.

Apart from that, we are improving quality in breakfast offering, fine dining and bar activities. At the same time, we do see a contraction in Room Service request, presumably due to the fact that guests do not want to stay secluded in rooms anymore.

How is your F&B and wellness Spa offering conceived?

Our offers are addressed to a young and smart public, both hotel guests as well as locals.

Gourmet restaurant on the rooftop, high quality breakfast, informal pool bar offering from morning till night, and very unique wellness area along with an exclusive SPA treatments selection are the main KSPs of our property.

What novelties shall we be expecting for the rest of 2022?

Guests will continue to travel despite the bad news coming from Ukraine and the possible increase in prices. The need of freedom and open air living after the pandemic will boost tourism for quite sometimes. The number of new opening and investments in our sector witness such trend.

And Naples represents one of the many NEW DESTINATIONS able to attract a consistent number of people.

Regardind our property, ROMEO hotel is a hotel in constant evolution. Who knows what will happen and what we will expect for the rest of 2022..!

More from LEADERS

---